~~~

Day’s Verse:

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and servant of all.” He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

Mark 9:35 – 37

~~~

It rained yesterday, all day. I drove to the U District to visit Lisa; we walked around the UW campus in the rain and my polar fleece soaked it all up. Somehow I remained fairly dry underneath, though my hair and glasses soon dripped. She showed me UCU where she lives (think: barely restrained chaos) and we enjoyed chili and cheesy biscuits, both lukewarm. Back at home I discovered that our mini RC Rovers had arrived from ThinkGeek much sooner than we anticipated. To my dismay I also discovered that the batteries for each vehicle – two lithiums each – cost $15 and had a total running life of 100 minutes. Paying $30 every 100 minutes to play with these neat gadgets seems rather steep, so if anybody knows of a good place to get rechargeable batteries… However, we had a blast playing lazer tag with them and generally driving around making lots of noise.

I think that Ian’s family doesn’t know quite what to do with a person as overall loud as me. I just grew up making more noise than Ian and Caitlyn did, so several times one of the adults here has mentioned how quiet it is when I’m gone. I laugh loudly and sometimes run around; Ian and I joke in loud voices about each other. But if I conformed to the be-quiet standard (I don’t think I actually disturb anybody’s rest or other important situations) I am changing who I am to please people. This quiet, clean house sometimes feels a bit odd anyway, with its spotless counters and neatly stacked newspaper. I’m adjusting to living here, and I like Ian’s family very much, but should I stop being myself to conform to their household?

The rain poured like I’ve never seen it do in Seattle. It reminded me of a rainstorm we had in Worcester that I got caught in because my friends were too busy for me. That day our apartment almost flooded and I felt the first anxious stirrings about living in a basement (we had no problems after that so my fears were later assuaged). Yesterday the rain pounded down in huge drops flooding the gutters on the house and forming enormous puddles. Caitlyn and I could not resist dashing outside – though we each went separately and were pleased to discover the other’s presence out there. Ian stood inside and watched us stand there getting wetter and wetter, until finally I started shivering and went in through the garage, where Jane warned me not to go in the house. I towelled off in the garage. God makes rainstorms to go out into not stay indoors and marvel. The power you experience out there… irresistable and amazing. That’s God.

– KF –