After a short detour through downtown...

Last Friday night I was dreading another depressing, deflating experience at my small town church that inevitably leaves me angry and frustrated. So, I looked around to see what else was going on and noticed a special event called GODencounters that was being held at UW. Of course, I caught the ferry and headed over. I was very proud of myself because, despite getting on the express lanes which have no exit to UW when they're heading south, I was nearly on time!

The speaker, Matthew Gamble, was great. I've heard him speak before and always appreciated his humor, but this time he said some pretty heavy things that really resonated with me. In the morning he talked about Romans 8, then in the afternoon the focus was "Be still and know that I am God." It was really refreshing, and even though I was "alone" among about 170 people I had a wonderful time. It was nice to be reminded that NO MATTER what I experience, Jesus has experienced it, too. He doesn't leave just because we're going through unpleasantness. He's the person you can call when you don't want to be too negative or depress anyone else by saying what you're really thinking.

The real surprise of the day was how much I liked the band, Garage Voice. These guys are talented, intelligent people and it shows in their lyrics and the way their fingers move. I'd also be willing to bet that they have a pretty good sense of humor. Something about the music made me smile, and want to laugh a little bit. I was blown away. Their second CD is coming out next month, and I'm totally buying it and the first. Also, they had the most beautiful guitar I've ever seen. I don't know anything about guitars - but this one was pretty. It's green and has the cut outs like a violin and was flatter and more circular than the guitars people play around the campfire. I think God has blessed them, and through them, He blessed me.

Now it's back to the day to day, but I've got new fabric to sew and a Martha Stewart recipe to test - so it's all good.