An Evening at the Cove

If you need some quiet time, peaceful and relaxing and restful in the best spiritual and emotional sense, you should go to the Cove. It revives the soul, from the gentle mountain breeze, to the lush scenery, to the wide open and clean spaces, to the sincerely kind and helpful and loving people on every corner who are eager to serve you, to the delicious gormet meals, to the refreshing coffee and tea service in the hall, to the number of prayer and study rooms, to the marvelously resourceful bookstore... from the moment you drive onto the campus, there is a stillness and delight that is hard to match anywhere else.




We visited the Cove for the first time yesterday, and what a treat it was! It was a great thing to do together, because Mom and Dad even enjoyed themselves. Andrew Peterson was in concert, which is an experience everyone should have. We had a couple hours when we arrived to walk around, have tea, browse the bookstore (I bought another Amy Carmichael book), and overhear the band warming up in the auditorium. Then there was a buffett-style gormet dinner, and Kevan and I each had our own helper who carried and filled our plates for us. After an amazing meal and key lime pie, Kevan went over and chatted with the guys in the band about music and books and the questionable life force of chocolate.


Then we got to sit in the very front row in the auditorium for the concert, which, again, is something everyone should experience. Andrew Peterson is so down-to-earth, and yet brilliantly prolific, too. I loved hearing the stories behind his songs - usually about his family or friends, and always about the things God is teaching him - and then hearing the songs as though for the first time. After the show, I got to say hello to the band and tell Andrew Peterson that his last book, "North! Or Be Eaten," had made me cry... and he said thank you, that that was a great compliment. I understood that. As a writer, I would love to write something some day that is so powerful that it makes readers cry. I highly anticipate his next book, maybe even more than his next album. Anyway, Kevan got a picture with the band and did some more casual chatting and then we headed out for our long drive home.


What an enchanted evening! I highly recommend the Cove, I recommend The Wingfeather Saga, and as I said before, I recommend an Andrew Peterson concert.