We just returned from four wonderful days in Southern California where I delivered lectures (Rethinking Leadership, based on my most recent book) at Bethel Seminary.
This is a smaller version of the big Bethel University in St. Paul--a warm place and not just in outdoor temperatures! Here I am attentively listening hard to a student's very serious question following one of the sessions. 
And here is John who is a vital part in each session. He's a reader, but far more than that. One student commented that he's an actor. One of the pieces he read was Martin Luther excoriating Jews. That was powerful with John's wonderful version of Luther's German accent.We hiked up to the top of Cowles Mountain early one morning, had dinner on a sunset bay, and spent a wonderful day at the San Diego Zoo, hosted by Professor Jim Smith and his wife Linda. It was perfect weather the whole time except for the evening of our departure. Fog came in and the flights were canceled. My response is to spend the night at the airport. Not John's way, so we coughed up the hundred bucks for a room at Holiday Inn and actually had a nice evening and wonderful morning before we caught our early afternoon flight to Detroit which got us home just after 1 pm.
It's good to be home---home to the cloudy cold Michigan. San Diego people tend to be a little proud of themselves for choosing such a wonderful location (which last week placed second only to Denver as America's most desirable city in which to live). I tell them that they pay a price in having such weak characters. Hostile weather builds character. AND THAT'S THE TRUTH!
