Book it!

2 weeks and it feels like I outta come back with a bang. Unfortunately, despite two weeks of funeral attending, baby welcoming, mission tripping, niece toting and other fodder-filled endeavors, I am sitting here exhausted and unsure that I can come through with any significant amounts of hilarity or profundity on this particular night of writing.
But I miss this little forum and the whole point of doing a blog like this was to practice communication even when there is nothing immediately witty to say…so instead of holding out for the perfect return post sure to leave each of you in a state of dehydration (what with the tears streaming down your face and the humor-induced pee-a-streamin’), I have decided to throw another list your way— I’m calling it, Please read at least one of these books this summer if you haven’t or haven’t in a while. I am sure that by Sunday I will be back into the rhythm of rocking your worlds with my words, but until them I hope that you will start developing relationships with other authors out there, like the ones who wrote these:

With Regard to Singleness
• He’s Just Not that Into You: I know this could not be more cliché, but this book is hilarious (though repetitive) and honest (it hurts so good).
• Committed: This is the same author who wrote Eat, Pray, Love…I believe that should be enough of an endorsement if you read that one however if it isn’t you should know that this is a book that is all about marriage and yet somehow made me even more pleased with this whole nun-like situation I got going on here.
With Regard to Spirituality:
• The tale of the three Trees: This is a children’s book. Most of us need a good children’s book from time to time, and I this is mine for this particular juncture in life. Check it out!
• Orthodoxy: I keep finding out how many people have not read this book and its killing me. He is the Donald Miller of the 50’s (or whatever time period he wrote in) people! And if you don’t know who Donald Miller is, well he is the G.K. Chesterton of the 200’s, people—go out and start reading!

With Regard to Writing
• On Writing: I have never read a novel by Stephen King. Not into gore, and I used to think someone who produced books as quickly as he did must be a trash writer who was in it for the money. If you are still trapped in this way of thinking, please read this book. It is one of my all-time favorite memoirs. I just re-read it which should tell you something because I am of the mind that there are too many books to go around knocking on the doors of all your old (literary) flames. But with Stephen, I had to see him another time, I had to remember and relive what we had together before, and I do not doubt that in time I will go back for thirds!

Now, do you have any reading demands for me? I probably won't get to them 'til 2012 or so, but I do like to know where I am headed!

Lost and Found

A couple of summers ago I was in my car, stopped at a red light, when a homeless man started eyeing me through the windshield. I groaned because my soul has yet to find a way to deal with the stress of homelessness. I feel condescending when I hand out 50 cents from my cup-holder. I feel Jesusless when I pretend not to see another human life pleading with me. I feel generally sad about this whole mess of a world where so many are overlooked.

So, on this occasion I rolled down my window to hear the request of this gentlemen only to find out that he hadn’t one. Instead, he was hurriedly trying to make me aware of a note that had been lodged underneath my windshield wiper. I got out and apprehended the note thanking my stranger-friend for his generosity toward me. The note read:

We found your IPOD on the ground
Please call us at 624-XXXX.

When I arrived at the couples house, just a few doors down from my own, they were apologetic saying that they had knocked on my door and tried to email me through my school list-serv, but nothing had worked until now. I laughed, thanked them and left quickly, but I keep that note in my desk drawer as a little reminder of their kindness.

Thinking back, I probably should have been more surprised at their generosity, except it seems that my belongings have always had guardian angels. Some people can boast surviving deathly tidal waves or car crashes and I mean to take nothing from them. It just happens that the angels assigned to me are very concerned with material things and have focused most of their attention in this realm of security.

Last night was no different. Topher Grace and I were standing around in a parking lot talking about God’s providence when his phone buzzed.” You’re calling me,” he said, and I politely disagreed. As it turns out Hal was calling him. Hal picked up my cell after it fell out of my pocket during an ice-cube war I was having with friends earlier that evening. Hal told Topher to have me call him the next day and he would bring me my phone. I wondered out loud why this man would have chosen to call Topher of all people. "Well, I texted you tonight when we got here," Toph said, so I was probably the last text on your phone. This was hilarious news to me since the previous-to-last text I got from Topher was probably 2 months ago and the last time he and I hung out alone together was probably never. What luck, huh?

Can something this inconsequential be attributed to divine providence?
I really don’t know.

But I know that this eerie inability I have to lose things, speaks to me. It allows me to live freely and without fear because someone out there, be it God or man, is always looking out for me. When I finally got home last night I realized that Topher wasn’t the only one who received a call from Hal. Liv and Collin had driven over to my house at 10:30 at night to leave a note for me about my phone, fearful that an email might not be enough.

Liv had to work at 4:30 in the morning and could have benefited from going to bed early, but she was complelled in the moment of decision, to choose my luxury over her need. That is goodness. And I believe that such goodness has a source. And that source is near to me and to Hal and even to the helpful homeless man that I don’t quite know that to do with. And this source has created and situated all of us in time and space in such a way so that we may “seek him and perhaps grasp for him and even find him, though he is not far from each of us.” I hope today is a day of finding and being found for each of you and may your personal property angels be always as diligent as mine.

P.S. In a Bonus God move, the returner of my phone was quite a handssome fellow. Drove a truck, had a dog, made me want to chunk my phone in the back of his pickup just so he could bring it to me again.

P.P.S. I will be out of town on a church trip this week, so no posts for a while. I can hear the sobs of all 8 of you now.