35 hours in Orlando

I had a phenomenal time in Orlando this weekend. It was a little nuts to fly down for just what seemed like a few hours, but it was really a quality time of meeting people and hearing about God's stories in the area. The first goal was to hang out with friend MM and his wife, who have recently entered into a new phase of life and ministry. Secondly, the weekend coincided with the opening of the very first Voxtroplis hotspot cafe, which was totally fun to be a part of.

One of the huge highlights was for MM and I to have dinner with Alex McManus (and his son Lucas), who has so impacted both of our lives with his speaking, teaching, writing and thinking. Our dinner conversation was fascinating, touching on leadership, life balance, culture, innovation and change and a whole list of other topics. Thank you Alex for spending some time with us, being open to answering our questions and for being a leader that focuses on investing into others.

Another huge (but seemingly very incidental) highlight for me personally was to watch a conversation between two people and immediately noticing how impactful it was. I know that's kind of obscure, but trust me, it was cool.

Here was the fully packed 35 hours:
Sat 13.00 - left my house
Sat 16.45 - landed in packed Orlando airport, got rental car, etc.
Sat 18.00 - got a snack, met up with MM at St Pauls
Sat 20.00 - hang out House Blend Cafe
Sat 22.00 - Waffle House with a whole mess of people
Sun 05.15 - airport run (wow was it early)
Sun 07.00 - back to bed
Sun 10.30 - church at Westpoint (I was soooo late)
Sun 12.00 - growth group leader lunch at St Pauls
Sun 14.00 - downtown Disney (you know I had to stop in some part of Disney)
Sun 17.00 - dinner with MM, and Alex McManus and Lucas
Sun 19.30 - airport
Sun 23.45 - back home

Some places and people from the weekend that you might be interested in too:
the do Sul band
Jason Sharp
House Blend Cafe
Westpoint Fellowship Church and their pastor Jason Dukes
St Pauls church
Voxtropolis
the Spring church, Dean, Christina, and Staci
Brian Russell

See MM's post about it here.

Three random wisdoms from this weekend:
1
Q: What do you call a person that speaks three languages? A: Tri-lingual
Q: What do you call a person that speaks two languages? A: Bi-lingual
Q: What do you call a person that speaks one language? A: An American
2
If you want to learn about a culture or people, you don't study Psychology. You study linguistics.
3
What our kids learn in school is not enough. They must read more, travel more, experience more, rub against people in your community more.

And of course, thanks to my wife D for encouraging me to take full advantage of a free weekend to connect, refuel and encourage.

Photo: me, Alex and MM