Colorado Springs, CO

                                                                                    Sunday, October 11, 2009

 

Once again this time I’m using the “question and answer interview” format for my trip report.  It is set up with “friends” asking the questions, followed by my responses.  This trip was a long and very eventful one, therefore the report is long and I don’t expect many, if any, of you to read every word of it.  You can scan down the list of questions (in bold type) and read the responses that interest you.  At the end is a brief day-by-day index of dates and places for reference. 

 

Friends:          Explain again -- for those of us who have not been reading your reports for several years -- why you sometimes make a long cross-country road trip, versus the majority of your business trips, which are by air?

 

RF:      I think it started back in 1990 – when Dawson was little and Monica wasn’t born yet.  We decided that Annette and Dawson would fly out from our home in Kentucky to Oregon to be with her family, and I would drive out to join them a couple days later.  That way we would have the car for most of the vacation, Annette would get more time to visit her people, and I would get some needed time alone to pray and sort things out.  I savored that “odyssey” incredibly, remembered it fondly, and watched for the opportunity to do something like that again.  Then, beginning in 2003, first because of my 3-year term on the immunization committee in Atlanta and then because of my embryo adoption job based in Knoxville, I’ve needed to go to the southeast 2 to 3 times a year.  More often I fly.  But in the fall, when the weather is pleasant, I can break the routine and build in lots of opportunities to visit people and places along the way by driving to and from the southeast.

 

Friends:          Who pays for it?

 

RF:      The National Embryo Donation Center, the agency that contracts with me, is willing to reimburse the equivalent of lowest airfare and equivalent of rental car expense, for the portions of the trips that involve NEDC business.  This time, the occasion for the trip was the Christian Medical and Dental Associations national conference in Ridgecrest, North Carolina.  I gave an embryo adoption talk at that conference, had 3 other professional talks in North Carolina and Tennessee, and needed to spend a day in the Knoxville office.  In all, I was eligible for 11 nights reimbursed lodging and meals (9 by NEDC and 2 by universities) plus enough to pay the gas for the whole trip.  By staying with generous friends for 8 of the remaining 9 nights and eating “on the cheap”, I managed to add in 4 embryo adoption talks at Christian universities and a whole bunch of visits to friends at very little cost to our family. 

 

Friends:          And you stay up with your on-line work and communication with your family along the way?

 

RF:      Yes.  There are some research projects that we discussed while I was in Knoxville but otherwise had to wait until I got home.  I will be much busier throughout the fall than I was during the summer, because of 3 projects where the work is all right here and I won’t be stuck for days waiting for people to respond to calls or emails.  On the road, I have voice, text, and e-mail on my cell phone.  I also took my laptop computer with me and many places have wireless access.  So I pretty well stayed up on everything.  That included 2 extensive personal/professional recommendations I was asked to write on behalf of people I visited.  I talked to Annette at least once each day, and exchanged some texts with her, Dawson, and Monica.  Thanks for praying for my family.  Annette agrees that our communication was better than on my past long trips, but life on the home front was still a challenge.  The hardest part of it for Annette is getting up early to take Monica to the bus stop each school day.   

 

Friends:          Will Annette be able to travel with you more after Monica goes to college next year?

 

I think so.  Clearly, a 3-week road trip would not suit her preferences, so I’ll have to make some adjustments.  We actually “tried out” the new concept during last New Year’s season when Annette went with me to San Antonio and Dawson and Monica “kept house” by themselves for a week.  We’ll see what next year brings.

 

Friends:          Well, let’s get back to the specifics of this trip.  What would you say was the one single highlight? 

 

That’s completely unfair, because each day was different and sometimes there were multiple highlights each day.  But, I’ll pick three – one professional and two personal.  At the CMDA conference, I believe I gave the best embryo adoption talk I’ve yet given, both from a technical quality standpoint and in connecting with the group of people that attended.  The room was nearly full, people listened with interest and many lined up to talk to me afterwards.  I believe I will have at least 2 more lectures this coming year based on contacts made at this conference.  My friend, Dr. Fred Brown, listened carefully and gave me specific feedback afterward.  He said it was a “home run”. 

 

Friends:          And the other experiences at the conference?

