sweatin' in nashvegas

well i don't know about the rest of the world today, but its hotter than you-know-where today in nashvegas! geesh! we got into town monday and its been hot every day since then, but today is so miserably sweltering that it gives a whole new meaning to the word 'hot'.

i am sitting in a comfy chair at starbucks in old franklin...trying to grab a few minutes of good ole AC while making use of the wireless internet. i have a meeting with shawn and i's counselor (and one of my favorite people in the whole world), Al Andrews. Al started a ministry called 'Porter's Call' and EMI (our record label) financially supports his ministry so that he can meet with artists and their families for free. What a gift!!! Al is one of the only people I know who can get into you with a few simple questions and reveal things in your heart even you didn't know was there...honestly, it can be terrifying on the one hand and totally freeing on the other. I haven't seen him since our wedding (he was one of the officiants) and I am looking forward to it. check out his website: www.porterscall.com

i wish i had something earth-shakingly poignant to say today, but I don't. I have something really simple... I was reminded yesterday of the power of friendship...and how essential it is to being ABLE to live life. I love how an honest conversation- one in which you know you are loved enough to tell stories of your own failures- I love how those conversations literally take the chains off of you. I love how those conversations give the Evil One NO ROOM to back you into a corner and frighten you into silence. I love how the encouragement of a friend who knows what's really going on in you can become the wings of your flight. I love how truth really does set you free.

I had three of those kind of conversations yesterday...what a day. I dropped into talk over some business stuff with one of Shawn's managers, James, and he looked me right in the face and said "how are you? are you okay?" Its unnerving in our culture when people rarely look you in the face and even more rarely want to hear a real answer to those questions. It meant the world to be able to have the space to be honest about the struggle in what we are doing...the traveling, adjusting to marriage, and try to plan for the next year. Its sad that in these times its so uncommon to feel cared for...none the less, I am thankful for it when it happens. Then I called my mom while I was driving around and running a few more errands. I love my mom and the older I get the more I realize how blessed I am to have her. Even just hearing her voice is soothing to me...it breaks something in me. She almost always gets the 'whole truth and nothing but the truth' from me. The thing is lately I have been holding back a bit because she has so much going on already...her best friend moved away, I got married, her mom died, and she's in the throws of trying to get custody of two little boys. But yesterday I just couldn't hold it in anymore and I spilled my guts to her. I felt bad because I kind of threw up on her emotionally, but she proved to be as she always is: a comforting retreat. Then late in the evening I received a call from a dear friend and comrade in this 'music industry' lifestyle: Rachael Neagle. (if you haven't heard her husbands music, check it out www.monkandneagle.com) Rachael is as much like me as any person I know. She is sweet and honest - a real 'tell it like it is' kind of person- and a firecracker to boot. Before I realized it, we had been chatting away for 2 hours! She blessed me with words of wisdom and truth and heard my struggles and graciously let me into her own. We parted with promises to continue to fight for each other on our knees.

Friendship is precious. I am yearning for it more and more in my life now. Learning to give it its rightful place...my mom said to me yesterday "draw nearer still to God, kate, and let Him be to you all the things no one else can be" I heard that. Draw near to God out of desperation...and let everyone else off the hook for not being Him. That's a lesson I am longing to walk in.

Have a blessed day!