Below is the rough draft of "Kerry and Hippo: An Adoption Story."  This is based off of our son, Kerry and his favorite stuffed animal.  I will only leave this up for public view for a very short time, as it is a rough draft and I am working on finding representation for it.  It is worth noting that this story does not included every detail of Kerry's own story.  I left a lot out for his privacy and to make the story more universal for all foster children.  For Kerry's real story, click here.  Also, as is necessary for fiction, I put some events close together, as books are much less messy than real life.  With that, I welcome your feedback.  Enjoy!



Kerry was afraid in this strange place
The lady that brought him there said
“It will be ok.  This is for your own good.”
Kerry was not so sure.
He only had a small bag of his clothes and one little toy.
Kerry was alone.
Kerry was scared.


Hippo was old for a stuffed animal.
He could not remember the last time a child hugged him or played with him
He sat alone at the end of the shelf of toys.


The next day, the lady told Kerry that he was going to stay with a foster family.
Kerry did not know what a foster family was but he knew that another strange place was going to be scary.
When he met the foster family, they seemed nice.  The woman in the family held him and he felt safe.
The family also had a man and a boy.  The boy played with Kerry while the man and woman talked with the lady.


That night the man and the woman put Kerry in bed.
They read him stories and they said, “I love you.”
Kerry was not sure what he thought about these people.
He was scared in this new place, but he really liked hearing “I love you.”
Kerry heard the woman say to the man, “We need to get some things.”
The man said, “Maybe they’ll have some stuff at the thrift store.”


Day after day, Hippo sat
He watched children come and find toys that that they loved.
He wished a child would pick him.
But his fur was dirty and his stuffing was almost gone.
And no one every picked him.


The next day, Kerry went with the man and the woman to the thrift store.
The man and the woman were looking at high chairs and children’s clothes.
Kerry looked at toys.  There was a long shelf full of toys.
At the end of the shelf, sat Hippo
Kerry loved Hippo.  He picked him up and held him tight.
The man and the woman looked at Hippo.
“He’s dirty.”  Said the man
“His stuffing is almost gone,” Said the woman.
Kerry loved the Hippo and held him tighter.
“Ok, Kerry,”  The man said.  “We’ll take the Hippo”


At home, the woman put the hippo in the washing machine
After he was all clean, the woman filled him with new stuffing
Kerry loved the Hippo and took him everywhere
Kerry loved his foster family too.
Kerry started calling the woman “Mom”
Kerry called the man, “Dad”
Kerry called the boy, “Brother.”
And every night they all said “I love you”


One day, Kerry, Mom, Dad, Brother, and Hippo all went to a big building called a “courthouse.”
In the courthouse, everyone seemed so serious and Kerry was not sure what was going on.
Dad said, “This is a very special day.”
Mom said, “This is the best day!”
A man called The Judge listened to people talk about Kerry.  Then he said that Kerry could stay with the family forever.
Kerry was adopted.
Kerry was not sure what that meant.
Dad said, “It means you are our son.”
Mom said, “It means you will never be without a family again.”
That night they celebrated with Kerry’s favorite dinner.
At bedtime, they all said, “I love you.”
And Kerry whispered to Hippo:


You are adopted too.
We will always be family
You will never have to leave
And we’ll always say “I love you.”

(c) 2018  Aaron Davis.  This post may be shared.  All other uses of this content must have explicit permission from the author.

This was the basis of a sermon I preached at Hope & Anchor church in Springfield, MO.  If you want to listen to it, click here.

In the last 9 months, a lot has happened.  My first book came out.  My novel, Street Preacher, came out, and that has been real exciting.  Also, my second book, a memoir, got picked up by a publisher and will be due out at the end of June.

Also, 9 months ago, I preached at Hope & Anchor church and many told me it was “the most honest sermon they had ever heard.”  I am not sure about that.  I think what many mistook for honesty was actually the warning signs of a total breakdown.

You see, also in the last 9 months, I got locked up in a psych hospital for 4 days.  A little while later, I began a job as a hospice chaplain.  It would be an understatement to say that I have learned a few things.

As Christians, we know that we are supposed to love.  Non believers even know that Christians are supposed to love.  But what does that mean?  Who are we supposed to love?  How?  What does that look like?

