Houston part 2/St. John the Divine

I don't remember if I noted how large Houston seemed; how the huge number of freeways, on-ramps, toll roads and so on seemed doubled from when I visited there 12 years ago. One of the highlights was speaking at St. John the Divine my last night there. Thanks to a long-standing relationship with the rector, Larry Hall, I was invited to be a speaker in their Lenten speakers series on Wednesday nights. St. John the Divine is larger now than it was when I worked in Houston; 4,500 members and one of the top five Episcopal churches in the country.
There was lots of remodeling there since I last saw it and they asked me to speak on how Redeemer affected the city of Houston. The conversation with the two pastors (Larry Hall being the one to your right, my left) was on all sorts of things, including my personal walk with Christ, my "Quitting Church" book, etc. It was a most pleasant gathering; catered dinner, place cards, lovely tables, Eric and Stevie helping with the book table and a chance to chat up some of the church leaders while tossing dinner into Veeka's mouth.
It was a lovely evening; the kind I don't often get! I thought it so ironic that here I got such a nice reception in Houston and was treated like a queen while certain Anglican churches in the DC area - regarding my newest book - won't even return my calls! Which is why a speech I gave today on Capitol Hill at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church was so nice. For Lent, about 70 people ordered copies of my book and studied it. Imagine! Like a college text.
It is so lovely in DC right now as all the cherry blossoms are out. Everywhere you drive, there are cherry trees. Which is why I don't like to leave the area at the end of March. It's the nicest time to be here.