City Life

Life in the city is good for me. Nederland was a relatively small town, and College Station all in all wasn't much different. My two years here has been a big demonstration of how Dallas is a whole new world. I love the sights and sounds of day to day life in the city. There are so many people coming from so many different places. In the mass of people and places, there are the sights I see every day. Two guys who work as parking attendants in two separate lots on opposite sides of the street that seem to love their jobs. Whether they do or not, I don't know, but I could certainly learn a thing or two about taking pride in what I do from them. The homeless guy at the corner, some days asking for money, some days drinking malt liquor, and some days just sitting being there. The one lady who always looks like she is in a hurry. I know nothing about her, but for some reason I always assume she is lonely. The older Muslim guy that has taken to talking to me, and I have taken to talking back to. You end up feeling a little bit like you know people. People have their place in your life without even knowing it. I don't know if it sounds creepy, but this is just the way it is for me.

I took a good long walk alone today for lunch. For me these solo lunch walks serve at least three distinct purposes: to go get food, to break up the day of life in a cubicle, and to people watch. Lately I have been exploring more. I make it quite a ways away from that cubicle I sit in the rest of the day. Different areas of downtown are completely different worlds. As I have explored more, my once relatively tiny downtown world has grown to include more worlds. New people in a rush, new homeless people, new places to explore. It has been really eye opening. It has me thinking about things in a lot of different ways.

I bought myself a new tiny Bible that I could easily take with me when I go out for lunch and for other situations when such a tiny Bible might be handy. It was nice to sit down today and read a little bit. The twenty minutes or so I sat down to read was more than I had read in one sitting in months. I decided that I would start today with Acts. The story of the day of Pentecost never ceases to amaze me, though I tend to think that I would be in the group accusing people of being drunk rather than seeing God's presence for its power and wonder.

I ramble on and say all of this to make a point to myself of how much I need God. The only way I can love my wife, love my job, and love people the way I should is with His help. Maybe one day I be better at talking to people and expressing who God is to me, who I am, what I think, how I feel, all of those great things, but I am in constant need of reminders that change and growth do not come from me. It can only come from God. All that is asked of me is to be willing to listen and to be open to His guidance.