 

Wow.  I hadn’t even thought beforehand about what I might glean from the plenary talks.  For those of you who have not been to CMDA, it is very unique because worship times are mixed right in with scientific sessions.  The names Mark Earley, Ken Myers, and J.P. Moreland might not be widely recognized across the Christian community (let’s say, compared to James Dobson, Chuck Colson, or Franklin Graham) … but I think CMDA leadership did absolutely the right thing in picking people who had powerful things to say and the experiences to back them up, rather than going for name recognition.  I still need to write a detailed e-mail to the CMDA office giving them my conference feedback (almost all positive).  I came away still wrestling with … well, I think the way I’d put it now is “are you prepared to serve Christ when you cannot serve on your own terms?”  It’s a very timely question because during this 3 week trip I had control of most of the details and you could say I did serve Christ on my own terms, but in other places, even here at home ???

 

Friends:          We heard you met someone unexpected at the conference.

 

RF:      I sure did!  After my talk (during which I had made a passing reference to Bible quizzing) a surgeon, David Vickery, came up to me and reminded me that he and two of his sons have been heavily involved in quizzing on the Olivet region.  I recognized his name.  However I had never made the connection with his wife because I had known her only by her maiden name.  She is Katrina Agner, 1972 international champion!  She sat opposite me in two rounds in that international tournament and beat me off the seat repeatedly.  I remember beating her only once – my “miracle” 20^th question on Colossians 3:23 off quizmaster (now retired Trevecca President) Millard Reed that gave us our only win of the tournament.  She was at the conference with her husband!  So I got to connect with her for the first time in 37 years.

 

Friends:          And the North Carolina Nazarenes were on campus too?

 

RF:      They were.  Fortuitously.  Having their weekend laymen’s retreat.  Somebody saw my orange T-shirt with Trevecca across the back when I was checking in and asked if I were one of them.  Well, I wasn’t … until I made arrangement to join them for morning prayers when I wasn’t otherwise committed at CMDA.  I wish I had had my purple Trevecca shirt with the big logo along on this trip, then I could have had my picture taken with the NC Naz group and sent it in to the Trevecca news magazine.  They have a page for just such occurrences.

 

Friends:          That was one of the two personal highlights you referred to earlier?

 

RF:      Actually I was referring to two others.  The first was the Sunday I spent with the Creasman family in Maggie Valley, NC.  Brenda (Creasman) Hess was a very close friend from my teenage years.  She was actually a teammate of mine at that same 1972 international quiz.  She thinks she was the “sub” on the bench when I hit that winning question.  She is also an NNU alumna (class of 1977).  She and her husband of 4 years, Darrell Hess, took me to their worship service and to a Sunday brunch hosted by her parents, who live in the community nearby.  I had not seen any of these people for 13 years.  Brenda had a lot to share, some while riding with Darrell and me through the countryside, some in her folks’ living room, and some out on the porch deck just with me.  I have a lot of encounters in which I see how God ties people’s stories together through the decades and makes painful experiences into a precious life journey, but this one stood out.

 

Friends:          And the other experience?

 

RF:      The weekend in Frankfort, KY, the place where our family lived for 12 years.  I was hosted by Doug and Ann Lafoe, a couple to whom we grew close while we lived in Frankfort and who have remained wonderful friends since.  I’ve stayed there several times through the years, to the point where it takes effort to remind myself that their back guest bedroom doesn’t belong to me.  Partially because not everybody I sought chose to make him- or herself available for a visit with me in Frankfort, Doug, Ann, and I had quite a bit of time to ourselves and deepened our friendship.  On Sunday night I put Annette on the line and she and Ann had a good visit.  Then we did “family prayers by speakerphone” with Monica and Annette.  That’s a trick that our family learned for times when our family is split 2 and 2, such as when I am in Nampa with Dawson.  On Saturday morning, Doug and I went out in his car and saw several friends in their homes.  Sunday morning worship was special as I was privileged to witness the testimony and baptism of Ms. Ann Lewis, a newly committed believer in the church.  She is now my fourth friend “Ann” with Frankfort roots – but that is another story.

 

Friends:          Did you have any experiences that weren’t entirely positive?

 

RF:      To make the report honest, I have to tell you about Johnson City.  I arrived there late Tuesday evening the 29^th, while trying to process what had been a very hectic day in the Knoxville office.  Then, Annette and I had a phone discussion dealing with a difficult issue that took us until 11:30 pm.  I had a hard time getting to sleep.  Waking up after 5 hours, I started the car and heard funny noises in the engine.  Still, I made it to ETSU Hospital on time and thought I could just plow through and do a good job on the talk, but it didn’t happen.  Most of the folks there were quite skeptical of the things I had to say and I found myself fighting for words, stuttering, and struggling to make sense.  The Grand Rounds hostess was very kind, but I know real truth is on its way when the lecture evaluations arrive.  Then I took the car to the Honda dealer and caught up with on-line work in the showroom lounge while the car got a pulley nut and drive belt replaced.  I’m thankful the car acted up when and where it did, because I was neither late to a commitment nor left by the side of the road.  I’ve had towing experiences in the past and don’t want any more. 

