Eugene Peterson...

"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones."-Proverbs 16:24

Eugene Peterson is one of my favorite pastoral writers. I had the blessing of meeting him, listening to his years of deep earth wisdom, and do so with a couple of friends. I had heard people say that he was not a good speaker, but, I must humbly disagree...he was mesmerizing in his ordinariness, to me.

All of us have a handful of artist, writers, actors and speakers that speak the language of our soul...Eugene is such a voice to me. I had a number of reasons to avoid going and hearing him that night...it was inconvenient but, thank God, I made it necessary. It's was an evening that I know I would of regretted not attending, if I would of allowed people, situations and the hassle of it all to pressure me to silence that inner want. Thankfully I have a wife that understands the need for freedom in relationship and she encouraged me to go, even though it wasn't something she was interested in. I love her for that.
Sitting there in that cathedral was heaven to me. Hearing well chosen words, seasoned with years of hard earned, contemplative wisdom; was deeply nourishing to my chatter wearied soul. In my life, you hear a lot of useless words...dead words.

It was enlivening to sit and be resurrected by a literary bard; who values the necessity of good language. To sit with fellow travelers who have come to hallow the truth that..."In the beginning was the Word. It is the work of an artist indeed.