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I had the perfect opportunity to get to bed early last night, but I just couldn’t do it. The youth minister I stayed with has a 3wk old daughter that I got to hold. She was so small! Her tiny little feet didn’t come past my elbows. Her short little breathes and sporadic head tosses were so precious. All my family is grown up now, and I have plenty of time spent with teens and older, but rarely get to hang around kids and especially babies. I would have stayed up all night holding her but I knew the house had to eventually wind down.

Tomorrow is the much anticipated math test. I am confident I will do well b/c I’ve spent a lot of time preparing for it. I’m going to upload this journal and hit the books.

I spoke at St. John Newman Middle School this morning before my noon class. It was fun hanging out with enthusiastic and easily tickled young kids. My talk went over pretty well, and the meet-n-greet afterwards was even cooler. They were so proud to have me sit and eat pizza with them, sign autographs for their friends, and just chatting. I loved their happiness and support.

School continues to be a chore. Tests…deadlines…grading papers. It is a pain. But I am going to make it my Lenten sacrifice (among others) to focus on my schoolwork with all the drive of a second semester freshman on rebound for HOPE scholarship. It’s not that I am slacking, but there is only so much focus I have and my priorities determine what gets that focus. I hope the priority shift doesn’t bump something more important.

I’ve spent the past few days in Arizona meeting with co-writers for a book about radical faith. It has been an exciting and exhausting few days. It’s going to be trying and rewarding to bring this together.

I was in Carefree, AZ last night to speak to their youth group. I enjoyed the company of their youth minister, a hip late 20s GQ, on our way out of the valley closer to the mountains. The church was across the street from a private airport. Lining the strip were garage-like airplane hangers off the back of the palatial southwestern style homes. I’ve seen homes with garages everyday, and occasionally a home with a dock for a boat, but never a hanger for their plane.

Though the group gathered was smaller than what I am used to, I enjoyed the intimacy of the quaint group. It was a blast hanging out at their life house talking about life and faith.

After much anticipation, I am in sunny Arizona to compile a book with THE Fr. Dale–he started Life Teen. Today has really yet to start, as the publisher makes his makes his way here and all. It’s been rad hanging out here at St. Tim’s. It is inspiring to see how much a church can become a youth culture center as it is here in Mesa.

I slept very heavy last night after a 40-hr marathon to make a class deadline. It is officially half way through my last semester of school, and it feels terrific.

Last night Paul George and I had dinner at a yummy Italian restaurant. Paul is the youth minister out here in Mesa, quite a responsibility for a 26-yr-old. We talked about life and faith like we were best friends, even though we barely know each other.

It is fun seeing palm trees out here. After being assailed by the NYC wind, and downed by the ATL rain, the blue blue sky and crisp air of an Arizona winter is quite welcome.

P.S. I miss Meredith

Life Teen has had a training conference in Atlanta over the past few days. It is so much fun seeing youth ministers and priests I’ve met around the country so close to my home.

Though it is my duty as the national spokesperson to be seen at the conference, I choose spend as much time there as I can b/c I love it so much. It is an honor to sit in the conference lobby and chat for hours with youthful ministers, all excited, selfless, and ambitious. These people…I just wanted to hug each of them and thank them for having the strength to give up their “day jobs” (and significant pay cut, I might add) to become a greater influence on younger people. Rock on.

I spent a few hours talking with my friends Steve and Mark about relationships. It has been a long time since I have been in such an intense exchange of thoughts, ideas, and experiences. It’s kind of like when I first delved into the world of algebra back in seventh grade, and each concept was so bizarre and mind-boggling, yet proved to be useful for solving problems and understanding chapters in the book. My head hurt by taking in so much information, and my heart jumped as I learn more about my vocation. The talk
was awesome!

There is definitely a fire stirred in me right now, but I am saddened knowing I must walk the single-track path of schoolwork for the next three days. It won’t be long until it is all over.