​About 20 years ago, I was in seminary.  A class I had was assigned a group project.  The project was to find a way to share the gospel by serving people.  The group that I was in decided that we would hand out bottled water on a street corner and that we would put a label on the water that says, “This is to remind you of the free gift of Jesus Christ.”  The problem was, that no one wanted to go very far for this project so we decided to this close to campus.  The campus of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary was not in a good area.  Let me rephrase that.  The campus was in a terrible area.  The street corner we picked was near an alley where people were murdered on a fairly regular basis.

So we went out there and we gave out water.  We gave out water to people waiting for the bus and to people in their cars stopped at a red light.  We were giving out water when we noticed a man park his car near the alley and just sit there.  He didn’t get out.  He just sat there.

One of my classmates said, “Anyone notice him?”
“Yeah, “ I replied.  “Maybe someone should give him some water.”
“It’s your turn,” my class mate said, handing me a bottle of water and clearly not picking up on my sarcasm.

Now this is not a good situation to be in.  When you are in seminary, you can’t suddenly admit that maybe you are too afraid to share the gospel.  On the other hand, approaching people in parked cars in alleys of very dangerous neighborhoods is not a particularly safe idea either.
Unable to back down, I took the water and walked over to the car.

“Would you like some water?”  I ask.  This guy is big and he’s just looking down.  I don’t think he wants to be bothered.
“What?”  He says.  Ok, he really doesn’t want to be bothered.
“Have some water,” I say, passing the bottle through his open window and then turning to walk away.

I get about halfway back to my group when I hear a car door open and I hear someone yell “Hey!”  I turn around and this guy is running toward me.

Let me get back to that story later.

In John 13, starting at vs 34, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another…”

So there it is.  The whole of following Christ summed up in this new law:  Love one another.

But again, I ask, “What does that look like?  Who am I supposed to love?  How am I supposed to love?”

Jesus continues, “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”

“Just as I have loved you.”

So who do we love?  Well, Jesus loved everyone.  He was notorious for loving the people that everyone hated, like tax collectors.  He was known for loving people that everyone thought were horrible sinners like the woman at the well or prostitutes.  He even loved people that everyone else forgot about, like the blind and crippled people that could do nothing but sit on the side of the road and beg.
There is a scripture that says that God knows when a sparrow falls from a tree and he considers us much more valuable than sparrows.  I know there is even a popular song about that, but I never thought much about it until the other day at work.

I drove over to one of the nursing homes that I visit and there in the parking lot, I saw a newly hatched baby bird lying on the ground.  I knew there was nothing I could do, but right at that moment, it hit me.  Of everything in the world, God even knows about that poor little bird.  Then I went in to visit one of my patients.  She was feeling really down.  She told me, “When I first got sick, there was so much going on.  I always had doctors checking on me, and people getting me for different tests.  Now I feel like they just put me in the corner and forgot about me.”

I told her about that bird and reminded her that no matter what, God is there.  He hasn’t forgotten about her.  We spent the next hour talking about all the ways she has been blessed in the past few days.

So, who do we love?  We love who Jesus loves.
But how?  Jesus said, “As I have loved you.”

We are supposed to love in the same way that Jesus loved.

By far, the most surreal experience I have ever had was last October when I was admitted into the psychiatric unit at Cox North Hospital.  I have written a whole book about it, so I won’t go into too much detail but it was surreal to say the least.

I remember when I was being admitted.  They had already brought me into the unit and the nurse was going over my information.  I could hear someone screaming in the next room.  They were saying horrible things and threatening everyone.  The nurse looked at me and said, “Are you nervous?”

I told her, “no, but this isn’t my best day.”

Then she said, “Have you ever been in a place like this, or jail?”

I thought, what!  This is going to be like jail?

Then I get taken into the day room where the guys is screaming at everyone.  He’s threatening the nurses because they told him that no one goes into their rooms until 8pm.  Another patient tries to intervene and this guy, who I’ll call Jay, threatens her.  I grab one of the orderlies and ask if I have a room.  He says, “let me check.”  Then he goes to the nurses station, checks something, and then says, “Yeah, you’re going to be in room 14 with Jay.”

I know this isn’t the time to be judgmental, but really?

So over the next 4 days, Jay and I shared a room.  I learned that he was not a bad guy.  He even promised not to stab me.  He was a wounded guy who has spend most of his adult life bouncing from jails to hospitals.  He is me without the blessing of a family like I have and support like I have.  There is no reason to think that in a turn of events, I wouldn’t be like Jay.  When I realized that, I realized that it was a lot easier to be patient just like Jesus is patient with us.

