Monday, August 16, 2010

Last Day of Tourist Activity

I just realized that I probably write way too much; I'm just really excited and amazed by everything I'm experiencing.  And it’s kind of funny that I assume that people care enough about my daily schedule to keep posting these hour by hour updates of what I’m doing.  I promise I’ll only highlight super cool stuff in the future.  So here’s my last day of tourist activity:

Earlier when I was talking about our casa, I don’t think I mentioned the car that came with the house.  It’s owned by the school who was gracious enough to allow us to use it for the duration of the year and while I am very thankful for access to a car, the car itself is quite an interesting gift.  It is a early 1990s Toyota Paseo, nicknamed by a previous group of JVs, the Red Barron.  One of the doors doesn’t like to work because it was broken into last year, the middle seat is missing a belt, and the back window is so slanted that you sort of have to hunch over.  We look like a clown car.  We’ve been joking that the car and the break-in were all part of an inside JVC master plan to make us the closest community ever since we have to practically sit on top of each other, we have no radio so we only have the option of talking to each other, and the car’s quirks are able to freak us out enough to bring us together over share nerves. 
Yesterday though as we were driving back from Venice Beach, there was quite a bit of traffic on the freeway and at one point, cars in our lane came to a sudden complete stop.  Reacting as fast as possible, we slammed on the brakes.  The car skidded and squealed and in the split second between hitting the car in front of us and stopping short, all I could think of was our car as a little metal ball.  For those of you who didn’t hear about the accident in St. Louis a couple weeks ago, there was a four vehicle pile-up (semi, pickup, and 2 school buses) in which the pickup got wedged under the school bus and was completely unrecognizable as a truck.  God was looking out for us today though because we did stop and everyone was okay.  But I'm not telling you this story to freak you out; instead, it was an amazing moment in which I was able to see God in everyday life, something that I want to be much more mindful of this year and in the future. 
As I sat there shaking and in shock, my casamate, Dana gently put her hand on my arm and asked how I was doing.  Clearly, she also was scared by this experience, but instead of worrying about herself, she reach out to me demonstrating selflessness and love despite the fact that I've know her for only a week.  Maybe it was just a reflex for her to reach out and comfort those around her, but I felt embraced by the presence of God through her action and I was inspired to better think about how my actions affect those around me.      

On a happier note, some fun pictures from our day in Downtown LA, Santa Monica, and Venice Beach:
 {lunch at Homegirl Cafe: delicious food + amazing mission}
 {pretty flags by Olvera Street
{mountains and the beach?!  crazy awesome}
{flashbacks to The O.C. anyone?}
{Venice Beach - cool, minus the drug deals I saw going down}
{Dana, Greg, Colleen, me}

No comments:

Post a Comment