Tag: road trip

  • Your story matters

    My drive plan for next week

    Next week, I’m hitting the road and driving from San Jose to just north of Seattle. I guess there are 3 over-arching reasons I’m doing this. Two are a bit secondary and perhaps selfish, which the third is really the justification for everything else.

    1. I love a good road trip. There is something almost magical about driving across our country. If you’ve never done a multi-day drive you won’t understand that statement. My first was “Golf across America” in 2002. My last one was “Travels with Stoney” in 2008. This trip needs a name.
    2. YS is still alive. It’s not that you, my kind reader, doesn’t know that. It’s that a lot of people have an open question… “What’s going on with YS?” And this trip is aimed at answering that question. (This is what’s known as “the business justification.“) Plus, even before all of the changes, I kept begging for this because I knew there was a need to get our staff on the ground talking with youth workers out of the office.
    3. Your story matters. My first two road trips were about my story. (Travels with Stoney was a little more about our families story and our hope for a fresh start.) This trip is about the stories of youth workers. My work has put me in contact with innumerous youth workers… and collectively we have a story to tell. My premise is that as I drive and host these meet-ups I’ll hear (and capture) stories from youth workers which the community will really resonate with.

    What’s fascinating about going out to discover youth workers stories is… it’s all about discovery. I’ve got a rough sketch of who I’m going to meet, but I really don’t have a clue where this is going to go. And what makes a road trip so fun for this format of story discovery is that I probably won’t really get a thread through all of the stories until I’m done. Since I’m telling stories as I go, there’s even a great chance that you will see the thread before I will.

    Another fascinating element to telling people’s stories, one that I’m just learning to appreciate, is that power of telling a persons story to the person whose story is being told. It’s one thing to tell your own story. But it’s an entirely different thing to have someone come into your life and then to other people about you. As I’ve been scheduling my meet-ups and talking to people, I hear them question, “you want to tell my story?”

    You are story worthy.

    Your story is interesting.

    Your story is helpful to you.

    Your story is helpful to others.

    As a child of the King bought at a price, your story has unlimited value.

    “you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:20

  • 3 Upcoming Things I’m Excited About

    I’ve got 3 big things on the horizon which are capturing a ton of my attention. Both the details and the scope of them are great!
    1. In just a few weeks I’m embarking on a road trip up I-5, through California, Oregon, and Seattle. The goal is simple, connect with a bunch of West Coast youth workers, hear what’s going on in their ministries, and share what’s going on at YS these days. Since it’s a youth ministry trip, it’s a low budget deal. Shawn Michael Shoup (my travel buddy) and I will be either crashing at churches, youth workers homes, or sleeping under the stars.
    2. In June, Kristen and I are hosting a 13th anniversary party. It’ll be a small barbeque with some close friends. We’re also going to do a snarky renewal-of-vows type of thing as part of it. More like a celebration of marriage than anything else. As we looked at venues for that we quickly discovered that it’d be better to just rent a beach house for a week, host the barbeque there one evening, and turn it into a staycation. So we think we’ve nailed down the beach house… but still need a contract. It’s kind of funny when you live somewhere that’s a vacation destination.
    3. In July, Kristen and I are hoping to head to Haiti for a week of ministry in Port-au-Prince. Lots and lots of details still to be determined on that. But I’m pretty sure it’s happening.

    With the difficulty of 2009 it’s fun to have exciting stuff planned for 2010.

  • Recapping the U2 Show

    Amazing? Too cool at the U2 show, originally uploaded by mclanea.

    How do I recap the U2 show? It’s an beyond description.

    Here are some thoughts from the trip, in no particular order.

    1. It was well-timed. A week before my trip to Cincinnati for NYWC and with all the stuff stirring at work, a day away from the chaos was God’s timing.
    2. I had good company. Kristen and I rarely get to do a road trip without the kids. And it was great to have Marko and Tash as companions. Technically, Kristen and I were along for the ride since Tash took over driving!
    3. Phoenix is a long way away. It’s a solid 6-7 hours away from San Diego. It’s hard to understand because it’s only a 70 minute flight.
    4. Bono is amazing. He is a captivating performer. How a man puts out that kind of energy for 2.5 hours I will never know. And his ability to do little moments throughout the show for the fans is incredible. I think I saw him grab a camera and take pictures of fans!
    5. The stage becomes the 5th band member. I love production in a show. And this is done so masterfully that the production actually becomes a member of the band.
    6. It was worshipful. Hard to explain unless you’ve experienced it. But so many of U2’s songs have deep meaning. There were moments of elation, tears, and just resting in the joy of the show.
    7. It was what I needed. Look, it wasn’t a “Beautiful Day.” Tuesday ranked right up there with one of the toughest days of my ministry career. But that song in the show really spoke to me. Finding moments of joy through sorrow was poetic. I keep going back to that song.
    8. It was worth the money. Tickets to this show weren’t cheap. Getting there wasn’t easy. But the journey, the show, and the memories of the day made the costs a bargain.
    9. I’m still recovering. It’s been two days. And a missed night of sleep is hard to recover from. I am not 21 anymore.
    10. We missed the Black Eyed Peas. Seriously, traffic into the stadium was so crazy that we missed all but their last 2 songs. I’m sure they were great. What we saw was a lot of fun.