Then when I got out of the hospital, I started to tell my story to everybody.  I’m not a millenial, so I didn’t put it on Instagram, but I did put it all over Facebook.  And the strangest thing happened.  People started telling me that they were getting help because of hearing my story.  Did you know that out of pride and fear, I spent most of my life not telling people how I struggled?  Oh I can tell you what I’m good at, but once I started sharing my weaknesses, it seemed to really affect people.  If you want to love like Jesus does, you make yourself vulnerable out of compassion for others.
Then I got a job as a chaplain for a hospice.  The first thing they had me do was to go and visit all the patients that were within 72 hours from death.  As a pastor, I have visited hundreds of people, maybe thousands.  I have taken classes on how to visit, and how to steer the conversation around to pitching salvation.

One thing I learned right away at this new job is this:  when you go in to sit with someone who is about to take their last breath.  When you go in to be a source of comfort to them and their families, you have to leave agendas behind.  There is no sales pitch.  All you can do is love the way Jesus loves.  You sacrifice everything about what you want and you love them.

That’s how Jesus loves, with patience, compassion, and sacrifice.  And one other thing:  teaching.  Jesus taught the people he loved and this tends to scare us the most.  We start thinking, “there is no way I can teach anybody.”

This is the best part about the Gospel.  It isn’t a self help book.  It isn’t an instruction manual.  The Gospel is a newspaper, it isn’t telling you what to do, it is telling what has been done.  Most of the time, when Jesus taught, he said, “The kingdom of heaven is like…”  All you have to do to teach like Jesus is to tell people the good news!

And look what he said then, “By this, all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

People will know you follow Jesus, when you love like Jesus!

Now, back to the story about handing out water.  So I give the guy the water, I walk away, car door opens, he yells, I turn, he’s running.

He comes up to me and he says, “I don’t believe it.”  And he tells me his story.  He’s a bus driver.  He begins his shift mid-route at this intersection.  He’s been trying his hardest to show people the love of Christ on his bus but he drives in a rough neighborhood.  He tells me, “I was just sitting there praying, ‘God, please give me a sign that you haven’t forgotten about me.”  It was right then that someone handed him a bottle of water that said, “This is to remind you of the free gift of Christ.”

Listen, when you love like Jesus, you wind up getting in the middle of what the Holy Spirit is doing.  You aren’t the one running the show, but you get to see some really cool stuff happening.

Now it is not natural to love like Jesus.  Years ago, I was really burned by a church experience.  I was betrayed by a friend and anger consumed me.  Someone told me, “you should start praying for that friend.”  They challenged me to think of what he drove and every time that I saw a similar vehicle, pray for him to be blessed.  I didn’t really feel like it, and it wasn’t easy, but the anger subsided and I started to see things in a much more productive light.  You see, it isn’t natural to love like Jesus.  It is supernatural.

I love my church.  The reason I love this church is from the first time I came, I realized that I could be myself.  I could be angry, I could be depressed, I could be imperfect and it was going to be ok.

I want to challenge you to go out and love like Jesus loves.  Love who he loves and love how he loves.

Aaron Davis is the author of the novel, "Street Preacher" and the memoir, "Baggage Claim."  For information on how you can have Aaron speak at your church, school, or organization, click here.

With over 8 million books listed on Amazon.com, it is pretty clear that the world is full of independent authors.  Independent means that we are not under a big, money up front contract with a big publishing house.  The world is not full of John Grisham's and Stephen King's.  They get millions to keep writing and their publishers spend tens of thousands on publicity.

The literary world is full of independent authors.  We don't get advances.  We don't get much for publicity.  In fact, many are self-published, which means they dished out a few thousand to get the book made.  A lot of doors are shut to self-published books.  Many (like myself) work with small publishing houses that love authors enough to make the book, but require a lot of heavy lifting on the author's part to sell the book.  In the end, indie authors find themselves in a sea of books with very little understanding of how to make that one special book stand out.

If you know and love an indie author (and if you are reading this blog, I suppose you do - thanks!) then take a look at ways you can support their work:

• Buy a copy of their books!  Hey, we only get paid when a book sells.  Whether it's digital, hardcopy, or audio go ahead and buy one
• Write a review!  Rumor has it that Amazon.com will start promoting a book if it gets more than 20 positive reviews.  That is why the authors you know are always begging for reviews.  The more reviews they get, the better.  In fact, there have been times that I have forgone step one and given away a book with the hopes of getting a review.  It is that important.
• Share the news!  Whether it is your review or a post from the author, be sure to spread it around.  Share it on facebook and twitter.  Post it on your blog.  Tell your friends.  We don't have much in the way of advertising budgets, so the more you talk about it, the more helpful you are!
• Invite the author to speak!  Authors are great guests to have at your school, civic club, church, book club, etc.  

