Lake Junaluska

As we drove into Lake Junaluska, NC late last night I couldn't remember when I was here last. It seems as though its been a couple of years. My summer commitment to teach at Emory COS keeps me from taking advantage of the SC Laity Convocation and Minister's Week or other good offerings up here. I didn't realize how much I'd missed being here.

Early this morning I walked down to the cross overlooking the lake and distant mountains. (We're staying on the hill at Lambuth Inn.) It was peaceful, though from my perspective there is a sense of expectation. Most of the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference delegates will be arriving today. We have opportunity to hear the six nominees for bishop this afternoon, and then the Conference, and voting, starts tomorrow morning.

My daughter Kelsey was trying to explain to a friend where she was headed for the week. She said, "It's a hidden valley in the mountains of North Carolina, with a pretty lake, a couple of hotels, a bunch of retired Methodist pastors, an 11 PM noise curfew, and nothing else around." Teenages do have a different view of things.