It’s 4:35 AM and we are driving into New York from Canada to catch our flight home. I’m in the back seat of the minivan with suitcases and guitars stacked around me. It’s dark and hazy out, with truckers and a few cars floating past us on their way towards Toronto.

Night quiets our lives. Businesses lock the doors, commercials stop yelling, and people go to bed. The world stops for a few hours and surrenders to their need to sleep.

Night puts things into perspective.

Tom, Matt, Everett, and his wife are laughing and telling stories up front. I can see their silhouettes against the light of the high way. We’ve been on the road for an hour now, and we’ve been sharing experiences about the past week at World Youth Day.

I’ve heard some powerful, life-changing words this week. I am affirmed and challenged by the Pope to live a life entangled with Christ. The pope said, “You are young, and the pope is old…I consign my hope to you.”

In twelve hours, I’ll drop my luggage on the floor and flop onto my bed. How do I answer the call, for the rest of the day? For the rest of my life?