fit? I

mean, I have lots of thoughts.

And I could answer your question, I think, in a number of ways.

But one thing it reminds me of.

is in mid-2000s, I studied with Christine Pohl, who used to teach social ethics at Asbury Theological Seminary.

And she studied hospitality.

She studied essentially the core practices for life-giving communities.

Now I can kind of orient myself and maybe get above the water.

Yeah.

I, uh, I'm an avid reader, and I have been haunted by a book.

And let me give a, give a little bit of background before I make my pitch.

In the 1140s, Bernard of Clairvaux, a, a Christian monk and one of the most influential voices of medieval Europe, receives surprising news that one of his former students has been elected as a pope, Eugene III.

And so this is 11th century or 12th century, and Bernard was proud, he was glad, but he's also worried because he knew that the papal court was swamped with lawsuits and appeals and politics and administrative demands, and he was afraid that his friend, his former mentee, would be swallowed up by it.

And so he wrote this book called "On Consideration." And Bernard's warning is, is not so much that the work of being the pope is bad, but his concern is that a person can become so busy that he slowly stopped noticing what is happening to his own soul.

And it's interesting when you, when you read this, it's almost like modern technological society is saying, "Hang on.

Unless you think we have enough on the table right now.

Tell me about the home you grew up in.

Yeah, I love that question.

So in order to tell the story, I got to begin in 1923 in Four Oaks, North Carolina.

Henry Blackmon Jr., my dad, is born.

He is from a very poor family.

His mother, Ruth, is the help for white people.

She might as well have been an indentured servant.

the 50s?