Journal entry for: 8-20-2000

Hello Everyone,

      I hope that you are all making the best of the last vestiges of this year's summer. Me, I'm sitting here in my apartment, listening to Springsteen, looking out the window, postponing errands, so I am definately making the best of it! We're heading back out on the road tomorrow, and once we start this trip, there really won't be a lot of stopping for a long while, which is a good thing. Please pray for Mark and Dawn, though, as they'll have to spend these first couple of months of their marriage with her finishing up school and him traveling all around the country, screaming into his guitar.

      Let me tell you, this has been an interesting couple of weeks. A lot of my friends have had giant, traumatic things happen all in a row. Engagements breaking up, close family members with cancer, burn accidents, all kinds of crazy stuff. It's been surreal, because it's been happening all around me, but none of it has happened TO me. You start to feel bad after a while when your life is going just fine and it seems like everyone else's is falling apart. You start hoping that your car will explode and blow off a body part or two, just so you're not the only one unscathed. (I don't men that seriously.) But still, it's hard and weird, because you still have to do your daily things and you hope that you doing those things doesn't offend the people who can't because of their problems.

      But here is the kicker. Last night I was talking to my friend whose mother just got diagnosed with cancer and as I was telling them how sorry I was, etc, she stopped me and said "In everything give thanks, that's what we're supposed to do, and everything doesn't leave much room, so we're giving thanks for it, and expecting something good to happen somehow." I was humiliated. I would have been angry and stupid and made everyone around me miserable just because, and here their family was, giving thanks. Wow. What an example of Godly living. Of real life and the real Gospel. A Gospel that is more than nice words, but can give us peace down to the very core of our being, when everything else falls apart. And I feel bad, even now, for talking about this, because I'm not the one in pain, but I'm sharing this because I find it so amazing, and I can only hope and pray that I could handle a situation like that half as well. I have never had anyone really close to me die or go through a ton of pain, and that sometimes scares me, because I have no idea how I'll handle it when it will inevitably happen. What an example they have set to me. So I don't know really what the point of sharing this was, but I'm glad I did. And today please remember my friends Dave and Jen and their family in your prayers. Thanks.

      I know it wouldn't be a letter from me if there wasn't something depressing in it, so there it was, but in all reality, life around the old Normals camp has been all right. It's been a rich, deep and exciting couple of weeks. We're really looking forward to the fall tour, we know that you'll love Matthew and Nickel and Dime, and are excited to get to share them with all of you. Thank you, also, to all of you who have continued to write us and encourage us with your thoughts on the new record. It has been amazing to see things that have happened through that record already. (Also, if you have written in the past couple of weeks and we haven't replied yet, please be patient, we're getting to them as fast as we can, don't hate us!) With that I'll let you go. Thank you again for your encouragement and especially your prayers, come see us this fall! Until then...

Grace and Peace,
Andrew