Do these four things for your favorite indie author and I promise, they'll love you forever!

Aaron Davis is the author of the novel, "Street Preacher" and the upcoming memoir "Baggage Claim: One Minister's Journey Through Depression to Peace."  You can learn more about inviting him to speak to your organization here.

This is part of a series of reflections on the Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Maker of Heaven and Earth
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary;
suffered under Pontius Pilate
was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended into hell,
The third day, He rose from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
And sitting on the right hand of God the Father almighty
from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy catholic Church
The communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body
and the life everlasting.  Amen.

In John Irving's A Prayer For Owen Meany, the title character states, "Anyone can be sentimental about the nativity; any fool can feel like a Christian at Christmas. But Easter is the main event; if you don’t believe in the resurrection, you’re not a believer."  On Easter Sunday, it is easy to go through the motions.  But let us imagine what it was like that first morning.  There were plenty of things to be done, but everything was turned upside down by one event.

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. (John 20:1)

It was the first day of the week, and it was time to mourn.  Anyone who has ever lost a loved one knows how this would feel.  There was that initial shock and sadness at the time of death, but now a few days later, it is time to mourn.  They were going to prepare the body and mourn.

In order to mourn properly, they needed things to go as planned.  Their main concern was how they would get that big heavy stone moved from the tomb.  However, when they arrive the notice two things.  The stone is already moved, and the body is not there.  Jesus was not in the tomb
This throws everything off.  Now they will have to find the body before they can get on with the process of mourning.

Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”(John 20:2)

The women go to get Simon.  They needed to tell the others that something was wrong.  No one knows where the body is.  We do not know what Peter was thinking.  Did he remember that Jesus had promised to raise from the grave?  He may have remembered this and it probably terrified him.  Peter had last seen Jesus as he was telling everyone that he did not know Him.  Now, if it were true that he could rise from the dead, what will that mean for Peter?

3 Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. 4 So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. (John 20:3-4)
So Peter runs.  John runs too, and makes a point to tell us that he outran Peter.
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there,7 and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. (John 20:6-8)

They go in the tomb.  That’s when they see what is going on.  The body is not there, for sure, but what is there is startling.  The grave clothes are wrapped neatly in its place.  This isn’t the work of someone moving the body.  They would have taken the body still wrapped up.  This is not the work of a grave robber.  Anyone trying to steal the body (as hard as that would be) would not have taken the time to fold the clothes.  It becomes clear:  Jesus is alive.  They see this before them and believe.

For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. (John 20:9)

Scripture teaches that Jesus must rise from the grave. 

They did not understand everything yet, but they knew Jesus was alive.  They knew this would change everything.  They would later understand that this was always part of the plan for God’s glory, but now, they just knew that Jesus was alive and that changed everything.

Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. (John 20:10)

They didn’t stay at the empty tomb.  They had to return to their lives, but their lives were never the same again.  No one could have imagined what lay ahead.

Just like Mary, John, and Peter, we have our own expectations.  Many of the concepts of this story have become just an expression for a holiday.  We approach Jesus as though He was just an idea in our head, a wild hope for something else.  When we really take time to consider the death and resurrection of Christ, we react with confusion, some with fear, but face to face with a risen Lord, the reaction is belief.

Since Jesus is alive, believe!  

When you hear of resurrection, you may be confused.  When you think of death and meeting Jesus, you may be afraid.  Yet, when you see the reality of a risen Lord, you will believe.  Today, you can go through the motions of celebrating Easter.  You can do the church thing, you can visit family.  And tomorrow you can be the same.  Or, you can come to terms with the fact that Jesus is alive and never be the same again.  See your risen Lord and believe!

​

This is part of a series of reflections on the Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Maker of Heaven and Earth
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary;
suffered under Pontius Pilate
was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended into hell,
The third day, He rose from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
And sitting on the right hand of God the Father almighty
from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy catholic Church
The communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body
and the life everlasting.  Amen.

