kindred spirits in kentucky

I knew I was in for a special time when I came to Kentucky. The home of Wendell Berry, Barbara Kingsolver, the intentional community that I'd never met but that invited me to come (and whose blog I'd already been reading for years).

But little did I know that I'd find such kindred spirits, and spend so many hours in delightful conversation about everything from missional church and neo-monasticism, urban gardening, Community Supported Agriculture, the dynamics of change and community, vocational discernment... as I learned about Sean's great book project, the Seedleaf initiative... and on and on and on...

That's not even to mention the energetic concert we had with a group of young families (see pictures here)... and I got to help Maggie and Seth as they first rode their bikes for the first time without training wheels... And I heard the amazing story of London Ferrell and spent an afternoon in the community garden that bears his name... wrote a song about it, actually, and walked the prayer labyrinth there...

While I'm certainly going to be glad to be heading home again soon (and looking forward to the upcoming weekend in Lancaster County), I have a hunch that these last few days in Kansas, Iowa and Kentucky have renewed my spirit in unexpected ways that I'll be discovering for some time to come...