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Spending the night with 3 different men in 4 nights…

Does not a happy eddo make.

We departed late Thursday evening out of DFW to Jacksonville. The guy riding in the middle seat of the airplane said, “Hey, I can move to the side and give you more headroom.” Like an idiot I agreed. My shoulders spilled over onto both Doug, who was on my left, and the Marine who was on my right. I folded my arms over my chest and tried to make myself look and feel small – an impossible task when you are 6’5″ 329lbs.

Marine man finally leaned up against the window and fell asleep and I opened up my laptop so Doug and I could watch Stranger than Fiction. I’d already seen the movie, but I needed something to distract me from my cramped discomfort.

We arrived in Jacksonville, Florida at 11:35 EST. We’d lost an hour and so by the time we got the rental car, an almost purple blue Chrysler 300M, and got to our hotel it was well past midnight.

Wes was our musician for the weekend Song of Solomon conference and we shared a room the first two nights. The first night we both took Tylenol PM and slept soundly, however, we both woke up with the feeling of a good hangover. The second night I snored and he woke me repeatedly by shouting my name. I don’t blame him, I’ve heard that when I do snore it sounds similar to the rumbling of thunder and so it would make it hard to sleep.

Wes was awesome and spending the night with a guy you’ve never met before is a quick way to get to know someone. You know what type of deodorant they use, toothpaste, boxers or briefs, and a plethora of things that you normally wouldn’t find out about someone until well after you’ve known them for a while and even then you may not know this much about them.

Wes reminded me of Gavin Degraw. He is very “Rockstar” in that he has cool hair that is perfectly styled to look sloppy and disheveled. His clothes aren’t ironed and his boots are of the Army style, but somehow, he makes it all work. He’s cool without trying. He’s humble and musically gifted. He once opened up for Chris Isaac and was even on Warner Brothers record label for a while. It was cool getting to know him better.

3rd night. Doug and I shared a room. Doug owns and runs the conference. He is gifted in that he knows how to market things extremely well, he finds a niche and he runs with it – and he is a great people person. Doug and I have shared a room before on one of these trips. He likes to stay up late with the tv on, sometimes on mute while he studies. He has an amazing ability to motivate without stressing you out or making you feel pressured. I like working for him because he has found something that he loves to do that not only makes him a living but it changes people’s lives. Fortunately, I only snored at the beginning of the night and so Doug only had to wake me up once.

The fourth night I shared a room with the speaker Keith. Keith is a pastore of family ministries at a Bible church in Ft. Worth. He’s one of those cool types of guys that you could imagine shooting pool at a club and drinking a beer. Shirt untucked and metro jeans, cool confidence without being arrogant. I heard him speak to the kids about purity and he shared some intimate details about his life and when someone does that, you feel like you know them even if you haven’t actually met them. We stayed up watching the Mavs until half time and then went to bed.

The Mavs lost, but the weekend was still a winner. Sometimes I have to force myself to step out of my comfort zone. Living alone someitmes I get used to having things my own way. I like my privacy. I don’t like to share, but in the end, sharing a room with these guys was a huge blessing. With each of these men I have almost nothing in common and at the same time everything in common. We are men, who once were lost, but now we are found. We once were blind, but now we see.

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