One Sunday Afternoon In A Cafe...

Overhearing a conversation from a nearby table of 2 young men roughly in their mid-20s and 1 guy about 65-70 in the café I learned today that the myelin sheath, which surrounds and protects the nerves in a human body, are not formed for the first 10 months of life thereby allowing the soul of the person and the Holy Spirit to be completely unified. The Spirit has full reign—no distractions or competition. So what a person internalizes in those first 10 months is incredibly impressionable. Apparently their conversation had something to do with “ministering in the Spirit.”

Having checked in a few minutes later they are now praying for the one young man and asking God to speak to his spirit; whatever might come out. Even if it’s in tongues and it might sound like gibberish to us, it’s what you want to say Lord. I heard him speaking quietly, but his voice was so low and quiet I couldn’t make out anything. Now they seem to be on to the topic of prayer and being open to God’s voice. It might not come in the moment, but perhaps later on at a time when you could write it down or talk to someone about it.

Behind me a dad and his daughter talk about dividing up household chores. The dad offers to vacuum the stairs and the girl decides to mop the floors. She asks if they can rearrange something on the schedule and it is moved. Meanwhile the young man who was being prayed for sits in his Jeep talking on the phone. Ten minutes later he rubs his face and fidgets while looking in his rearview mirror. I wonder if I should walk out to the car and ask if he’s okay commenting that I overheard the conversation about prayer. Now it looks like he’s talking on the phone again.

By the time I can pull my things together and pack up to head towards the parking lot, the Jeep is gone.

A Birthday to Remember Part II

It's official today--Happy Birthday to me!!

Today started off with a trip down to Shoreline/N Seattle to drop off a gift to be completed for Paul. Turns out the lady offered to have it ready if I had the time to wait in the area. I had already planned on treating myself to a walk around Greenlake (~3 mi.) and as usual I have a book on hand to keep me busy if I need to wait somewhere. So off I went for a wonderful sunny walk around a beautiful lake. I talked with my Mom (though I'd already called her at 9:16am her time as is our tradition on my b-day), sat in the sun and read for a while. Finally the call came and I picked up the gift. Since it took 2.5hrs (longer than expected) I headed straight for Goodwill to pick up some shorts for yuck night with the high school kids.

From Goodwill I headed to my favorite cafe Spotted Cow in Mill Creek. I called my Dad and chatted with him a bit, then waited to meet Paul for one of our last supervisor/intern conversations. After texting and calling his house, he finally showed up at 2pm (our usual meeting time, though we had agreed on 1pm for this day). We had a wonderful conversation. I never thought I'd get to met anyone like Paul and I'm so grateful I have. He's such a wonderful mix of creativity, wonder, questions, grace and uniqueness. Watching and interacting with him has been one of the strongest means of salvation for me this year. I don't know if I could have healthfully continued in ministry without his constantly pouring God's grace on me this year.

From the Spotted Cow I traveled a few stores away to a restaurant Azul (Latin inspired cuisine) to meet up with the office ladies for Girl's Night Out and to celebrate my b-day. Those ladies are such a hoot when you get them out on their own!! Happy hour made it a cheap date too.

Finally I made it to the Jeremiah Center for Yuck Night. I sat in pickle juice, had orange juice poured on my head, had oatmeal in my hair, tossed balloons full of old milk, ate cake (decorated with refried beans, nacho cheese, pickles, mayo, cheetos, and oatmeal), guzzled tons of a gallon of orange Gatorade, did a slip and slide (through ketchup, mayo, cheese, noodles, old milk, cottage cheese, oatmeal and any of the other left overs on the yuck cart) and then wrestled in a mud pit with mostly dirty water and rocks. So I washed off some of the yuck, but got a few bruises on my feet and cuts on my legs. Boy was it worth it though to be with the kids and build those relationships with them in goo and grossness!!

All in all, a wonderful birthday. One I will not quickly soon forget and it's up there with the top best birthdays!!

The Day in Review

Last Friday I gave to VBS presentations and then clean up. So today I decided to take some of that time back by going to a movie and working off site at my leisure. After the movie I bought the Mummy 2 on sale and found a Christmas ornament that reminds me of WA. The ornament has been on my list of things to do for a long time now. Perhaps it was spurred to the top because I packed up and returned my Christmas tree to the church today. I had borrowed it from last year's VBS props for Avalanche Ranch. Wanting to go to a cafe to work, but not wanting to use the gas to drive there, I decided to head home, change, regroup and walk to Tazza Bella. I just calculated that I hoofed it 1.79mi. No wonder I was tired and craving an iced tea! I will be taking a bit of a shortcut back through Lynndale Park. Tonight is water wars at the Jeremiah Center (not to be missed) and I intend to spray others and get thoroughly soaked myself. Should be a blast.

Once I arrived at the cafe I was successfully productive in making an appointment, confirming my pictures are ready for pickup, posting on Paul's blog, editing my LSA for internship and editing my intern project proposal. So much easier to accomplish outside the office.