Friends are friends forever...

Gail and I did a crazy thing Friday. We drove to Chicago at the last minute to see a group of our dearest friends, and then turned around and came back the same night! Because of the traffic, it took us six hours to get there, but it was worth every frustrating moment on the road.

This group of friends was together when we were all young adults, starting families and careers. We were together in a church in Waukegan, Illinois, learning to serve the Lord and function as adults in the real world. I was in seminary and also became the pastor of the congregation for awhile before we moved to Indianapolis in the early '90s.

Now one of the couples is packing up rather suddenly and moving to Cannon Beach, OR, to work in a Christian conference center there on the Pacific coast. They'll be pulling out next Sunday. Mike and Paula...Godspeed. We look forward to visiting a part of the world where we've never been before.

As for Terry and Cheryl, Jack and Sally, Paul and Lynette...we're really not that far from each other. Any of us could make it roundtrip in a day. However, at our age, I'm not sure I recommend it!