\n\u2026 where the newly open view is good, I can see<\/em>
\nis what I was pointing to, what I was saying quietly to Myself \u2014 Ross Gay<\/em><\/p>\n
1<\/h3>\n
15-501 to I-64 to Highway 421 North \u2014
\nall familiar to me, a Tarheel for the last five years and my first 23;<\/p>\n
so, to break the monotony of this eight-hour drive to Pittsburgh,
\nI go old school, FM radio, Top 40 station,<\/p>\n
and boogie down the road, chuckling at that part of myself complaining
\nabout how come kids these days don\u2019t play their own instruments,<\/p>\n
and when did grunge rock become classic?<\/p>\n
2<\/h3>\n
US-52 across the state line \u2014 the billboard Virginia is for Lovers<\/em>. and at the rest stop, a toddler plops down on the asphalt, refusing to go any further, I whispered, \u201cFor the love of God!\u201d as I\u2019ve wanted to say it so many times to my kids.<\/p>\n I-77, still driving north, my mind drifts east, along the New River (ironically the oldest in U.S.) to the babies I\u2019ve baptized in a holy trickle, who are now immersed in childhood, Are any road trips truly solo?<\/p>\n After going through a tunnel in West Virginia, Wild and Wonderful<\/em>, and the tally was even, until six signs in a row, all for Jesus, \u201cCraig\u201d being the name of my father who, eight years earlier, In eight more years, what else will be an echo?<\/p>\n I went back to the radio: Even the banal sounds lovely in the voice of Fiona Ritchie, Then, a familiar Beatles tune, but not like Sir Paul sang it \u2014 and I, driving on Father\u2019s Day and Juneteenth, as my car flew past fast food joints force feeding the American Dream.<\/p>\n Up I-79, the sun setting behind the green hills, this land that I love from its bustling downtowns to busted down barns, Yet, for all its faults and complexities, its contradictions and cruelties, I took the North Shore exit under the Fort Pitt tunnel, <\/p>\n by Andrew Taylor-Troutman The Opening \u2026 where the newly open view is good, I can see is what I was pointing to, what I was saying quietly to Myself \u2014 Ross Gay 1 15-501 to I-64 to Highway 421 North \u2014 all familiar to me, a Tarheel for the last five years and my first…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-8427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protestant-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\r\n
\nThis state was where I was married and my three kids were born,<\/p>\n
\nto which my fellow father sighed, \u201cBut we\u2019re almost there!\u201d<\/p>\n3<\/h3>\n
\nand my previous church named after the Dublin across the pond,<\/p>\n
\nand the older people I loved, now buried in the old churchyard.<\/p>\n4<\/h3>\n
\nI made a game of counting the Jesus and strip club billboards,<\/p>\n
\ntipped the balance right outside of Craigsville.<\/p>\n
\ndrove the same Highway 19 with me on our way to see the Pirates play the Cubs.<\/p>\n5<\/h3>\n
\n\u201cNot everything is beautiful in the world, but there is beauty in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nhost of The Thistle & Shamrock<\/em>, playing a wee bit of songs from the old country.<\/p>\n
\nthis blackbird flew in Gaelic,<\/p>\n
\nprayed for Lon-dubh<\/em> in the dead of night and all the broken wings,<\/p>\n6<\/h3>\n
\nas I cross the Pennsylvania state line,<\/p>\n
\nthese supposedly \u201cunited states\u201d that are now so divided and full of hostility.<\/p>\n
\nmy country is still the bright hope that we shall be like a city on a hill.<\/p>\n
\nwhich opened to a field of steel with towering lights, all aglow.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Taylor-Troutman-189x215-1.jpg\")
<\/a>The Rev. Andrew Taylor-Troutman<\/a> is the pastor and head of staff at Chapel in the Pines PC in Chapel Hill, N.C., and a student in the PTS Doctor of Ministry in Creative Writing and Public Theology<\/a> program. Applications are now being accepted for the next cohort in this program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"