No Place Like It

I'm home. I realize that I didn’t share much of the details about my 53-day journey…so here are fifty things I have been busy doing:

1. Flying. (From LA to Dallas to Houston to Atlanta to Orlando to Dallas to Orange County.)
2. Driving. A Chevy HHR with my picture on it. 3,750 miles.
3. Sleeping. At eight different Hampton Inns.
4. Wearing Pajamas most every day.
5. Eating out every day for 150 straight meals.
6. Gaining Weight (about ten pounds)
7. Losing Weight (about eight pounds)
8. Doing Radio Interviews.
9. Giving away Bobble Head Pens.
10. Giving away T-shirts.
11. Giving away Starbucks gift cards.
12. Making web commercials that never seem to make it on the website.
13. Sweating. (FYI, Texas, Georgia and Florida are hot in the summer.)
14. Losing my Blackberry and all of the information inside.
15. Buying a new Blackberry.
16. Returning my new Blackberry because it was broken.
17. Getting another new Blackberry.
18. Turning down about eight auditions.
19. Embracing the simple beauty of the text message.
20. Hanging out with local improvisers in LA, Orlando and Atlanta.
21. Eating at the original Chick-fil-A (the Dwarf House) in Hapeville, Georgia.
22. Getting rained on during fireworks at Stone Mountain Park in Georgia.
23. Getting rained on at Disney World.
24. Getting kicked out of an LA Dodgers game.
25. Getting kicked out of the CNN Building in Atlanta.
26. Getting kicked out of Downtown Disney in Orlando.
27. Getting kicked out of a mall in Houston.
28. Doing improv with my friends Mike, Jarrad and Marla.
29. Finishing 4th place at a Texas Hold Em tournament at a bar called B-52’s in Atlanta.
30. Watching Nacho Libre. (not what I had hoped for)
31. Watching A Prairie Home Companion (not at all what I had hoped for)
32. Watching Superman Returns (surprisingly what I had hoped for)
33. Waiting patiently for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
34. Getting new songs on i-tunes.
35. Listening to Rich Mullins when I get sad.
36. Pondering Dallas Willard’s comments on pity.
37. Strangely missing Kentucky when I was in Atlanta.
38. Strangely missing Ohio when I was eating at Buffalo Wings and Things.
39. Strangely missing Las Vegas most everyday.
40. Not-so-strangely missing home.
41. Missing Eli’s birthday, Aidan’s pre-school graduation and all the little moments of the last month.
42. Talking to Debbie everyday on the phone.
43. Writing the great American screenplay. (12 pages down, 100 to go.)
44. Loving my new Mac.
45. Having huge breakthroughs in regard to life being a journey and my identity as a pilgrim on the journey.
46. Talking about Jesus with my new friends.
47. Praying differently.
48. Preparing to come home and help some friends through a memorial service.
49. Counting down until today.
50. Being grateful for the time away and the refining power that it has. Nothing has made me value what I already have than leaving it for a month. I’ve come home a better person.