When I head to Wichita to lead some professional development for the teachers there, I hope to get there early with the possibility of heading to Old Cowtown.  It's not far from the hotel in which I will be staying.

Transportation in Southwest Missouri is different from transportation in Boston, Massachusetts.  First, I will arrive and takeoff in a larger aircraft at Logan International Airport (BOS) than I takeoff and land in at the Joplin Regional Airport (JLN).  Then, I will have to choose a suitable mode of transportation from the airport that will get me to the dorms at Boston University.

The university will be home base for the Gilder Lehrman history and teaching sessions for the week, but daily excursions into the heart of the historical sections of the city will require more public transportation.  We'll get to know the Green Line subway/light rail system better during the week.  The Green Line's history includes the fact that it is the first subway system in the U.S.

If, on the off chance, I get to take a ferry to Salem, or if I get to book a seat on a whale-watching cruise, those will be further embarkations on different modes of transportation.  While most people would not think twice about any of these things, I don't want to miss the experience of these parts of my first expedition to this historic city.

In June, I have the opportunity to work with Ricardo Herrera.  Dr. Herrera's bio on Amazon doesn't do justice to this scholar of history:

It will be interesting to listen to this specialist speak to educators in Wichita, Kansas, in a few weeks.  I hope he delivers a speech similar to the one in the video above.  Valley Forge is certainly an interesting winter for Washington and the Continental Army, and I think Herrera can bring it to life.  I spotted his connection to the Civil-Military Relations Center and found more information about his rewards and achievements.  His biography on their website concludes with this paragraph.

Dr. Herrera will present the history, and then I will break away with elementary teachers to present the pedagogy - how to teach it.  This presentation is about one of my favorite periods in American History - the Revolutionary War. I will be cramming a lot of strategies and information into my two hours as I cover the Boston Massacre, Yankee Doodle, and the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence.

I can't help but feel honored and humbled to have such an opportunity.  It's going to be a rewarding experience.

After taking in my fill of the Cane Ridge Meeting House, earlier this month, I headed back to a community withing Lexington, Kentucky, called Hamburg​.  My hotel room at Home2 Suites was waiting for me.

I dropped off my things and headed to the nearby Outback Steakhouse for dinner, wondering if the severe storm was about to hit the area.  Strangely, I could see rain in the large center window from my seat, but it appeared to not be raining in the equally large window on the left or the other on the right.

The weather map dropped the severe polygon, so we did not receive the hail or the wind I was expecting.  I ate my sirloin and shrimp, along with a loaded sweet potato, some broccoli, and a plateful of mushrooms in peace.  I even had some mushrooms and bread left over to take to the hotel for a snack later.

While in Boston with Kentucky teachers, we will stay on the campus of Boston University in the residence hall at 10 Buick Street.  When I deplane in Boston, I will probably take a bus to the subway and then take a two-minute walk to the dorm.  Then the fun begins!

I almost missed it.  The gravesite of Barton Warren Stone.  It would just be the most prominent of all the sites in the Cane Ridge Meeting House cemetery.  Along with the monolith marking the family plot, there was also a bust of Stone overlooking his own grave.

Barton W. Stone is known by many as a leader in the Restoration Movement.  That's a time people can point to where church leaders, headed by Stone, gathered along with congregants from a variety of denominations for a revival at the Cane Ridge Meeting House.  It is said there were 20-30,000 people in attendance (I don't know what that must have looked like in this forested area.).

Sometime later, Stone and others met to discuss a mutual desire to return the church(es) to the original pattern set forth in Biblical Scripture.  They created a document known as the Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery, as Stone was a Presbyterian.  Many cite this as the beginning of the Christian Church, the Disciples of Christ, and the Church of Christ.

We, however, recognize that the church of Christ does not begin in the late 18th or early 19th Centuries.  It was established in the second chapter of Acts in the Bible, and it was established to last until the return of Christ for judgment.  People have been meeting together from house to house and heart to heart ever since.

It must also be stated that neither Barton Stone, nor Thomas or Alexander Campbell is considered to be the founder of the church:  Jesus is.  Therefore, it is inappropriate to call Christians anything other than Christians. We do not tolerate the human names of Stonites or Campbellites (or the more generic New Lights).  That's not to say that these are not important times or that these are not important men, but the distinction must be made that the church has not been and never should be manmade.

I love the apostle who Jesus calls Peter (first introduced as Simon).  He is impetuous and spontaneous to say the least.  He jumps in with both feet, leaps without looking, speaks without thinking.  Does that sound like anyone you know?

Peter is one of the characters in the biblical account who grows, transforms, improves.  There are so many of Peter's failures recorded in the Gospels that it's hard to believe he becomes such a hero in the eyes of Christians.

I've been asked to be a guest speaker for the church of Christ in Pittsburg, Kansas, in August, as they connect a series of lessons on the topic of Bible Superheroes  Each Wednesday will be a different, amazing Bible figure.  My desire is to describe the humbling and righteous degradation of Peter throughout the account of which we have the record.  I want to take the class into Peter's calling and learning - from full fishing nets to his great confession, to the transfiguration of Christ, to his denial of Christ, to meeting Jesus on the beach and answering Jesus when He asks for Peter to feed His sheep, to Peter becoming a leading author of letters in the New Testament.