It’s taken me a while to get back to writing my blog after moving to Boone. Part of it could be that a company that shall remained unnamed took 10 days just to get our internet and TV running a total of 15 days to get telephone and still hasn’t gotten the order completed-one of our TV’s doesn’t have a working cable box yet. I really don’t feel like making my 8th call to customer service.Maybe we will just donate the TV to the Boone UMC Bazaar this fall! Maybe part of my delay is that moving is flat-out exhausting. I still hunt for things in the kitchen and tonight I could not find something that I know I put aside in a “special place” until I was ready for it and cannot for the life of me remember said special place. Maybe part of it is my increasing nervousness regarding my upcoming Mt. Kilimanjaro climb (I am less than 2 weeks away from departure!). And the fact that I have been trying to train like crazy in my spare time. Maybe part of my delay is that so very much has been happening in the news cycle that I am expending most of the remainder of my energy trying to figure out what feels like a very turned upside down world to me. People/agencies/countries that were our enemies are now our friends and people/agencies/countries that were our friends are now our foes? I would give anything for Jesus to return and show us how he would respond to the world we live in right now.

Regardless of the reason for my procrastination, I’m back in the saddle again. I hope that my new friends in Boone will help share with our church and community this bi-weekly blog. One of the things I am reflecting on a great deal these days is how refreshing a new start can be. As hard as it is to remember names and new faces and “special hiding places”, there is great joy in making new friends and experiencing the warmth of wonderful hospitality. It’s inspiring to see what God is doing in another neck of the woods. It is exciting to discover what my new role is in God’s great Kingdom plans that are already happening at Boone United Methodist. Getting started together is also a time of great hope. Hope that this new combination of people and skills, of ideas and dreams, of experience and context can, in unison together, create something new that hasn’t happened before. Getting started can also remind me, personally, that God is at work in so many places, impacting so many lives, reaching so many new people, far beyond my scope of vision. Moving to a new place can expand your perspective. And for me, that usually equates to increased hope and possibility. So off we go on new adventures. I’m excited to explore and celebrate what God is doing in the High Country. I’m eager to reflect on the discipleship journey from a different perspective. And I’m looking forward to calling Boone home. Grace and Peace, Lory Beth