Between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, there was a Bad Saturday.  There was that day when many who followed Jesus believed that it was all over.  There was the day when the disciples locked themselves up in a room, fearful that the soldiers would be coming for them.  When I think of that day, I imagine all of the hopelessness that could engulf me if not for Jesus.

It is a terrible thing to imagine Jesus Christ lying dead in a tomb.  And yet, in the spiritual realm, it must have been all the more terrible.

For this is the place where the most ancient creeds state "He descended into hell."  Some translations read "He descended to the dead"  but Lutherans, Anglicans and others still recited "hell."  For just as the dead in Christ shall rise first, it was the dead that first heard the fullness of the Gospel proclaimed.  Peter writes that having suffered once for sins, Christ preached to the spirits in prison.

Upon his death, Jesus proclaimed, "It is finished."  And it was.  For at that moment, the Old Covenant was fulfilled.  All the demands of the law were met.  This is what was proclaimed to the dead.

We can get lost in the theological weeds on this one, but I believed the key is this, He descended.  He descended that he might then ascend over all things.  In the days before Noah, man tried to ascend and was scatted.  Now the Lord descends (and later the Holy Spirit), gathering his people.

On that Saturday, all creation waited.  For the law was fulfilled, something new must be coming!

This is part of a series of reflections on the Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Maker of Heaven and Earth
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary;
suffered under Pontius Pilate
was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended into hell,
The third day, He rose from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
And sitting on the right hand of God the Father almighty
from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy catholic Church
The communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body
and the life everlasting.  Amen.

​Isaiah made many prophesies about the Messiah.  One however, is particularly alarming:

“Yet, It was the will of the Lord to crush him
  he has put him to grief”

This causes us to wonder why.  Why does the Lord send the Christ and then “crush him?”

The answer goes all the way back to the beginning.  Well, almost the beginning.  It goes back to that moment when humanity determined that we wanted to know what God knows, rather than to rely on God.  Let us see for ourselves!  We liked what we saw.  We saw and took.

And the fall of man, brought the curse of sin.  All manner of nature became broken, and what was created for our pleasure became wrought with grief.
Right then and there, God announced that He would set things right.

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, 
and between your offspring and her offspring; 
he shall bruise your head, 
and you shall bruise his heel.” 

In other words, someone would be born into the world that would destroy sin and its curse.  That redemption would come through suffering.

The rest of the Old Testament points to this.  At the passover, a beloved lamb dies but the people in the house are spared.  In the tabernacle, an offering is made every year for atonement, and that offering is death.  Jesus even told them that he was manna; food from heaven.  His followers must live at his expense.
​
When the time came, the tragedy of injustice caused even nature itself to react.  Yet, it was God’s will for this tragedy to take place.  It was indeed unfair, for in that moment on the cross, all of my sin was placed on someone else.  At the cross I find that I do not get what I deserve.  I trade my sin for Christ’s righteousness.  It was not just the Christ, but every transgression I ever committed or will commit was crucified.  That sin was dead, buried, setting the stage for creation to begin anew.

After 3 days of the John Maxwell Team International Certification Event, I have a lot to process.  Certainly there are some personal changes to make, as well as a lot of good stuff for a project I have looming head.  All of that leaves me with a lot to blog about.

Today, I will once again board a train (a coworker called me “old fashioned”) and begin that long trip back home.  When I miss home, and that is often, I wish I had flown, but with so much to process I am glad I took the train.  I’ll find a nice spot to settle in with my notes and a new book or two and begin making some plans.

One thing I am left thinking about is something that was said during lunch.  People were going around the table sharing what they hope to do with all of this training.  When it was my turn, I explained my experience in ministry, my depression breakdown, and my recovery and how I hope to go in to churches and tell my story.

“Is there a market for that?”  One man asked.

“Every time I tell my story,” I replied, “I am contacted by someone that tells me that after hearing my story they began getting the help they need.”

“Sure, “ the man said, “it helps that one person, but I don’t think its a business model.”

I began to wonder if this man was paying much attention to John Maxwell.

“Well, I also have a book being published along these lines.  Books can promote speaking gigs and speaking gigs promote books.”

He shrugged and then left the table.

“Hey,”  The man sitting next to me said as people began leaving the table.  “Yesterday a friend of mine called me.  He’s really worried about this guy he knows and he was asking me for advice.  This guys is really depressed, and I mean REALLY depressed.  They are worried about him but nobody knows how to help.”

We spent the next half hour discussing depression and ways to get help.  Then he left to make a phone call to pass along what I had said.

