Hey everyone... today I got some very sad news that my father in-law, who I love dearly, passed away earlier this morning. So right now I'm sitting in the San Francisco airport waiting to catch a redeye to get home to be with my family. So please forgive us for canceling the rest of the dates on this trip - we're all very sorry and am sad we didn't get to come to your town. I hope you'll understand.

On this tour, we've been talking a lot about the questions we have as believers in Christ - the doubts and fears we still have even while becoming (we hope) more and more like Jesus each day. In the culture we find ourselves in, it can be easy to cut and run when things get tough. Scott, Jonathan, and I have been talking a lot about hanging in there in the midst of the things we don't understand. Sometimes it's better to stand in the middle of it and look it right in the eye.

I do not feel strong enough to do that. We were in Fresno this morning, and the earliest flight I could get home was tonight at 10:30pm. That left us with an entire afternoon of waiting around, and so to help kill time (and maybe just to feel normal), we went to some of the tourist spots in San Francisco. Stopping for a while at the Vista point on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge, I stared across the bay at how huge San Francisco really was. And I really missed my father in-law. It hurt to know that I couldn't just teleport myself home to be with my wife who is trying to grieve, and I couldn't get his face out of my head. He was a big man who knew how to love. Plus, he said things like "Whadda ya gonna do" because he was from Boston.

And there it was. Right there in the dead center of the hurt was joy. As I stood there looking out on the bigness of this city, I celebrated John Dalelio's life. And I realized that when I thought of him he was always smiling. Because that's how I always saw him. Molly must have gotten it somewhere, I suppose. All of sudden, I felt a peace in my heart for him. The sorrow is still there, just as strong as before, but it was surrounded by hope. And instead of the big city, I saw a little more of God's bigness.

As a family, we will continue to grieve, and I can't get home fast enough. And the next few days are going to really suck. No one thought we'd be saying goodbye to our father this week, and that's not something that just clears up in a few days. But when I wonder about God's timing - why the dates and times of things happen the way they do - I hope I will continue to celebrate the impact this wonderful man has had on my life. I will thank God that things happened when they did - at our home in Athens and not an hour later with him behind the wheel on the interstate, and I will do my best to love as he would.

He set the bar pretty high.

Thanks for coming out on the tour - I hope to see you soon.

- jason