Last night I got to finally meet Jon Swanson.  I was introduced to Jon when I was following Chris Brogan and he tweeted about not being a spiritual guy, but he reads 300 Words a Day (following Jesus).  That intrigued me.  I started following Jon’s blog and I’ve been reading it ever since.  Jon and I have tweeted back and forth a bit and even started emailing last spring regarding one of my blog posts.  His writing has always challenged me with the ease in which he crafts and presents his words, really his voice. 

You can imagine my joy when Jon tweeted a few weeks ago that he’d be driving past Madison and was hoping we could make time for dinner or coffee.  We made the arrangements and last night Katie and I met Jon and Nancy at the El Dorado Grille for dinner.  We chatted for over two hours so we went next door to Ground Zero for some decaf coffee to end our evening. I’m documenting this on my blog because it was wonderful to meet a (Twitter) friend in person.  This is the world many of us live in these days, and I love it.  Additionally, I’m writing this to put a rock down and mark this moment as significant for me professionally.  Jon asked me some pointed questions about my writing and my routines that have sparked tremendous creative thoughts over the last 24 hours.  They’re not all fleshed out, I suppose I’ve only scratched the surface.  But I’m thankful tonight for meeting a mentor of mine, a pastor of mine for the first time.