Notes from the Road: There Is No Bucket List<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Matt's been sending me pictures of the garden. So amazing how it just rises up out of the ground without me doing anything. Well, I mean, other than\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Notes from the Road: There Is No Bucket List\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Matt's been sending me pictures of the garden. So amazing how it just rises up out of the ground without me doing anything. Well, I mean, other than\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Preventing Grace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-27T15:00:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/578\/2016\/06\/image-1.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Kennedy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Kennedy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/\",\"name\":\"Notes from the Road: There Is No Bucket List\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-27T15:00:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-06-27T15:00:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/#\/schema\/person\/41b88caa73803c3767a1bbd8722774f1\"},\"description\":\"Matt's been sending me pictures of the garden. So amazing how it just rises up out of the ground without me doing anything. Well, I mean, other than\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Notes from the Road: There Is No Bucket List\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/\",\"name\":\"Preventing Grace\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/#\/schema\/person\/41b88caa73803c3767a1bbd8722774f1\",\"name\":\"Anne Kennedy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc7e11f6837fe0689905ef34797be59b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc7e11f6837fe0689905ef34797be59b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Anne Kennedy\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/author\/akennedy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Notes from the Road: There Is No Bucket List","description":"Matt's been sending me pictures of the garden. So amazing how it just rises up out of the ground without me doing anything. Well, I mean, other than","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Notes from the Road: There Is No Bucket List","og_description":"Matt's been sending me pictures of the garden. So amazing how it just rises up out of the ground without me doing anything. Well, I mean, other than","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/","og_site_name":"Preventing Grace","article_published_time":"2016-06-27T15:00:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1536,"height":2048,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/578\/2016\/06\/image-1.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Anne Kennedy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anne Kennedy","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/","name":"Notes from the Road: There Is No Bucket List","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-06-27T15:00:53+00:00","dateModified":"2016-06-27T15:00:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/#\/schema\/person\/41b88caa73803c3767a1bbd8722774f1"},"description":"Matt's been sending me pictures of the garden. So amazing how it just rises up out of the ground without me doing anything. Well, I mean, other than","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Notes from the Road: There Is No Bucket List"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/","name":"Preventing Grace","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/#\/schema\/person\/41b88caa73803c3767a1bbd8722774f1","name":"Anne Kennedy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc7e11f6837fe0689905ef34797be59b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc7e11f6837fe0689905ef34797be59b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Anne Kennedy"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/author\/akennedy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":4779,"date":"2016-06-27T11:00:53","date_gmt":"2016-06-27T15:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/?p=4779"},"modified":"2016-06-27T11:00:53","modified_gmt":"2016-06-27T15:00:53","slug":"notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/06\/27\/notes-from-the-road-there-is-no-bucket-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes from the Road: There Is No Bucket List"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"image\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Today we\u2019re going on to Portland after way way way too brief a time in Eugene. Eugene really does make Ithaca look amateur\u2013pretenders to the spirit of relaxation and bike lanes. There is even a real playground here, with a metal slide, and a hint of risk.<\/p>\n

We have two and a half more days of ease and beauty and then begins the long and probably very unpleasant drive east. It won\u2019t be all bad. The scenery should be lovely, and we get to stop once to see family and once for a wedding, and then on towards home. The best part, of course, is that we\u2019re traveling in a minivan and not a covered wagon with Wolves nipping at our heels.<\/p>\n

I must say, I am ready to turn my steps towards home, or rather Matt. It will be six weeks all told, by the time we limp across the Susquehanna. That\u2019s quite a long time. I should remember this and never complain that we never go anywhere. This year we\u2019ve been everywhere and yet there is still so much that we didn\u2019t see.<\/p>\n

This is why I couldn\u2019t possibly assemble for myself a bucket list. First of all, I am not guaranteed time enough in this life to accomplish anything. I am not even guaranteed tomorrow. But also, I am pretty sure that the places usually assembled for such a list, being known by lots and lots of people, are not really the true places or experiences that propel one along past discouragement and gray skies. For example, the village where I grew up in Africa is not on anyone\u2019s bucket list, and when you go to Mali, no one reminds you to be sure and stop there. No, you go north to Timbuktu, and the Dogon. And, really, now that I\u2019m thinking about it, do you even go to Mali? And even if you did put my village on the list and go there, you wouldn\u2019t know what to look for\u2013the particular silkiness of the sand along one section of path going down to the stream, the early morning sounds of people getting up and getting ready to go work the fields, the view from the kitchen window. And I haven\u2019t even got to the people.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re going to see people not things, I keep saying to the children, and they have started saying it to each other. And this is good, but also a great sorrow, because it would be so great to see things. But I, as I have held tight my vibrating steering wheel and chewed yet more gum, am calculating two Great Hopes.<\/p>\n

One, heaven will be for people. The briefness of these hellos and the pathos of the goodbyes is only possible because this isn\u2019t all there is. When our Lord finally returns we won\u2019t have to say goodbye any more, to anyone. I don\u2019t think I need to grow lyrical about this because if you\u2019ve ever had to say goodbye, and not known when the next moment of locking eyes will be, well, then you will understand the Christian\u2019s great longing for the resurrection.<\/p>\n

But also, Two, heaven will be for places. Because it\u2019s not really heaven we\u2019re looking forward to, it\u2019s the New Heaven and the New Earth, which includes the earth. And so, when you\u2019re clattering past some gorgeous scenic overlook and thinking, \u2018dammit, I\u2019m probably not going to see that before I die\u2019 you can console yourself that when all humanity has collectively kicked the bucket, our Lord will burn up the bucket with fire, chuck the list out the window, and give us eternity, which is plenty of time, to be with each other, gaping at every single scenic overlook.<\/p>\n

And so, back into the car, and away with the tears, because, \u201cif we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"