We return to UK and with it a long-awaited post on BenThoughts.  We have all been clamoring for such an occasion.  Allow me to use this entry to be in bullet form because I just wrote a long article for The Baptists’ Sports Wire (friend of the blog) and don’t feel like taking on paragraph form again just yet.

–North Carolina has the total package.  You have your mountains, your beaches, your sports teams (granted they are yucky ACC teams), and all the NASCAR history you would ever want.  I will be posting pictures from my trip to the Richard Childress Racing Museum shortly on Facebook.

–I made some wonderful purchases on this trip I must say.  I bought a Steven Curtis Chapman CD, a beach shovel, an old American history textbook, and a pirate coconut head (wait until you see this…we’re talking about the new FPTJ).  In total, I spent about $28, so yeah I’m happy with it.

–Speaking of music, the 8th Vintage Performance System was completed and I have posted the results (at least the top ten) on the Vintage CDs page of the blog.  All I can say is that the music from my sophomore year stepped up big time.  Also stepping up was the new Vintage CD — Vintage CD 46.  It’s darn good friends, I mean really good.

–We drove through Wingate University outside Charlotte, which means nothing to you but everything to me.  This was one of the camps of PPK last summer, and while I’ve been in camp exile this summer, I took the five minutes that was spent driving through to reminisce about how wonderful those two weeks at Wingate were.  It really took me back to the complex emotions I was feeling at that time.

–My heart has grown so much this summer.  I can feel my heart in my throat almost daily as it reacts to different things I see in the world.  I am looking at people in a completely different way.  I see people–complete strangers–and wonder about their stories, what they struggle with, and whether or not they walk daily with Christ.  I must say, this summer has helped me fully appreciate Jesus as a friend, not just my Lord and Savior (which is pretty important and all).  As I come to understand that Christ truly walked the Earth and realize Him to be a friend, I am beginning to see people as more than people, but loving creations of God that walk and talk (in theory) as Jesus did.  And my heart swells.

The summer sun is beginning to set.  Vacation served as a nice buffer to split July in half and help usher the quick coming of August.  I am certain that I will learn much more from this summer before it enters its twilight.  In some ways, I have learned more from this summer, which was flawed from the start, than any other summer previously, which is saying something considering the epic levels of some of my recent summers.  If Harvey Dent is correct, if the night is darkest just before the dawn, then the next few weeks may become quite interesting.  But I’m willing to learn and continuting to gear up for a year that I’m quite sure will be unlike any other.