Who's the best?

8 years ago and change I began down the road of higher edukashun. For two years I poured myself into my studies while at the same working as the campus minister for Western Christian College. Blair, Jeremy, Kris, Kamara, Benj - you all should remember. Tim and J- I think you guys were just finishing or had already left. And Trav. My good buddy Trav. Travis was in the same program I was in, taking many of the same classes I was and he was my driving buddy on our trips to Memphis. Man, those were good times, fun times, the best times. Two buddies on a road trip, what could be better? Hey Trav, remember what we did to stay awake that time? Shhh. Remember the shine in the ditch?

For those of you intriged, the shine turned out to be a flipped van and the van's contents were spread everywhere including the family who was riding in it. It turned out we were first on the scene, I'll never forget that scene. Especially the wailing parents and kid trying desperatly to breathe through his crushed chest. The feeling of helplessness I felt at that moment was among the worst things I've ever felt. The next thing I remember many others had gathered, including the road blockers, and an hour later the ambulance finally showed up and air lifted them out of there. Apparently this whole tragedy could have been avoided if the driver hadn't decided to sleep and drive . This all took place about 3am and I remember Trav and I had been falling asleep as well. Needless to say, the rest of the drive was much more. . .wakeful.

I also remember C C's pizza. Every night after an intense day of Graduate school Trav and I along with our fellow GS buddies would head to the local pizza joint where you could get all the pizza you wanted for 2.99. Man, oh to be able to eat like that again, I think our average was 10-12 slices per visit. As we stuffed ourselves we'd study. . .the mammoth screen and watch the NBA playoffs. Other memories include getting reemed out by some white dude in the bad part of town. Apparently our presence in that area was in grave danger and so he had advised us to vacate the premises just as soon as we had finished picking out our favorite slurpee flavor. We complied but I've always wondered why it was ok that he was there. Perhaps the reason included the fact that we didn't have crack to sell and he did. Who knows. Good times that Graduate school. And great times with Travis. Man I miss that guy.

Anyways, the point of this post was to announce that I am finally finishing that Masters degree I started all those years ago and hope to be done by December of this year. I am doing my Final Paper on the topic of "Homelessness in Calgary and how the Church should respond." Before I get to that paper I have to take a penalty course because I have taken so long to finish what I started. The course begins this week and is on Congregational ministry.

So, there you have it. I'm officially a student again.

But it won't be the same without Travis. He's the best.

John