Economy

I don't know about you but I am tired of hearing about our economy plummeting into the abyss. I thought I'd get away from it by switching from CNN to BBC and up pops "breaking news"...the American economy is basically in the crapper. What can I do about it? Besides, panicking for about 30 seconds before I realize that the grand total of my investment on the stock market is less than a monthly paycheck and I am too poor to have invested in a home to begin with...I don't know what I can possibly do. So, then I ask, why give me the information to begin with?

I have some better, less heart-attack worthy news, it rained this morning on my balcony.

The air smells like autumn, the sun is only slightly beating down, I have access to fair-trade coffee, and I only mildly want to murder the barking dogs next door. Seems like a positive day in the life of an average American. So I will most likely always live in an 800 sg. foot apartment for the rest of my life and I may not get to ever own a brand new car but c'mon if our economy falls we are still doing well compared to 98% of the world. The rich (meaning all of us on computers) could use a little shifting of the wealth--since we obviously can't or won't do it on our own.

I am off to stand in the rain.

Sabbath Keeping

I have gotten out of the habit of Sabbath keeping and I have noticed a difference. In choosing to set aside one day of the week where I intentionally worship God through ceasing I am reminded that I am not God--that the world will go on turning if I am not at the helm. This loss of rest all started with Seminary (go figure) and the got worse with bringing the internet into my home. If it is there, I hop on it. Instantly I am bombarded with political news, what's happening in hollywood, the top ten places to live in the US all on Yahoo. The stress rises, the need to do comes back, and my Sabbath rest, the ceasing, stops be ceased.

Then I ask the question Marva Dawn asks in her book Keeping the Sabbath Wholly, "Do I need to reach a certain level of accomplishment in order to feel sure that I am a worthwhile person?" I pause. The answer is yes. I have slipped back into the false mentality that my worth is found in what I do rather than who God says that I am, which is a child of His, called beloved. Work is important and it is holy but it needs to be done as a act of worship and part of that act is ceasing from it 24 hours a week. This Sabbath keeping is what has kept the Jewish people moving for thousands of years...I now must cease.

The World

So in the last month it feels like I have been all over the world (Denver, Portland, Boston, Iceland, Germany, Bel Air, Forest Falls and back again). Now I know this isn't the WHOLE world but it certainly is a lot of traveling especially for someone who HATES flying.
Here's what have I learned.
1. Denver is a desert (or at least feels like one in the summer) and only white people live there.
2. Portland is a greener Denver with really good French coffee.
3. Boston is cool in the city but could use a facelift by the airport.
4. Everyone in Iceland speaks English.
5. If you make a stopover in Iceland on the way to Europe you are never more than an hour away from land during the flight.
6. German people love using ski poles without snow.
7. There are a lot of Bon Jovi cover bands in Frankfurt.
8. Hefewiesen in Germany tastes NOTHING like it does in the states...it is amazing!
9. If you want to be accepted in Germany you have to own a BMW, Mercedes, or Audi even if you are poor.
10. I am happy (I can't believe I am saying this) to live in LA. Even with all the smog, traffic, lack of greenery, and shallowness...I can still get any ethnic food I want any time of the day served by people from the country of origin.