Lessons in Walking

I work in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. Often during lunch I like to take long walks usually 3 or 4 miles. I do it for my health, mostly, but also I do it for life lessons. There are a few places to walk where everyone is wearing business suits and smiling, lots of Starbucks and clean little eateries, there are also some small parks or “decent” neighborhoods. I occasionally walk there, but typically I choose to walk down Broadway, Main or Los Angeles St.

For those of you unfamiliar with downtown Los Angeles, this is where immigrants set up shop, where the poor sell fruit and tacos from ice chests. This is where people who have $20 set aside for Christmas come and buy their children toys. This is where you can buy a bag of bruised fruit for a dollar or two. This is also a place where people sleep on sidewalks, where people talk to themselves and preachers yell from street corners of the coming apocalypse. As I walk, I must move out of the way of people who seem to have no place to go and yet are in a hurry to get there. Store owners offer me cheap rubber band like bracelets if I will enter their store. Other tell me I need a suit and they have just the one that I require. If I need a sweater vest it can be had for as little as 99 cents yet if I fancy some roasted corn I’ll need $1.50.

My eyes are filled with sights. I see mothers pushing strollers filled with children and fruit, old ladies with clothes they’ve had for at least 30 years. I see struggles and hardship. I see people who seem to have very little being lured by merchants wanting to take the little they do have. I see trash that has become part of the landscape and I smell urine. I see drunkards asleep right on the sidewalk as people maneuver around them without a concern. I see police walking and driving, knowing that they can only do so much or worse yet, immune and indifferent from years of conditioning.

I love walking in this area. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t do it for entertainment as this is not at all entertaining. It is sad, it is painful, and it is sometimes hard to watch. But I do see life through my walks. It gives me perspective, it give me gratitude for my home, for my family and even for the simple things like my socks. It causes me to think about life’s choices, about parents choices, about children born in broken homes. It also teaches me about being judgmental and pious making me realize that “there but by the grace of God, go I”.

Red Marks

My daughter Coryn is a beautiful young lady, both inside and out.  Recently she’s had to go to the dermatologist. I really don’t understand why, I guess most guys just don’t overly concern themselves with blemishes. I mean the most I ever did was slap some Clearasil on my face and that small tube would last all summer. Now I don’t mean to say that it doesn’t matter, we should take care of ourselves and in retrospect I should have done more. In any case she came home with a few red marks and was very concerned. As a dad I was more concerned about her “being concerned” than anything else. I knew that the marks are only temporary and that in a few days everything would be fine.

Often we look at our lives and see the wounds that our past has left on us. We are so concerned about what others see. As Christians God is more concerned about our concern than about the actual “red marks” those wounds have left.  Those “red marks” are part of the healing.  God looks past the “red marks” of our lives and sees whether we are stronger because them. If so, He allows us to be used to help others – if not, our growth is stunted and our use for Gods kingdom is marginal.

Why Open Your Mouth?

There was a time when an evening of entertainment consisted of sitting on a porch sipping on an ice tea or cup of coffee and talking. People would talk about anything, the weather, the local game, politics, etc. Bonds would be developed and strengthen through the “art of conversation.” This is more a rarity now unfortunately, even within families. There is just way to many distractions. I’m not telling you something new, we all know this, it’s just the way we live now, but it is a choice we make.

For the last year, I have been driving to work with my daughter who goes to school in downtown. It’s a 30 – 40 minute drive and although we both hate the drive and the time we must get up. I for one cherish our daily conversations. We don’t talk about anything in particular; it ranges from “the price of gas” to “what’s involved in making a particular type of bread” to deep spiritual conversations. Sometimes I feel we get to our destination too quickly.

Conversation is the key to relationships, so when you question a particular relationship, be it with your friends, your kids or even your spouse, you have to ask yourself – do we talk –really - or are we too busy doing things and conversation is just a “byproduct” that’s more of a distraction of what I really want to focus on.

Ezekiel

I finished reading the book of Ezekiel this morning. It was by far the most difficult book for me to get through. I don’t know why exactly, but I just struggled through it, Deuteronomy was easier. Nevertheless it is a great book to read. God is about to allow Babylon to plunder all of Israel. Throughout the book God through his prophet Ezekiel warns Israel of their coming doom. Israel is too busy living for the moment to really care.

God is patient, I found myself just wanting God to hurry up and deal with Israel, but no He takes His time and warns and warns and warns, waiting for Israel’s repentance, which never comes.

I’m not much different than Israel.

Praise Him for His patience.