It's still today--tomorrow is Elizabethtown's turn

I love Tazza D'Oro. I always assume all the people there are like me, walkers. But today I ran into a woman who lives in Point Breeze. She and I did that double take--I know you from somewhere. We finally figured it out--Mary Kay. Now, I know we didn't know each other that well, but whenever I meet someone I used to know, I immediately (if I liked them at all) want to do lunch or something...I think because my hometown is not a geographic location. My hometown is made up of a population of people that used to live in Silver Spring, MD; Bonn, Germany; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Oakland, Carlow College, Pittsburgh; Chestertown, Washington College, Maryland, and Falls Church, VA. Oh, Warsaw, Poland too. Some of those people still live there, but most of them don't, and that is the life of the TCK (Third Culture Kid). Where are you from? That depends. I've lived in Pittsburgh since 1989. My heart is here. I have left twice; once for two years, once for three. But my heart remained. I'm grateful--I mean, the cost of living of leaving your heart in San Francisco these days would be sky high. Pittsburgh is still relatively low cost, especially in respect to housing.

Then, I'm sitting there, starting my homework for the Beth Moore study I'm doing on Believing God (it's soooo amazing!) and this guy says, "Great shirt, where'd you score that?" And I had to say, "Check Point Charlie, actually." I was wearing my favorite shirt, lemme see if I can get an image of the sign...here it is. His wife/girlfriend cut in quickly, but I did get to tell him it was one of my favorite shirts. When the foursome left, he made a point to say "Have a nice day" which I thought was nice.

Thoughts on Beth Moore: She Rocks!! Quotes from this week (yes, I did days 2-5 in one sitting, but I'd rather have it done than not.):

• "We often suffer from spiritual schizophrenia or at least a serious case of attention-deficet disorder. Like the Israelites, who suffered from the potter-clay reversal syndrome (see Isaiah 29:16), I sometimes forget that I didn't see Jesus in the distance and call Him to follow me. (emphasis mine.)
• In our frenzied lifestyles we are desperate for simplicity: for a hundred things to narrow down to one.
• Because not only does Abraham have a history of faith, but his record also bears marks of some serious bouts with doubt and some remarkably foolish decisions. So does mine...Failure isn't terminal, Dear One. Faithlessness is.
• I have yet to find the story of a fully healthy and functional family in the Word of God (emphasis mine.)
• "Have you ever thought, "I may as well be an alien here?"...that may be your first indication that you are in the right place.
• Here's the one that pierced my particular personal heart: One of our challenges is watching others who seem to be operating effectively in their promised land, while we still feel like aliens in tents wondering whether we misunderstood. Adding insult to injury, some of those may be younger than we are! Have you ever found this frustrating? Oh yeah! She continues: We can allow resentment to kill our opportunity to grow. God reserves the right to handle us as individually as the prints he stamped on the ends of our fingers. (emphasis mine.)

Thoughts on Oswald: He's the Best!! A quote from today's reading: Naturally, prayer is not practical, it is absurd; we have to realize that prayer is stupid from the ordinary common-sense point of view...He will engineer circumstances and thrust you out.

This guy was way ahead of his time! This is from 1917! I used to hate Oswald, before I read him, because EVERYONE loved him. I like discovering people on my own. So I bought a copy of His Utmost at Goodwill, it sat on the shelf for years before I "discovered" it. My friend Lily has his complete works on CD and prints them out--she's much more hard core than I imagine I'll ever be. But it's cool, cause we talk about him occasionally.

Anyways, this is a super long post, I'm thinking, and very theological, but I hope you got this far. I think I may have found my calling.