last day on the road for the year

We are finishing up the year of shows today in Pasadena, CA, playing for the Billy Graham Crusade in the Rose Bowl. I remember first hearing about the place when my childhood favorite University of Illinois Fighting Illini won the Big Ten title and played UCLA in the big New Years game. That was long before the BCS idea or anything...sometime in the mid-1980's. They've certainly struggled over the years since! I always look forward to their basketball team, though, which is just getting going for the year.

Charlie is back on stage with us today, though I'll probably help cover his vocal parts again. The surgery went well and his recovery is off to a good start. Hopefully he'll make it through the red-eye flight back to Nashville via DFW without any troubles. I was happy to have the day off yesterday, as my body felt the toll of being up all night on Thursday evening. We spent the afternoon with a friend who has donated six computers to Blood:Water Mission. What a joy to hear his story and to see the way God has moved in him, around him and through him over the years. And his contibution is a huge blessing for the work we are doing and will begin in the coming months.

I am anxious to get home and help prepare for our family time over Thanksgiving weekend. It thrills me to finally be a little more able to host family in Nashville for the holidays. I have a few things going on early this week, but for the most part I'll be helping prepare some food and enjoying lots of time with little Sam. He started saying "car" yesterday...we love to sit by the front window and watch birds, cars, trucks, people, planes...whatever is passing by.

Time to hit the stage for the crusade. Looking forward to seeing Dr. Graham again, and experiencing such a unique time together. Every opportunity we've had with the organization has been different yet similarly powerful. Glad to be here again!