Every. single. time.

1 in 5 people struggle with Depression or Anxiety and 80% of those people never seek help.  So just to be clear, I am not interested in whether or not this dream of mine is a business.  I want to tell my story as often as I can to as many people as I can.  If it makes a little impact every time, then eventually it makes a big impact.

Keep making a little impact!

Aaron Davis is an author, speaker, and life coach.  His novel, "Street Preacher" is available now and his memoir, "Baggage Claim: my journey through depression, ministry, and finding peace" will be released in the Summer of 2017!  If you would like to have Aaron speak to your church, ministry, or organization, contact him here.

In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig said, “Our goal is to make good time, with the emphasis on good rather than time.”  He was talking about taking a 300cc Honda motorcycle across the country, but the same could be said of rail travel.  Over the past couple of days I have decided that time is the only thing air travel has to offer.  Riding by rail cannot compete there (though some corridors boast a faster car door to car door time).  However, in every other regard, this trip leaves me thinking that flying is for the birds.
Understand that I have flown on lots of different aircraft in my life.  I’ve flown on all the major US airlines, KLM, and even on a Yakolov “yak” 40 operated by AirKazakhstan.  I’m not against flying.  But if you aim to emphasize good over time, here is what you will find on the rails:

1. Ever changing scenery.  On Friday night, I drifted off to sleep with the rust belt of northern Indiana out my window.  When I woke up in the morning, the snow covered foothills of the north east Appalachia  greeted me.  For the rest of the morning I watched small towns, a log cabin post office, and even some wildlife.  As I write, I’m looking out the window at pine trees towering over Georgia marshes.
2. Conversation.  Yes, I know that some people talk to strangers on planes, but it is not that common and you are restricted to the person sitting next to you.  On the train, you are likely to talk to the people sitting next to you as well as the people you share a table with in the dining car, or the folks that choose to spend their time in the lounge car.
3. Space to spread out.  Naturally, to write this blog, I could have put my laptop on the tray in front of my seat, but why do that when I can come to the cafe and spread out at a table?  Right now, I have my laptop out, my kindle sitting beside it, and my phone is plugged in.  Electrical outlets are everywhere.  I can get up and walk around too.  The train is long.  Last night I forgot how many cars away from the cafe my seat was.  I walked all the way to the engine before turning around and taking better notice of where I was.  It is a nice way to stretch one’s legs.
4. Leg room.  I know that some of these people on board slept in beds last night.  I saw them in the dining car.  They looked happy and refreshed.  They have beds and showers, etc.  I opted for coach class, but that has not cramped my style too much.  Unlike a plane, the coach seats really do recline.  They also have support for your legs when reclined and there is an adjustable foot rest.  If you can sleep in a lay-z-boy recliner, you can sleep in Amtrak’s coach class.
5. Fun layovers.  When you change planes you get to spend time in the airport.  Airports are typically on the outskirts of the city they represent.  There is not much time to go exploring.  Not so with the trains.  For one, your layovers with the railroad tend to be in the hours.  And rail stations are typically downtown.  I changed trains in Chicago and D.C.  In Chicago, I met up with my brother.  We walked along the Chicago river and then had dinner at a nice Japanese place.  Saw a Picasso sculpture too.  In D.C. I met some friends and we had a great lunch in the really awesome Union Station.  Then it was just a matter of stepping outside and walking a couple of blocks to see the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court.  On my way back, I’m going to spend my layovers in museums.

I’m no rail travel expert.  This is the first time I have ever traveled by rail.  But after spending the last two days on board, I think I can say this:  If you aim to make good time, emphasizing the good rather than the time, it is hard to beat the rails.

Aaron Davis is the author of the novel, "Street Preacher" and the upcoming memoir, "Baggage Claim: My Journey Through Depression, Ministry, and Finding Peace."  For information on having Aaron speak at your church or organization, click here.

When I announced my Baggage Claim project I made three goals:

​1. Become a certified speaker and coach with the John Maxwell team
2. Use that certification to speak to churches and organizations about mental health and to coach pastors and ministry leaders regarding health and burnout
3. Write a book detailing my own experience and the process of claiming my own emotional baggage

As I write, I am on my way to the John Maxwell Group certification event AND I am happy to announce that my book has been accepted by a publisher! There is much to be done moving from rough draft to publication, but we are aiming for a July release

​I greatly appreciate everyone who has supported me thus far. Stay tuned...