Today, I took a really scenice drive down from Lexington, VA to Blacksburg, VA. Half way down or so, I stopped in Roanoke and ate lunch in the historic central market. Neat little town. I had a meatloaf sandwich and some fries topped with cajun flavoring. Good stuff. Bill Kauffman would be proud. I ate local and enjoyed it. Although I can’t remember the name of the place. oh well. maybe that’s a good thing. If it was Starbuck’s or McDonald’s, I’d remember right?
Then, I got down to the campus of Virginia Tech. Let me reiterate how beautiful the drive down was – mountains, pastures, cows grazing in them, just beautiful. Almost something from a movie. And the roads just seemed to glide through them with ease. No traffic, no buildings. Just God’s country. It may have been one of the most scenic drives I’ve taken and I can’t imagine when spring is really blooming or when the fall leaves are changing colors how this must look.
Well… the campus of Virginia Tech is very pretty as well. I took a 2-3 mile run around it this afternoon. I’m staying at “The Inn at Virginia Tech” which is right on campus and is a great place. Very accessible, affordable, and comfortable.
Tonight, I met up with 8 students from VA Tech. Only 2 of them were members before the meeting – the rest didn’t really know much about ISI before. But, now they do and now they’re members. I was a bit nervous about this visit down here for the past week as we were going to attempt an ISI soiree, but we couldn’t get a room secured and I wasn’t sure what the turnout was going to be tonight. But, to my surprise, the turnout was great and the students were very enthusiastic and bright. Sometimes ISI is hard to explain or to understand, but they seemed to really get it.
One student, who is an ISI Campus Representative and only a sophomore, might just start a group and he wants to keep it separate in focus from the College Republicans (of which he is not a part). 5 of the students that came are a part of the CR’s here, but they also seemed to be very open to the idea of an ISI chapter and keeping it distinct. Before this visit, ISI had very little presence at VA Tech, but I am hopeful that some of the students I met with tonight are going to change that. Sometimes days will turn around on you unexpectedly – and sometimes in a good way. This was certainly one of those days.
I wasn’t expecting the good turnout and the enthusiastic spirit among them. I also wasn’t expecting such a scenic drive (even though I sort of was, but it was much more than I had hoped for!) Days like this confirm for me that there is a God. He is the one that brings people together, puts purpose in our lives, and provides so much natural beauty for us to enjoy. He gives us joy – and that is something that can’t be appreciated enough.