{"id":985,"date":"2005-11-12T21:48:00","date_gmt":"2005-11-13T02:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/?p=985"},"modified":"2013-10-06T21:31:20","modified_gmt":"2013-10-07T02:31:20","slug":"idlewild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/?p=985","title":{"rendered":"idlewild"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just got back from Charlotte a few minutes ago. A few points to share:<\/p>\n

1. I love my car. I realized this on the road away from the hotel, just about to get on the Charlotte beltway to come home. Why then? Not entirely sure, but the car had performed flawlessly over the course of a couple of days of pretty hard driving. I think it was its faithfulness that made an impression. The companionship of a faithful vehicle is not something to be overlooked.<\/p>\n

2. I hate Charlotte. There are many reasons–the traffic, the road construction… But more than anything I hate how it’s a version of Jacksonville, NC, a town where my grandmother lived and I visited quite a bit when I was younger. But Charlotte is a version of that town, only a few sizes larger. In what sense? Sprawl. Endless Suburbia. Straight roads lined with stores and strip malls as far as the eye can see. Americana<\/i>. The knowledge that many, many families live and breathe without stepping outside the bounds of that environment, barely scratching the surface, barely deviating, high or low, from the median point of life. Not that I am to any large degree either, but nevertheless, just driving through there leaves a bad taste in my mind.<\/p>\n

3. The conference was stellar. Amazing. Fantastic. Of course I’m on the post-conference high but I hope I can extend the influence of the event in the longer term. Particularly noteworthy among the keynote speakers was especially Ergun Caner<\/a>, who spoke twice. The first time he spoke about the need in our Christian worldview to counter the overwhelming cultural focus on happiness and feeling to the detriment of knowledge and belief. “What you believe is more important than how you feel,” was a key quote. The second time he spoke on the reinterpretation of the historical, biblical Jesus by the mainstream media, among other groups, who try to redefine His nature in the popular view and otherwise marginalize Him when the Bible is very clear about Who He is and His relevance in the here and now. Both times, Caner displayed a very sharp intellect, a remarkably easy manner with the audience and a fantastic sense of humor. I’m giving a pitch\/presentation tomorrow in Sunday School for a new discussion group I’ll be starting and this conference couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m excited to know<\/i>, to learn, to encounter my faith head on and plumb those doubts that still remain. It’s a way of worshiping Him with my mind<\/a>, and I’m confident Truth can withstand whatever petty doubts I have.<\/p>\n

That’s the short review–I’m still unpacking my mind… I need to read over my notes again. I’m so glad I went.<\/p>\n

go, go where you are
\nbury your roots underneath
\ndoubt your doubts
\nand believe your beliefs<\/i><\/p>\n


\nAnd falling…
\n


\n<\/p>\n

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Just got back from Charlotte a few minutes ago. A few points to share: 1. I love my car. I realized this on the road away from the hotel, just about to get on the Charlotte beltway to come home. Why then? Not entirely sure, but the car had performed flawlessly over the course of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2113,"href":"http:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions\/2113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}