Blogging From the NPC: Day 2

Day 2 began with a fantastic run with my friends from the NPC Runners Club. Two runs, if you want to be specific (only 2 miles each, for a total of 4). I got to catch up with my friends Tom (from Zondervan), Kevin (from Lexington), and Randy, who I hung out most with last year.

Then it was time for the first main session of the day. It was fantastic. The musical group Sons of Korah played their unique arrangements of several Psalms. They were unlike anyone I've ever heard, and their music was wonderful.

Nazareth, a very funny man, brought us comedy as well. This morning the crowd was a little warmer than we were for Bob Stromberg's routine yesterday (he was extremely funny, but the crowd was pretty stiff for the first day - perhaps I wasn't the only one with a little jetlag!)

The highlight for the morning session was Rob Bell, who didn't at all go where I thought he would. I thought he would go along the "Everything is Spiritual" route, but he didn't. He talked about the hurts that church people lay upon their pastors (I'll blog more about these when I have my notes with me), and that was really funny (especially when he referred to the complaints that come veiled thinly within complements: he called them "chocolate covered turds"). He originally came onto the stage pushing a shopping cart, and when he came to the end of his message, we found out why. His talk turned to forgivenes, and he asked us to write the names of people we needed to forgive and to drop those names into the shopping cart. Some people were slam-dunking their names, but the atmosphere was so entirely healing!

After lunch, it was time for some relaxation, which included finding Argentina v. France on TV. Then it was out to the beach for a run with some friends from the Runners Club; it was windy and beautiful. We ran another 4 miles (at an average pace of 8 minute miles).

Speaking of running, if I'm going to run with the gang, I need to conclude this blog entry and get over there.