“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination
and life to everything.” — Plato

Live music has always been an important part of our summers. It began when my wife and I were college students in Nashville. We would throw our bags in the car and head up Interstate 65 at a moment’s notice to see an Over the Rhine concert in Clifton, head north to Chicago for a U2 show, travel south to Atlanta to see Pearl Jam, Oasis or REM, and follow our friend Bill Mallonee and his Vigilantes of Love just about anywhere within a 500-mile radius.

I have always found a sense of freedom and wonder in chasing the horizon over open roads; it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I wrote a book about God’s nomadic nature called Holy Nomad.

Today, even with four kids and a world of responsibility, summer means we head out like Jack Kerouac and friends (er, ok, so, maybe more like Clark Griswold and company), en route to sonic bliss. Some of the details are different — our road trip soundtracks that used to begin with John Cusack-High Fidelity-style mix tapes and later transitioned to CDs are now cleverly named playlists on a device — but the spirit is just the same. Our family vacations are very important and we wouldn’t trade anything in the world for the memories we make with our entire crew, but in these musical getaways, just the two of us, we can center ourselves momentarily, hit the reset button, and in the words of singer Jay Farrar, “let the wind take our troubles away.”

It is our summer Sabbath…

Read the full piece from Busted Halo.com HERE.