But everyone needs a break from the daily grind, and pastors especially need to have their times of refreshment and inspiration.  My friend found his inspiration in the workshops, the music and the preaching.  I think he hardly missed a session.  But I preferred to spend most of my time in the library, and then attend enough to listen to one sermon every day.  I have been so busy lately that I have had very little time to myself.  And I am the kind of person who needs massive doses of solitude.

Mostly I wanted to read, pray and write.  I took four books with me to read and picked up another at the conference.  I didn't read them all, but I finished one and read major sections of the others.  However, I spent most of one day just starring at the wall.  It seemed that I had to pray and wait until my dazed mind finally came around to clarity.  On the third day, it seemed that the fog rolled back, and I was suddenly refreshed and inspired.

My friend and I also found time to visit some of Chicago's famous sites including Navy Pier, the John Hancock Tower, Pizzeria Uno, and Wrigley Stadium.  In our tourist-eye view of Chicago, we were both amazed at the number of people walking the streets of Chicago who were under thirty.  Maybe we were just noticing the lack of people our age.  Chicago seemed to be young, energetic and on the move.

At the conference, we heard some good preaching.  For me, there is nothing better than a good sermon.  And the sermons I like the best are the ones that stick close to the text.  I love to hear a preacher who can make the Bible come alive.

But the best part of the conference for me was the chance to spend time with my preacher-buddy.  We fell into long discussions over Starbuck's Coffee.  We talked about our theological prejudices at meal times.  We shared our personal testimonies in the dorm room.  We discussed church polity and national politics while walking to Navy Pier.

At one point when we were sharing some of our spiritual pilgrimage with each other, we discovered that we each had experienced some of the same judgmental and mean-spirited behavior from colleagues in ministry.  But we had experienced that kind of meanness from opposite ends of the theological perspective.  We concluded that prejudice and nastiness is equally bad when it comes from the conservative or the liberal end.  No one group seems to have a corner on bad behavior.

What makes our friendship unique is that we disagree on many theological points.  That makes for lively and challenging discussions.  We don't come at the Bible from the same directions, but we have a deep respect for the other's point of view. 

I have seldom had a friend who was filled with so much grace.  Most people allow theological differences to become a test of fellowship.  What's that old saying about avoiding conversations that deal with politics or religion?  We never avoided either one, and yet we are still friends.

The temptation in life is to choose only those people who agree with us.  Most of us prefer to be with people who believe like we do and vote like we do.  But this friend is so filled with the love of God that he is willing to love me even if I believe differently and vote differently from him.  I find him to be amazing and refreshing.

My friend gives me hope for Christianity.  In a time when our country seems to be moving to polarization and demonizing our opposites, here is one who has caught the spirit of Jesus.  I liked being around him because some of that spirit of Jesus rubbed off on me.