"Good morning... this is the real world... Shelby speaking... how can I help you?"

So I guess it's only fair to give credit where credit is due and let you know that... I did get a job... in fact, someone quit the very morning I moved back to the boro... and I applied an hour after I pulled in back home... and was hired full time and started work on Tuesday morning... and have already put in over 30 hours in 4 days... yeah, yeah, yeah, it's true. God provides. SHOCKER. Now, I know that sounds snotty, but really, let's be honest here people... we all act like it's some huge surprise that God provides for us when we need it most... but uhhh... He kind of promises He will. We all cry and mope and whine and doubt when things seem hopeless... or when we smash our car into a unsuspecting deer... and then we turn around and read about the Israelites and say "oh you of little faith." Come on. Let's get real. Send me to Canaan and call me Enosh or Methuselah or some other unfortunate name I can't pronounce or have any intrest in learning how to... because the reality is... I'd make a great Israelite. If there was ever going to be someone to hoard levain or start melting down all their spair jewlery to make some majestic heifer to worship... it should probably be me. I'm not proud of it. I'm just saying... I doubt with the best of them... and expect to be blessed for it. Seriously. I'd make a great Israelite.

But what I was really trying to get at in all of this was how eager everyone has been to welcome me to the "real world." It usually sounds something like this...

How's the job going?
"Ehhh. The people are nice but I hate the work itself... I hate being inside an office all the time... I hate being tired all the time... I hate being hit on by gross gas workers ALL THE TIME... and I hate never having any time to do the things I like or be with the people I care about." (I wasn't really kidding about the Israelite thing...)

THEN with a little chuckle and eyes that seem all too happy to sympathize, they say...
Welcome to the real world, kid.

Then, to be totally honest, I kind of want to shake them until they find a little inspiration or lose their lunch. I say that with all the love I can... but I can't say that it's much. You know, I guess I can't say a lot for the "real world," because maybe in the "real world" that really is all there is to it... but I'm not really living to be part of the "real world." I'm living to be part of something much better... much bigger. I'm living to be part of a kingdom. And there, there's a lot more to life than working 9-5 monday through friday, except major holidays and prideful celebrations of those who made the "real world" more tolerable. I'm living to be passionate and inspired and creative and useful and purposeful and make a difference... I'm living to bring something way better than the "real world" 2.0.

Well, for all you 9 to 5'ers... know I feel your pain... but don't lose heart... we've got a lot more going for us than 6:00 Friday evening and 40 hours of underpaid labor. Yeah, so we live in the "real world," but it's not what we live for. The day we start welcoming people into this sad existence most call reality, is the day we give up hope for what God always intended for the world to be... it's the day we accept the lie that this is what life was supposed to look like... the day we call this the "real world" is the day we forget that God is in the process of restoring the world to Him... it's the day we forget God is in the process of restoring our hearts to Him... it's the day we buy a ticket to the wilderness and spend 40 years in exile doubting that God is leading us to the promise land.

So here's to you. To the grocery store clerks, the waitresses, the stay at home moms, the teachers, the janitors, the secretaries, the gas attendants, the ice-cream scoopers, the dog-walkers, the nannies, the people who pick up the popcorn and chewed gum off of movie theater floors... on Tuesday morning when you wake up and remember where you're going for the next seemingly endless 8 hours... let me welcome you... we're on a journey together... in our old junky cars we're still crossing our fingers will pass inpspection this year, or, for deer-whisperers like myself, our bicycles whose breaks let everyone in a 3 mile radius know we're about to stop. It's a divine pilgrimage of sorts... maybe the less than flattering uniforms distract people from seeing the holiness we're chasing... but keep running... keep running faithfully toward the hope God promises for our futures... I can't say for sure... because this is new to me too... but I have a feeling the milk and honey will taste so much sweeter than our 4:00 coffee break.

A Deer Named Jacob

Alright kids... so there's something you should know about me. Sometimes I may make everything harder than it needs to be. Why? Because, well, it's what I do well... and why not stick with what I'm good at? I have the God-given gift of being difficult. (And for those of you who know me... keep yo' thoughts to yo'self) It's one of my many strengths... along with being stubborn, over-dramatic, and outspoken... all topped with a nice dose of sarcasm to accentuate my best features.

So I've come to a fork in the road this past week and I have been putting off making a decision (I forgot to mention my incredible ability to procrastinate in the list above)... "waiting to let God put the pieces together." I've been praying that doors would be clearly opened or closed, but I may have been pounding down doors that were already shut... and locked... and bolted...

A mentor of mine had suggested to me that I find a biblical character to study... really look into their life and see what I can learn from their struggles and how God directed them. He thought Jacob could be a good fit. Jacob... the guy who made things he wanted to happen, happen, even if it meant draping himself in goat skin... the guy who was tricked into marrying an ugly chick and would settle for nothing less than her good looking sister even if it meant a few more years of slave labor... you know, the guy who wrestled with an angel and insisted on being blessed for it... the guy who wouldn't take no for an answer... who made everything harder than it needed to be...yeah... that guy. Sound familiar. Yeah well, I didn't think so either...

Well, here's the thing, I'm coming home from a friends last night, and another door closed... slammed actually... and let me tell you... it wasn't pretty. I hit a deer... in a big kind of way. Bumper? gone... Radiator? fully exposed... Headlight? MIA.... Car Hood... well, it's a little more shapely now... and the passenger door? inactive. The bottom line, the car is a goner. I'm trading in my wheels for an old pair of keds. Sweet.

So I packed up my belongings and moved back to the boro for the summer this morning... Why? Because I made things harder than they needed to be. Because I put off making a decision so I could have what I wanted... I guess I was wrestling on behalf of my own plans and expected God to bless me for it too. It was time to move forward... and I'd been standing at that fork for too long. The lesson? Well I guess if you're busy waiting at a fork in the road, watch out for unexpected deer... I don't know what yours will be called... but it seemed only fitting to name the poor soul Jacob.

Well... thanks a lot Jake... I guess we both got what we had coming...