Backstory: My parents' good friend ran in the New York marathon with the Chilean miner, the couple who renewed their wedding vows at the 17 mile marker, Minnie Mouse and Waldo (yes, we saw all of them). So my parents decided that, since they love me and I conveniently go to college close-ish to NYC, that they would buy me a train ticket so I could come visit them! Saturday morning I took a train downtown Boston, hopped 2 quick subways to my next train station, then spent 4 hours on a train to NYC.
I had a super productive weekend: On the ride up, I finished tons of homework, while there I saw my 1st marathon, crossed off something from my bucket list (See Phantom of the Opera on Broadway!!! Soooo good!! But that might just be because I'm absolutely obsessed with it), saw Kristin Chenoweth on Broadway (be jealous, be soooo jealous. She rocks.), took about 250 pictures, did touristy downtown things, went to Times Square and Ground Zero, caught a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty (and the lego one), oh, and I saw my parents too. It was splendid! My favorite quote from the weekend was, as my mom and I were walking, a guy came and asked us if we were interested in a comedy show and drinks. My mom replied that I'm underage, to which the guy said "That's ok. We take fake IDs of all kinds!" It made me laugh :)
As we traipsed about New York City, I looked around and saw buildings, people, sites I had never seen before. I stayed close to my parents, afraid of being lost in the big city, separated by the crowd. Even if I was separated, however, I figured I could hold my own until I found them agian. I had made it from Boston to New York all by myself! I was strong, confident, secure. Foolish? Ok, yes, probably.
I think we treat God that way a lot... we stick close to him for security, a guiding hand through the busy, crazy world. But if we slip up, lose him for a moment, we think we can do it on our own. "I've made it this far in my life without God," we might say. "If I go a different way for a moment, it won' t be that big of a deal. Right?" Wrong. Had I lost my parents in downtown NYC, chances of me finding them again, had I not had a cell phone, slim to none. It would be nearly impossible. I would've found it hard even to get back to the apartment on my own, hoping to meet up with them there.
But there's good news. If you get distracted for a moment by all the stores around you, the flashing lights, the tall buildings and street performers (and the cute boys), and you lose God, He knows you are missing. He looks for you. He calls your cell phone, again and again. He won't rest until you are back with him. While you are lost and being bustled around by the millions of people around you, He knows. As Matthew West puts it in his song "More", "Just a face in the city, just a tear on the crowded street, but you are one in a million, and you belong to Me. And I want you to know, I'm not letting go, even when you come undone." Even when we turn towards the Phantom, Raoul is there to stop us before we go with him (sorry, I'm listening to the movie soundtrack [because I'm obsessed, note above] and had to throw that in).
So there's just a little something to think about as you sit there Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again (In New York). Ok, I'm a little infatuated. But I'm done now. Promise. Although at this point I'm probably Past the Point of No Return. Gahh. Ok, I'm just going to stop while I'm behind. I'll probably post something else soon... we'll see. First I should study some for my rather unfortunately large Old Testament test on Friday!
p.s. Thank you to all who have been reading Pure Joy! And to whoever posted this link on the Gordon Facebook page-- thank you!! All I Ask of You is that I'd love to know who you are :)
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