Shawn Blackwelder–Amblings, Ramblings, and Images
I initiated this blog as a way of documenting my thoughts and travels during my sabbatical, a way of keeping up while taking a break from social media. Now, it’s a different means of connecting, an alternate route.
I am a native of Central Florida who has lived in North Carolina since 1994, and I love the outdoors. Hiking, kayaking, camping, even just laying in the grass looking up at the sky–it’s life-giving to me. I’m also a United Methodist pastor, but just in case you get the wrong idea about what that means, I also founded Cape Fear Beer & Hymns.
Shawn Blackwelder
“Kick at the darkness ’til it bleeds daylight.”
@RevShawnB
Tomorrow I return to work after a 6-week sabbatical. I went out to a local coffee shop/bar that used to be my bank to spend a little time reflecting on this season. Maybe it’s appropriate that I sat down and found “God is Great, Beer is Good, People are Crazy” playing on the radio. In…
We had to leave eventually, but before we left, we had one more stop: Murano–one of the hundreds of islands that makes up Venice, an island known for its glass art. Some of it was beautiful, some of it amusing, some of it simply breathtaking… For our last couple of nights, we stayed in…
It was with great irony that on Pentecost I attended worship in the Cathedral of Pisa (yes, THAT Pisa – the leaning tower is the sanctuary’s campanile, or bell tower), and I barely understood a word of what they said the entire time. Sure, I could make out a few things – Veni Sancte Spiritus,…