  • U2 on YouTube

    Today, Kristen and I are driving to Phoenix to see the U2 360 Tour. I have a figurative bucket list and this was on it. My brain has been mush lately so I am greatly looking forward to driving 5 hours across the desert to lose my voice screaming lyrics with Bono. Just for good measure we’re ride sharing with Tash McGill… and a late edition, Marko. (The artist formerly known as ysmarko.) I need a road trip. I’ve got another one coming this weekend. Stuff like this clears and renews my mind.

    Mentioning this brings up jealousy. Like “Hey, so happy you and Kristen and spending the day together… but I really wanna go and I’m thinking of killing you to steal your tickets.”

    No need to be jealous. You can have Mr. Bono and the massive stage craziness. Just tune in Sunday night for all the goodness of live streaming. Screaming “it’s a beautiful day!” in your home is optional. Better save that for the live experience.

  • Travels With Stoney: The Megan Song

  • Travels with Stoney: The Rundown

    So here is the itenerary of my trip to San Diego. Of course, it’s a little odd to write about a trip to San Diego when I’m currently sitting in a hotel room in San Diego but let’s just pretend prepositional phrases don’t matter, OK?

    Sunday: Detroit to Terre Haute, IN. Having lunch in the Cincinnati area with Angie and Chris before bisecting Indiana like a carrot. We’re spending the night at my friend Gene’s crib. Should be fun.

    Monday: Terre Haute, IN to Tulsa, OK. This is mucho state day. Kicking it off with breakfast in Vinncennes, IN with my grandma. Then we’re blowing through Illinois, coasting across Missouri, waving at Kansas, and trekking into Oklahoma for dinner with PK in Tulsa. Anyone want to meet up in the St. Louis area?

    Tuesday: Tulsa, OK to Albuquerque, NM. Other than lunch with Len in Amarillo, this is a quiet day as we drive into brownness. It’s days like this that we’ll be having fun exploring stuff.

    Wednesday: Albuquerque, NM to Las Vegas, NV. Originally I was going to try to make it to San Diego on Wednesday. But it’s about 750 miles and unless the Camry drops into a stealth mode and we can drive 120 all day, I just don’t want to go that far. Plus, kicking it with my mom in Vegas sounds like fun. Maybe we’ll take Stoney for a walk on the strip?

    Thursday: Las Vegas, NV to San Diego, CA. The home stretch is only a 5 hour drive. Should be a good time as we finally drop out of the brown and start to see the greenish that is San Diego.

    Of course, we’re documenting this trip with a combination of video, pictures, stories, and “other media” to be discovered. Megan and Stoney are ready, are you?

  • Travels with Stoney: Blog Poll

    Megan and I are very actively planning our our trip. We’re still looking for a place to say in the greater Albuquerque area. We’ve also determined that we’ll be stopping at the memorial of the Oklahoma City bombings. Check out our trip and feel free to suggest a stop for us.

    One thing that is going to make our planning a little easier is for you to tell me how you’d like to follow out journey. Do you want me to write stories? Post a ton of pictures? Make daily video blogs? So take a second to vote and let Megan and I know. Stoney doesn’t care.

  • Travels with Stoney: Join us!


    View Larger Map

    Every once in a while I come up with an idea that is crazy enough to try. This is one of those.

    On August 10th, Megan and I will push Stoney (our yellow lab) into the car and leave on a 2500 mile adventure. Together, we will travel through 10 states between Romeo and San Diego. As Megan told me, “This is the adventure of a lifetime.”

    You’re nuts! I know, it’s completely insane to travel for four long days with a 7 year old and my dog. But let’s be honest, how often in life do you have the opportunity to share an adventure with your kid? Never!

    The cool part? This is a participatory event. You want to meet up with us? Send me an email at mclanea@gmail.com and I’ll add you to the list. (If I can fit it in.) Of course, being that we are total tech heads, this will be a very well documented trip. We’ll blog, twitter, twitpic, and other “tech stuff” all the way across the country. Expect regular video updates too! I hope to meet all sorts of friends, including crashing at their pads, all the way from

    Don’t follow me on twitter? This is a great time to jump in and follow me. Tune in here on the website for all the latest.

  • Fantastic Pointless Roadtrip

    in n outI love taking students on spiritual journeys. I call them “pointless road trips.” In other words, I like to pile a few students into the church van to drive a long way for something fairly benign. My personal favorite was driving to Grand Rapids (2 hours) to watch a movie.

    But Stuart Delony is taking it to a whole new level. He is taking a couple of leaders and several students on a 1000 mile quest for an In-n-Out Burger. For those who have never tasted In-n-Out burgers let me just tell you that 1000 miles may not be too far. They are the king of the fast food burger.

    Here’s what he writes:

    This is actually a contemplative journey for 6 high school students that happens to involve fast food, visiting churches as we drive, prayer, questions and camping on the Oregon coast. link

    Hey man, if the boss bought that line than you are my hero. Enjoy the ride!