Carrie and I are in Ft. Collins, Colorado. We’re out here for the Campus Crusade for Christ national staff conferece. There are nearly 5,000 staff here to gather together for a few weeks of refreshment… well, it seems everyone but those of us on the Conference Team.
We left to come here on the 7th of this month and took a few days to come out. After stopping at Enterprise to pick up the rental car, we found that we had to wait a couple more hours because they didn’t know how far we were going (even though we reserved the car for the better part of a month). God worked it out pretty well though; we stopped in to tell our landlord that we’d be gone just so he knew to keep an eye on the place and he let us know that someone was moving into the first floor before we returned. This meant we needed to take everything out of our storage space down there: it took about an hour – perfect!
Finally, around 3PM, we got on the road and stopped in Illinois around midnight (CST). The next day we had only a 5 hour drive to Knob Noster, MO to visit with the other Whelpleys. Rob, Jessica and Elisabeth were there (my uncle and aunt were in Boston with their job) – we watched a lot of TV and played a lot of Phase 10, that’s about all. (We also tried Jello shots for the first time – overrated.)
The 9th. We drove 2 hours to Ann and Chuck’s on the other side of Kansas City. Dinner was great with them and Steve (and his roommate). Steve took us out to the comedy club and we got to talk quite a bit. Chuck(ie)’s bed was very comfortable and the next morning we had breakfast out with he as well as my aunt and uncle.
Western Kansas suuuuuuuucks to drive through. Flat, followed by more flat, little hill, flat, flat, flat, flat, exit with a gas station that is out of service, flat, flat. COLORADO BORDER… flat, flat, flat. Wait! Wait! I see mountains! Seeing the mountains was like getting a triple espresso injection. I was zippy the rest of the way there. The one thing that was cool about Western KS was when the random lightning storm… the hits were about 10 miles away, but because of no trees or hills or mountains it was clear as if it were 100 yards away.
Since we’ve been out here though it’s been pretty crazy. With the heat wave it’s been well over 90° every day. So far we’ve:
Moved cribs; set up childcare for 2,500 staff kids; built light tresses; rigged up lighting in Moby arena (think 23,000 ft²); built the stage; found out the stage was too short; moved the entire stage 4 feet out; re-connected the stage; emptied 8 semis worth of staging, light, sound and video equipment; put on carpeting (again 23,000); set up lights for a “county fair”, registered 6,000 people; worked a few 9+ hour days. It’s been a little nuts.
Honestly, God is doing a lot in me though. Usually, I’d think that the great speakers (like John Piper last week) would be the things that would impact me most, but it’s been the real work that God has been using to get to me. The 7AM staff meetings force me to trust Him (and the sun in my eyes at 6:30).
One of the best things so far has been meeting new friends and seeing old ones. The new one has been Andy Dixon (link to the right there), he’s on staff in Birmingham, England. He’s going to be doing a lot of the running of the Western Europe staff conference and he’s learning here. Honestly, he’s been great to get to know; totally friendly, good guy, great American/British rivalry sense of humor, likes good beer. I think he and Greg would get along far, far too well.
Anyhow, I’m soon to bed. I just wanted to make a real entry and put it in before the CCCI Blogger Meetup on Monday Night.
Oh, and here’s a picture of me bolting some stage together…
