[The Bed Bug Guy]

If you are wondering how I have been recently the answer is exhausted and ready to get some rest. Two of the past four nights were spent sleeping in my car and I have felt more like an outcast recently than an insider. I'll explain.

Here's the deal. Last 3 months for me. I finished my masters program. Celebrated with family. Road tripped through rural Minnesota then cornfields in Nebraska with a good friend. Flew to Guatemala. Climbed volcanoes and learned Spanish. Flew back to play at a good friend's wedding in Virginia. Got back to Nashville. Slept on friends couches. Housesat a friend's house. Went to Kentucky to be a counselor for an awesome Christian camp for teenagers called Revive. Moved into a halfway house as a house manager. Then I got destroyed by bed bugs. Which brings me to where I am right now.

Life is so awesome. I love it and can't get enough of it. There are so many ups and downs, highs and lows and the way that you deal with the tough things in life really reveals who you are. Life is not about cruising, that's what old people do, they go on cruises. It's about being in the battle, pushing limits, loving people recklessly, and letting go of any sort of ego that could make you think that you are any better or more valuable than an old homeless guy named Rooster who lost both of his hands in the Vietnam war.

So, I moved into the halfway house about two weeks ago. Love the guys there. Each of them are unique, awesome and have a story. A few days in I realized that the super itchy red spots on my arms were not mosquitos but bed bugs. I then moved all my stuff to a different room next to mine, sprayed, washed and cleaned everything with bed bug approved killing supplies. A few days later got a few more bites. Did the same thing with more extreme measures. Then two days later I woke up, did the normal bed bug bite check. Was relieved that I didn't have any bites. Then noticed my left eye felt sore. Looked in the mirror and realized I had 3 bites. Over the next two days my left eye/face got so swollen that a) I could barely open my eye b) everyone asked me if I had gotten in a fightc) I felt ashamed/embarrassed and tried to hide from public. I ended the next two nights at The Cookout. Drinking a milkshake. In the corner. By myself.

It was such an interesting and difficult experience because when I would talk to people their first response after hearing "Bed bugs" was usually 'am I safe being around you?' or 'do you have them on you now?'  AKA How dangerous are you? Which made me feel like a leper or an untouchable.

I love how God does things though. Even this small taste of feeling like an outcast was a way for me to understand, if even just a little bit, what it has felt like for some of the guys at the house being rejected by people in society. You see, there's always something deeper going on in the midst of our trials if we really look for it and dig through the frustration or anger we feel in our initial response to them. That's a mouthful of a sentence but read it again because I think there's a lot of truth in it. So often when you're in the middle of the trial you can't see it clearly, what is happening, why it is happening or how it is changing you. But on the other side you can see so much clearer. Like they say hindsight is 20/20. I'd like to think it's 20/10, even clearer than the present.

My face is better now. I'm staying at a different house until the bug situation is completely solved. And I leave for California in 4 days for my first music tour. Life is good. God is good. And I'm so excited about what is to come. Hopefully I can get some rest after I get back from a non-stop 8 days in California. Needless to say I will never ever again be saying "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite". I am so done with that phrase.

May your love be strong,

Joey