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Pictures of the Vehicle in Which We Plan to Travel the Country

My family’s epic adventure begins in 23 days.

So on Saturday we took The Bus for a test drive. Here she is:

I can’t wait to hit the road.

Check out our itinerary HERE. I’m hoping to connect with as many writers as possible, so if we’re traveling close to you and you wouldn’t mind getting a group of writers together, I’d love to hang out and hear about your writing lives. We could meet in a library, coffee shop, someone’s house, or on our bus. Email me at shawnsmucker@yahoo.com if you’d like to talk more about this.

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Four Bands You Should Have Told Me About Sooner

So enough about stealing music. Here are four videos from the Youtube or Facebook pages of some of my favorite bands that I’ve found in the last year: Walk Off the Earth, Pomplamoose, The Civil Wars, and The National. It’s Friday! Take a moment to indulge in some awesome tunes, and then let me know in the comments about your favorite, recent, musical discoveries.

Somebody That I Used to Know – Walk off the Earth (Gotye – Cover)

Pomplamoose – If You Think You Need Some Lovin

The Civil Wars // Tour Diary // 08

About Today (live) by THE NATIONAL

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The Forgotten Commandment

It’s so easy for us Christians to go on and on about the same old things. The sanctity of marriage. The unique importance of unborn life. The evils of evolution.

We like to remain rooted in the big picture issues because, for most of us, they have little impact on our day-to-day lives. Our lists of dos and do nots conveniently line up with the natural trajectory of our own lives, requiring little in the way of personal change. We can comfortably spend the day fighting “the issues,” then go back to homes where those things will leave most of us alone. Continue reading “The Forgotten Commandment”

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Cade and I Discuss the Merits of an Invisible God Who Often Doesn’t Seem to be Listening

Awesome photo taken by http://jamiebg.blogspot.com/

“Hey, Dad, how come hard things happen in life?”

I stared into the rear view mirror, peering through the darkness to catch a glimpse of my 8-year-old son in the back seat of the minivan. After the meal at Friendly’s, I felt stuffed. Heat rushed from the dashboard, trying to put me to sleep. My recent back pains had even died down a bit now that I was sitting in the van. We were only waiting for Maile and the girls to come out with our takeaway ice cream, and then we’d be good to go.

“What do you mean by hard things?” That’s called a stalling tactic. Continue reading “Cade and I Discuss the Merits of an Invisible God Who Often Doesn’t Seem to be Listening”

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If You Are Kind Only to Your Friends

Two images.

The pastor drives up to his church on a Friday morning. His week has pummeled him into submission: too many meetings, too many visits, too many decisions, and now he is left with two days to sharpen up his message before an early wake up on Sunday morning, a day of performing, of getting everything right, and then another week begins. Ad infinitum. Continue reading “If You Are Kind Only to Your Friends”