"donniemanis.com"

Starting today, it will be much easier to get here.

Get where?

Here. This blog site.

Up until now, you probably found this site by searching for a topic or following a link I left on facebook or twitter. I hope that continues. But it recently occurred to me that it was pretty hard to find this place on your own. I mean, yeah, I thought I was pretty clever with the name "bubsbanter." but it's not easy to remember, and then when you have to add the blogspot part, it can be pretty daunting to find.

So now, if you can remember my name, you can remember the site. donniemanis.com. As simple as that.

Why did I decide to make it easier? Well, I think I first considered it when our teaching pastor Patrick Quinn was sharing last week. He was teaching about John the Baptist and made the point that every person on earth needed to find their voice. Each of us has a sweet spot where life is really humming along in tune.

So I realized I've been trying out the idea for about three years that part of my voice is using this blog to share my life with friends, family, and anyone else who will join in. Am I right about that? Who knows, other than God. But if I'm going to try to see, I'd like to make it easier for you to join in.

So come by often. Leave comments - let's have some dialogue.* And maybe together we can find our voice and become all God intended us to.

donniemanis.com

Y'all come back.



* - I'll respond to comments if it looks like you want me to. Answering a comment like "I enjoyed this" would just be feeding my obsession about closure. :)

Hi from London

My first international trip was in 1994. It was a doozy, one that can never be topped - I went with my church to the Holy Land. Three days in Galilee, four in Jerusalem. What an amazing thing to have walked where God walked when he took on flesh.

But the reason I thought of it today is the fact that it was so difficult - and expensive - to stay in touch with home. There was a hotel phone with extremely expensive rates and a sequence of numbers to remember that was confusing. I talked to my family twice, and both were brief. It felt like I was a million miles away.

Then came Russia in 1999. This one was truly surreal. We spent 10 of our 12 days with no phone anywhere on the property. And the two days in Moscow where we did have a phone, well, considering the language barrier we almost never got through.  It really felt almost like I was on another planet.
_____

So skip to today. Hi from London, everyone! It's still not close to the same as being at home. I have to be real careful to use wifi when it's free so as not to accidentally pile up a big bill. And there are places I travel (like parts of Africa) where the connection is either unreliable or non-existent. But I'm so thankful that right now - at this moment - I can let my friends and family know how I'm doing. So....hi!

And yes, it's me. I offer two pieces of evidence...I think you'll recognize me:

• We were getting in our car at the airport today and I was the last one to get in. So the one seat remaining was the front passenger seat. But noooo - I had to try and get in the driver's seat.  Dummy...the passenger seat is on the left side of the car in England!

• I ordered lemonade at lunch; it was listed as one of the soda choices. When the server brought the clear liquid out, I let it sit there 'til she came back and pointed out that I wanted lemonade instead of water. Dummy...apparently they refer to a Sprite-type soft drink as lemonade. Drink your soda, Donnie!

It's been a great day, glad I could tell you about it. Maybe you'll hear from me again while I here...because I can.

It's a small world after all

I remember it well. It was 1999 and I was on my first mission trip. We spent two weeks in Russia, conducting an English camp for college students. In two weeks, I was able to find a phone exactly once. I called home and talked to my parents for a few minutes.

Even that seemed surreal. There was a very real sense in which I almost felt like a different person - like the world on this side of the ocean was a dream or something. So little communication made it seem like a million miles. It was such a disconnected feeling. Even the 3rd anniversary of my sister's fatal accident seemed almost unreal.

That's how important context is.

And how different things are today. As I write this, I am in my hotel room in Bermuda after a long day of meetings. (Yeah, I know...it's rough.) And I am on my computer writing a blog post. After talking to my dad on my cell phone. And "texting" with my sister by means of the Words with Friends messaging function. And following the Alabama basketball game through my Twitter feed. I can even surf the web whenever I come across free wifi (but not without it - no international 3G for me).

Yep, hardly disconnected. Such a different feeling from that fortnight in Russia. So different from my first trip here about ten years ago. How the world has changed.

It's a small, small world.