 

Friends:          How did you feel about your university campus visits?

 

RF:      Wonderful.  All the campus talks went well, though I think the ones at Andrews and Taylor were the strongest.  By the time I reached Taylor, I had made a series of improvements based on prior experiences, which helped.  My hosts at each place were gracious and professional.  At Trevecca, I had a busy day seeing student friends (these included Doug and Ann’s daughter Allison), visiting Admissions on behalf of a Colorado student for whom Trevecca, rather than NNU, seems to have the more appropriately configured academic major, and meeting and praying with my friend, Michael Johnson.  I didn’t see President Boone because he was in Mississippi at the time.  At each of the other 3 campuses I met and prayed with the President.  At Taylor, I was “looking” on Monica’s behalf because this school has made her final list of 3 colleges.  My best way of describing Taylor’s response to me was that they “scrambled fighters” – do you remember the Korean jet that wandered into Soviet airspace in the 1980’s?  Well, Taylor’s intention was to welcome, to promote the school, and to bless me rather than to destroy (!) but without a doubt they did everything they could in 5 hours’ time to let me know they wanted my daughter. 

 

Friends:          Did you have good prayer times on the road?

 

RF:      I really did, and they were needed because each place I visited left me with a lot of lives and relationships to process.  I’m still working at driving safely while I do all that.  Several times I was so engrossed that I missed an exit or a turn, but I always figured out where I was in time to correct the mistake.  I had a lot of good insights from the prayer time, most of which concern the people I pray for daily or weekly, or those whom I visited.  However, some relate to what God is doing in me.  Thanks for your prayers for safety.  Indeed, two more deer crossed the road in front of me (I think they were in Indiana) but there was one car between me and the deer and even that car had time to slow down.  I stopped about an inch short of what would have been a big long scratch on a car in a parking lot at Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky.  By the way, my times at the parks were wonderful.  Walks, rest, just what I needed in between assignments.

 

Friends:          Did you listen to music CDs this time?

 

RF:      I forgot to bring them along!  There were some of the longer drives when I could have used them, but most of the time I had enough to think and pray about and watch for.  Next time I won’t forget them.

 

Friends:          Did you feel well throughout the trip?

 

RF:      Sure did.  I gave a phone interview for Moody Bible Institute Radio (NW Illinois affiliate station) on swine flu, and still managed not to catch the bug myself!

 

Friends:          Is it good to be home?

 

RF:      Yes, though I, like Allison Lafoe (we talked about this) have come to realize that “home” is wherever God wants you to be.  For a husband, though, there is special significance to being back with wonderful wife and daughter, and here I am.  I really miss Dawson and will be glad to get up to NNU to see him the first week of November.  That is part of another journey, which you will hear about soon.

 

 

Travel Itinerary Synopsis:

 

Friday 9/18 – Colorado Springs – Wray, CO for Bible quiz

Saturday 9/19 – Wray quiz – Salina, KS

Sunday 9/20 – Salina, KS (worship) – KY Dam Village

Monday 9/21   Ky Dam – Greenville, SC

Tuesday 9/22 – Greenville, SC – Durham, NC (talk at Duke infertility clinic)

Wednesday 9/23 – Durham, NC – Greenville NC (talk at East Carolina) – visit Inner Banks & back to Durham

Thursday 9 /24 – Durham – Ridgecrest NC to CMDA meeting

Friday-Saturday 9/25-26 CMDA

Sunday 9/27 – Ridgecrest – Maggie Valley NC

Monday 9/28 – Trevecca Nazarene University, Nashville, TN

 

 

 

Tuesday 9/29 – Knoxville, TN (ofc) – Johnson City TN

Wednesday 9/30 – Johnson City (ETSU) – to Jenny Wiley park, KY

Thursday 10/1 – Jenny Wiley – Lexington KY

Friday 10/2 – Lexington – Frankfort KY

Saturday- Monday 10/3-5 – Frankfort

Monday 10/5 – MVNU, Mount Vernon, OH

Tuesday 10/6 – Andrews Univ, Berrien Springs, MI

Wednesday 10/7 – Taylor Univ., Upland, IN -- Chicago

Thursday 10/8 – Chicago – Lincoln NE

Friday 10/9 – Lincoln NE – Colorado Springs