Circleslide

wednesday, sept 9, 2009

The last summer has flown by us…ichthus festival, reunions in arkansas, camps in oklahoma, north dakota, and new hampshire, the fourth of july and prisons in michigan, the haunting beauty of new england and the heat and amazing food of my home in san antonio, texas…to name a few.

These places seem so distant from each other, in not only miles, but in climate, in  culture, in the way people go about their daily lives, and what they hold dear to their hearts.

And yet I couldn’t help but be awed by one common thread in all of our travels. Overwhelming me, knocking me flat on my keister, each time I saw it.

For some people it’s called ‘good manners’, for some it falls under the category of etiquette…and some have raised it to an art form…I’m talking about hospitality.

A crazy ancient practice that involves allowing strangers into your home, and treating them as equals…providing them with food, company and shelter.

In this band, I’ve experienced so much of this practice, that I unable to recount or remember everyone who has opened their home, their kitchen or their best room for me, my wife and the boys.

On this last trip, we were given lobster in Maine, in Michigan, we were given too many feasts to count, in georgia a mother of 4 boys cooked several mouth watering meals for all of us while going to nursing school at night… in my home state of texas we had to bring back the food in bags and coolers…we couldn’t carry it with our hands…bar-b-que, and tex mex food…we all gained at least 10 pounds…and loved every second of laughter and storytelling, and catching up.

People slept on floors so we could have the best room in the house…groceries were purchased with items reserved for kings and queens…and all this during a Down Economy. I am so undeserving of this kindness…really. All we do is write and perform songs for an hour… maybe an hour and a half. I’m dumbfounded and humbled by it all.

And the thing is, one day I’m sharing a phenomenal meal with someone who I know is decidedly left of me politically…and the next night…someone is sheltering me and cooking something exquisite for me who I know is to my right.

And in the backround, on the television, the noise says we are all just too different, too divided, too far apart to hear each other over the yelling, and the screaming and the anger and the name calling.

I know the issues facing us are real, and important.

But I’ve been reminded that in the living rooms, and kitchens, and porches, and back yard barbeques across this country…there are still people who care to give each other the best. Who will bend over backwards to make sure your belly is full, that you have a good night’s rest and that you have enough gas for the next journey. And it restores my soul…this unified heartbeat…this demonstration of genuine kindness.

It’s a true reflection of a Father who loves us and cares for us…in spite of our shortcomings…and I just wanted to say, ‘thank you’ to all of you for doing this for us…a reassurance that a flame still burns in the hearts of the faithful.

See you soon.

gabe