I leave for Belize tomorrow! I am very excited!

The last week with my family has been great. I've been able to spend time with parents, sister and brother-in-law, and with my too-cute-for-words nephew. I'm a blessed man to have had this great prelude to an exciting new adventure.

There is a bit of a mad rush going on at the moment to get everything done. There is packing to do, expenses to get reimbursed, parking tickets to pay (I sheepishly mumble), friends to see, vestments to finish, allergies to avoid: today in particular will be crazy. But tomorrow, when I pass through security at the crack of dawn, the busyness of here will be over, and I will be left entirely with the challenges and joys of the there that awaits me. And that is a great thing to think about.

Today, on the great Feast of the Ascension, I simply leave you with this prayer:

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.