Writing About Not Writing
This was going to be a quick note in the chat but now it's 500 words.
Hi Everyone.
I'm sorry I've been so quiet. Things have been pretty nonstop. I was planning to write about seeing U2 at Sphere in Las Vegas last weekend, and then the next day we learned what happened in Israel, and now what's happening in Gaza. And it didn't feel right to do a post about my awesome night in the midst of so much tragedy. My heart has been heavy and I would imagine you can relate.
After Vegas I drove to Los Angeles to spend a couple days with my sister Emily. I got back to Florida yesterday and led a small-group conversation last night. We talked about God and faith and shared our questions and the whole thing felt really good.
I started working on a new post, which I was hoping to share today, but it needs more time. Which brings us to another cool concert.
My friend JP Saxe is opening for John Mayer tonight in Tampa and I just made the game-day decision to say yes to his invite. Tampa is a hike from Melbourne but I know it will be worth it. This is a lot of writing for a note about not writing but I wanted to apologize. I promise to be back to normal and back to writing consistently super soon. One of the first comments—maybe even the very first—that I remember in response to the original TWLOHA story, said that in order to tell good stories, one must live good stories. That has stayed with me for more than 17 years. Of course it can be hard to find the balance and it's interesting to have a bunch of fun plans all of the sudden after so many quiet months at home, but hopefully I’m living good stories.
One last thing about JP, who I'm seeing tonight. The night I met him and the first time I heard him sing, it was because he had paid his own way to Florida to be part of TWLOHA's HEAVY AND LIGHT event. This was back in 2018. JP joined his friend Tonya Ingram, a spoken-word poet and longtime friend of the organization, who we had invited to perform. Tonya passed away at the beginning of this year. JP was the one who called to tell me the news. I’m going to spend some time remembering our friend Tonya on the drive across the state. I know she would be proud of JP, and I know I’m grateful to Tonya for connecting us.
Well, this was going to be a quick note in the chat but now it’s 500 words about not writing. Haha. I’ll be back soon with a proper post. Thank You for supporting me.
Upcoming small-group conversations: Join me Thursday, October 19 for the first-ever “Magical Mystery Talk.” Bring your own topic and let’s see what happens.
New Date Added: The first two groups sold out so I’ve added a third. Join me on Thursday, October 26 for “What I Believe About God and What God Believes About Me.”
Calling all public speakers, whether you’re a pro or simply curious or somewhere in between. For the first time ever, I’m hosting a workshop focused on sharing everything I’ve learned in 17 (or possibly 31) years of public speaking. “All You Need Is Water” is happening November 3 & 4.
I think JP’s Tampa guest list is easier to get on than his LA guest list haha. But that sounds awesome! There is actually a chance I’ll end up at that Switchfoot LA show. I’ll be sure to let you know. 😊
We felt so similar about the stuff happening in Israel and Palestine. Right after our wedding, we found out Nathan's uncle and cousin were in Tel Aviv for a quick trip when the chaos started and had to shelter in their hotel basement. ((After almost a week without hearing anything, we found out yesterday that they made it safely to America))
We were trying to have our little local 1 day honeymoon (went to a local theme park) and it was too hard to have fun when you stop and think about how hard it would be to be sheltering and also not knowing if our people were okay or not. We watched a fireworks show (I love fireworks) but were thinking like "for us this is pretty, but for them this sound right now must be so scary." We rode a Rollercoaster ride and I'm scared of Rollercoasters but we were thinking like "yea, we've paid money to feel scared, but millions of people right now would give anything to not be scared." Those types of things. It definitely added some gravity to the moment and made us feel quite a bit more thankful that we'd been able to have a celebration safely. I was a little angry too, because I'd been looking forward to our honeymoon and being able to have some fun with nathan and he was so worried he couldn't really have fun so we had to not celebrate as much with each other because it felt a little wrong to celebrate at the same time that a family member could be hurting.
I think it's hard to hold that feeling of wanting to be able to celebrate and be happy and enjoy your own experiences while also being aware that your realities in the present moment aren't the same realities some other people are feeling. For our honeymoon, we ended a bit early to go home and read all the cards people had given us. Trying to do fun stuff had felt a little empty, but reading the cards together felt more real and connected to the people we love.
Anyways, thanks for sharing about having a similar feeling after the concert.