I slept till eleven. Rested? yes. Waste of the morning? absolutely.
I spent last night in Kingwood visiting Liz Wilson while mom was hanging out with her book club, we stayed up late knitting, scrap booking, and talking about Africa. After Liz and I got up and got ready, we then proceeded to go to Starbucks. While driving there, Liz confessed to a coffee addiction. Like any good friend I was supportive and suggested a plan of action to overcome it (which obviously starts tomorrow because we were already halfway there).
I ran into a few people I used to know. It was neat having a few blasts from the past, but what caught my attention more than anything was the group of older men sitting to my right who, no lie, spent about forty-five minutes talking quite loudly about snake venom, and then the young business man sitting next to me making various calls on an earpiece. For a while I thought he was just talking to himself.
In between laughing to myself at strangers' conversations, I spent time reading and writing. Oh how the Lord has taught me so much. As I read in Jeremiah, he opened my eyes to the broken heart God has for his people that refuse to turn to him. Although he goes on to tell them that they will be punished, which is important, you see how he just longs for them to love him as they once did, "I remember the devotion of your youth how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown." (Jer 2:2) It broke my heart, because I see the same story in the world around me, and even in my own life. I run away from him and towards emptiness all the time. More than anything though, the passages made me so thankful for the grace that covers me and so aware of the love God has for me.
After leaving Starbucks, I made the two hour trip back home and finished knitting. Unfortunately, my assumptions were correct, my intended scarf is more of a blob. I tried to get creative and think for a use for it, but before I could get past the potential idea of a shawl for the dog I pulled a string and unravelled the first three rows of stitches. My sweet sister made me a cup of tea as I mourned the loss of my first knitted... object.
So at this point i've had a cup of coffee and a cup of tea within the same afternoon, I got quite restless sitting at the house after this amount of caffeine, so of course I hit up our local Starbucks. I sat down and read some in Crazy Love, but mostly eavesdropped on two middle eastern men probably in their 40's sitting on the other side of the wall. One was quite loud and the other more soft spoken, the louder one was obviously heated about something. He spoke a little in english, but it was still hard to understand, and then when he got really heated he spoke in his language. I caught words like "family" "daughter" and "pakistan" amidst the jumble of speech but couldn't put much together. The only thing in my mind in that moment though, was wondering if he knew the Lord. I made the assumption that he did not. I could have been wrong but still, I thought about the craziness of me being less than ten feet away reading through the passages in Jeremiah for the second time that day and thanking God for his love and grace and he has no clue about any of it. I sat a while longer then gathered my things and left, still hearing him rant loudly as I walked out the door and into the rain. Yes, I left. No, I didn't feel God pushing me to interrupt their conversation and share Christ right then and there (because if he had been telling me to, I wouldn't be writing about it now because I'd be too embarrassed to tell you I didn't do it) but I do think there was something he was teaching me. I think he was teaching me to see differently. He has taught me so much today. I can't wait until tomorrow.
So now, it is quite late. I am still wired from that third cup of coffee. And I reek of coffee grounds. Hopefully tomorrows learning won't involve so much caffeine.
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