contrasts

and once again, i'm safely home.

all my clothes are clean and settled back into their drawers and closet spaces. the mail has been sorted, the water pressure in my shower has never felt so good, and the first day back to work is behind me... i'm sitting here on this sofa, eating some fantastic banana pudding that Marie created while i was away, thinking about where to begin writing about all that took place within the past 8 days of my life.

- - -

on the streets of Seattle, if you have even half a mind to perceive it, you notice how smart everything seems... the people, the sharpening tensions of academia pervading street conversations, and even the material city structures themselves - the buildings, the transportation systems... even the city grid is well laid out, making the city easy to navigate. you don't see the masses wearing their suits and ties, donning their briefcases and sunglasses... this is not New York. the sky is dreary, but the city is colorful - swarming with activity and community that i sometimes forgets can exist under the shadow of skyscrapers. of course, there are always a few crazies roaming the streets with their untapped potential... but there are also more professional artists, writers, entrepreneurs than one can count - sitting with their laptops, sipping their espresso, leading to places and worlds some of us only dream of following them into someday. you do not use an umbrella if it rains - you get wet... and arguably, you may be the better for it. the city was everything and nothing of what i expected, as cliche as such a paradoxical statement may sound... there was so much to love about the city - and that was only Seattle.

in addition, we visited Cannon Beach and Portland, OR... mountains and beaches within a few miles of each other, bookstores that cover entire city blocks, waterfalls that leave you shivering under their icy spray, incredible pastries and coffee, warm fireplaces in ocean-front rooms, seagulls flying into the sunset, parking meters that accept credit cards, and award-winning hospitality that makes me question the South's sense of entitlement to the word.

- - -

i do not completely know yet how sad i am to have left the Northwest. i do not completely know yet how i feel about being here again in Memphis. all i know is that for everything, there is a time... last week was a time for action, for laughter, for study, for memories, for calories, for experiencing, for photography, for freedom.

and this week is a time for figuring out how last week's actions, laughter, study, memories, calories, experiences, photographs, and freedoms can help me build the Kingdom as big as i remembered it could be, while i was away.

- - -

when the color red is seen by itself, you probably will understand that it is red - because it is red, and it has been red ever since kindergarden - and inherently, red will always be red, no matter if you think it is red or not...

but when the color red is set up against the color green... all of a sudden, there is a tension. there is a contrast. you begin to study the red, and you begin to study the green. red is not just red anymore - it is a contrast for green, and as such, it is seen perhaps for the first time as something unique, with inherited attributes and qualities that only such a contrast could afford it.

when a contrast is set before us, there is an opportunity to learn something new... see something different, understand something newly unveiled... to grow into something more than we just were, one second before.

this is why i love to travel:

it inevitably sets up a contrast.

it inevitably opens my eyes.

it inevitably helps me grow.

- - -

and once again, i'm safely home.