Last night Al and I drove to Boston to a Boston Baptist College alumni dinner (can you say free barbeque).  I have had a relationship with the school, and I’m a pastor, so I was invited to attend via email from my friend Scotty Anderson.

We twittered about it all night (yet another exciting reason to twitter), but I thought I’d say a few words about it on my blog.  BBC is a college that has its roots in the Baptist Bible Fellowship, and is a network of autonomous (unless you change the name of your church to not have the word “Baptist” anymore) churches for the purpose of things like fellowship and missions.  Typically I enjoy spending time with many of these pastors, and really, this evening was no exception.

Al and I arrived late because of traffic, and almost all the barbeque was gone when we got there.  But we dug up the food we could, which was very amazing.  And we ate.  This was good too.  Among the things on the menu:

Barbeque Beef sandwiches
Bbq baked beans
Corn bread
the most amazing cheesecake bites ever

After we ate, the program began.  There are some things that are done well during bbf meetings like this, but there is hardly anything that is done relevant.  For instance, the music was wonderful, it was just boring, with the exception of one song where this girl stole the show from her parents (who were the main performers) and sang this song with her dad that was absolutely brilliant.  The song was old-fashioned, but how it was done was great.

After the concert, a alumnus from the school came to the stage and offered some thoughts on how it prepared him for his work on the mission field.  Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Perhaps the only redeeming part of the night was the speaker (every BBF meeting has a preacher, not a speaker, amen!) named Paul Trinkle.  I know Paul’s brother, Ed, but had never got a chance to meet him.  His message was encouraging as he focused on the relationship of Moses and Joshua, and encouraged every Moses (old guy) to have a Joshua, and every Joshua (young guy) to become a Moses. (from Exodus 33)

After the meeting, Al and I talked to several people we know, and then we went to Dunkin Donuts with some of my closer friends from the group and talked church for a bit.  Actually, one of our friends, attempted to share with several of us why we should be more a part of the BBF.  I was not convinced.  In fact, one of the lessons I learned from the chat was that the ONLY thing I need from this organization is fellowship.  I don’t need or want their money.  I don’t need to send any of my students to their Bible college.  I only need to be able to chat with a group of guys who are going through many of the same things I am.  Here are 3 of the guys I met with:

Left to right:  Paul Trinkle, Sean Sears, Rob Willis (not pictured:  James Tomassen (sp?), Al Dancy)

We stayed there chatting until about 10:35 pm, at which time the Celtics had already beaten up on the Pistons in game 1.  I had a great time, like I always do even with the music and suits, because of relationships.  This is why I go. 

I did ask myself however if I would have rather have been here.

How about this?  My dad’s favorite teams in basketball and hockey are the Pistons and the Red Wings
My favorite teams are the Celtics and the Penguins. 

I bet there will be some trash talking!

I love it!  Not only did my Celtics go to round 2 today, but my NHL Penguins advanced to round 3 sweeping in the first round, and only losing 1 game in the 2nd.  Today was evidently a great game, and the thing I love about it was that I found out about the victory from a Twitter friend from Canada.  Life is good.  I would love to see my teams win the Stanley Cup and the NBA Championships this year.

Would you love that for me?

If I was tired before, now I have a short term case of insomnia.  I have just arrived into Albany and am about to lay down my weary head at the home of my friend Ray.

One of the coolest things about this trip was the time I got to spend with Ray.  Ray and I have been friends since January of 2003 and even lived together for a short time before he got married to Joanna in October 2004.  He is the man,and I totally appreciate his willingness to go with me. Maybe he’s travelling at the speed of love too, who knows. (no smart comments please)

So I should probably go to bed, even though I’m a bit wired and totally tired.  After attending Lonnie’s dad’s funeral, we spent a short, but quality amount of time with the Snells (pictures coming tomorrow [or today actually]), and then after that time, we took off again, driving through rain much of the time, but other than that, it was quite uneventful.  But if you want to find out any of those unevents, you can always check out my updates on Twitter.By the way, Jeff posted a comment in my last post that you should read.  It’s a nice take on travelling at the speed of love.

I’ll write more and post pictures tomorrow!  Good night.

I’m tired.  Really tired.

This story started about 27 hours ago when I decided to go on this road trip.  Some would say this was the foolish adventure of boys, not one of responsibility and dedication of men.  But I would disagree as I sit here writing this post this afternoon.  I’m still tired but it’s so worth it.

Last week I learned that Lonnie, my former pastor and present mentor and friend, had his father taken away from him by death.  A crushing thing it must be to have someone you love, who’s been such a close part of your life, pass on to the next life.  In this case, there’s a sense of relief to know that his father had such a wonderful relationship with his Savior, Jesus Christ.

But there was a part of me that felt some of those pains for Lonnie, who has also been an important part of my life.  I hadn’t even thought of a road trip until a lady in my church asked me if I was going to the funeral. 

“I’m way too busy,” was the first thought on my mind.

At the same time, as God would have it, our church (this includes me) is reading this amazing book by Vince Antonucci called “I became a Christian and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”  I have been seriously changed by reading certain parts of this book.  Thanks Vince for writing it.  Anyways, there’s this section in the book that really struck a chord with Carie and I where Antonucci repeats several times the phrase “travelling at the speed of love.”

Unfortunately, Carie could not be in on the trip if I chose to go, but I didn’t want to go by myself, so I made the decision to go.  Rather than make excuses, I would “travel at the speed of love” for someone who had poured his life into mine – To be there for him.  So 27 hours ago, I decided to go, and then I began looking for someone to travel with me.

No one could go.  My father-in-law would have come, but I know it would have been a huge sacrifice (even though I know in my heart if I had really, really asked he would have gone) for him to go, so I started to look around.  Absolutely NO ONE could go with me.  Then the excuses flooded my mind.  “I can’t travel by myself.”  “I do still have things I could be doing here.”  “I won’t be able to blog as much.” (just kidding, I just threw that one in there)  But despite my own objections, that simple phrase kept returning to my mind.

So about 21 hours ago, I left by myself, feeling a bit bad for myself because I was going to be travelling alone.  Then I began to feel encouraged.  “Come on Marty, this 12 hour, overnight trip will be good for you!”

Eventually I called my friend Ray when I was in the Berkshires.  His wife picked up the phone and I said, “Hey Jo-Jo (nickname), I’m calling to take your husband away from you for 3 days for a 12 hour road trip, and that will be happening in about 45 minutes when I arrive at your house.”  Her response?  “Heres Ray”.  Ray listened and told me he’d get back to me, eventually calling me back and telling me he’d be going with me.

“WOOHOO!!!!!”

So we arrived in the place we’ll stay today without sleep, dirty and tired.  I’ve been twittering occasionally our whereabouts, and also sharing some of the music we’ve been listening to.  Get a Twitter account and follow me here, if you’d like.

Now I’m happy to be here, and to be able to share this time with you.  I’ll keep you posted as to what’s happening, but either way I know this – It’s all in the speed of love.

What speed are you going?