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When I first started traveling around the country in 2000, every destination was exotic and glorious, mostly because it I grew up in a sleepy town in the rural South. My friends and I joked that we had a lower suicide rate than big cities because there were no building you could jump from with hopes of ending your life. The closest we came to scraping the sky was our two-story courthouse. At most, you would twist an ankle if you stepped off the roof.

However, after ten years of heavy traveling, the United States is starting to seem like a smaller place. This afternoon I will travel to Rhode Island and finish in Massachusetts, a region of the country I’ve traveled to at least a dozen times. I’ve made at least twenty trips to the New York / Long Island, and just as many to Southern California. These places are no longer foreign to me; they are more like suburbs of my life separated only by a flight.

Earlier this month I made a quick trip to Denver to speak at a couple events. My most vivid memory of Denver comes from 2003 when I went on tour with Third Day through five cities in the West. By the time was made it to Denver, I was tired of living in arenas and the tour bus. I stumbled out of the bus early that morning and–barely awake–I walked away from the Pepsi Center with hopes of finding adventure in the city. On my way out of the parking lot I peeked through the windows of a cool bar inside of a historic brick building. In the five or so years since that trip, I’ve recalled the site of that building and wondered what has become of it. I was hoping on this trip into town we would maybe drive by. The crazy thing is that one of the events I spoke at was in the basement of that bar. How awesome is that?

It is satisfying to reconnect with a place that once new. The shimmer is gone, but in it’s place is something that is better–familiarity. I am at a point in my life where traveling for the sake of traveling is not as rewarding as it used to be. If I do travel, I want to bring Candyce and Norah with me. And if that’s not possible, the next best thing is to travel to an area that is familiar.

It has been one week since Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. The exuberant speculation about Obama’s presidency is deafening. News reporters and political commentators are beaming about change, hope, and a new beginning for our country.

Depending on who you ask, Barack Obama is more than a president, he is a celebrity, an icon, a super hero, a civil rights leader, or a savior. How can this type of adoration be anything but a speculative bubble, a big disappointment waiting to happen? One man cannot undo the adversity that our nation faces. One man cannot solve every man’s problems. These words may seem negative or even unpatriotic today, but I can guarantee that you will hear this same sentiment grow as each day passes in the Obama administration.

I sincerely hope I am wrong here. I recognize that each president has gifts, talents, and wisdom apart from his predecessors, but each president faces adversity more daunting than anything he encountered in his fight to win the White House.  To campaign as a solution to our problems is one thing, to solve those problems is another.

I will close with this. In all of the news coverage on Obama’s inauguration day, the most balanced perspective came from a twenty-second comment from Ted Koppel on NPR’s Talk of the Nation with Neil Connan:

He is not a foolish man, Barack Obama. He understand that the challenges that confront him now are going to make some of these high flown speeches seem almost quaint in a few months.  He still faces all of the same problems that George Bush faced. Will there be a difference in tone? You bet. They’re already is. Will there be a difference in terms of tactics? Very likely. Is the ultimate strategy going to change? I would be surprised.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from Letters and Papers from Prison, 204-205:

It is in just such times that we should make an effort to remember in our prayers how much we have to be thankful for.  Above all, we should never allow ourselves to be consumed by the present moment, but should foster that calmness that comes from noble thoughts, and measure everything by them.  The fact that most people cannot do this is what makes it so difficult to bear with them.  It is weakness rather than wickedness that perverts people and drags us down, and it needs profound sympathy to put up with that.  But all the time God still reigns in heaven. 

This morning Candyce and I drove past a beautiful Mid-Century Modern home on 44th Street north of Camelback Road in the Arcadia / Paradise Valley area.

I looked online to find some more information, and I was happy to find stunning photography of the home. What I like about the house is the freshened interior with thoughtful details that make the home both modern and livable. Don’t get me wrong, a glass and steel structure with minimal furniture looks great in a magazine, but it’s torture to live in. That’s why mod homes like this one are so desirable.

By the way, if you’re interested in buying the house, it can be yours for $849,000.

While I was in California, I played with a feature on my new camera called “stitch” that helps align multiple photos to help take big, wide open panoramic shots. If I had a tripod, the panoramic shot below would be even tighter. Click on each of the two photos below to see what I came up with.

I snapped this photo from the switchback on the wooden staircase from the bluff to the beach. The setting sun gave a beautiful glow.

Thirty minutes later, I captured this scene while standing on the beach. The sun was setting behind the Pacific, casting a cooler, bluer light.  Notice the lifeguard’s tire tracks on the left and right.