It’s an unusually cool day in August for Phoenix, Arizona. To commemorate the 70s temperature and gray clouds, I came here to Starbucks to pretend that I am in Seattle. The weather in Phoenix is predictable, so a random day is deserving of a random celebration.

This is my third day home from my vacation with Candyce and her family to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. Friday afternoon was a chill day unpacking and doing laundry. It was a thrill to walk into my clean house, just like I left it the day I left. Matt Maher is in Canada, and Carlos was in Tucson for most of the weekend. So I had the house pretty much to myself.

Today’s Sunday, and I spent several hours this morning cleaning up my landscaping. It’s hard for people who don’t own houses to understand, but the plants, trees, and grass outside need constant attention. It rained almost the entire time that I was in Mexico, so the backyard looked like a jungle. I packed to large trash barrels full of stuff that I clipped and raked. The place looks nice.

What excites me the most is a hedge of Oleanders that should grow above the fence the fence that seperates my backyard from my neighbor’s. I am tired of washing dishes and looking at each other. Another plant that looks cool is the tree that I planted earlier in the year. It’s grown from six feet to over eleven. I’ve snipped it every few weeks to give it that perfect bonsai look, and it’s really starting to show.

But I’m not happy about my Mesquite tree. I think I have the only breed of Mesquite that looks like crap. I have patiently trimmed and shaped this tree for three years now, and it still looks like shit. The branches never spring up with life and exuberance. They droop and drag until they eventually break off. I think when it gets cool this fall, I’ll cut it down and plant a tree that I can sculpt into something magnificent. I see guys do it all the time around here, and I am ready to join the club.

While I was working in the yard, I spent a lot of time thinking and praying for all the friends that are traveling. Some of them are in Germany for World Youth Day. It’s a big event in the lives of many young people. This year is memorable because we have a new pope–and he’s German. How cool is that? I had the option to go, but I prayed about it and decided that it was best for me to stay home.

Matt Maher is somewhere in Europe training people how to do better youth ministry. My heart really goes out to him because I know he’s already traveled so much this summer. That guy has absolutely exhausted himself for the sake of the Gospel.

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Candyce and her family will be driving over from San Diego later this week. It’s been a tough summer without her. I’m imagining this will be the last summer that we are apart. We love each other too much to spend two months away. In these last days before she gets back, I’ll be scrambling to get projects done so I can start relaxing with her in the fall.

Oh my gosh. I was about to write about how noisy Starbucks is when I turned around and saw that a table of chatty Chinese ladies had assembled inches from the back of my chair. My face was six inches from this ladies face. Weird!

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I finished this journal twenty minutes ago. I spilled my coffee, and turned around to jump up to find some napkins. Before I could slide my chair, one of the Chinese ladies handed me a fistful of napkins from her table. She was so close, she almost punched me in the face.