A time away...

I went away for a few days to listen and talk to the Quiet Voice, to see who I have become, and to have some seafood bisque.

I read some Nouwen, Reaching Out, which provoke some major conversation with God. I found myself alone with Him in which I found myself alone with my self. I re-met myself for the first time and I don't think I made a good first impression.

A long time ago, I spent a half a year in Monterey, I went to Monterey Peninsula College or MPC as the locals call it, where I took some art and political science classes. I worked at a donut shop, Beardsley's, and spent a lot of time driving back and forth to Calvin Crest and Fresno. I had a girlfriend with a nose ring until I met my wife, Christel. I turned 21 and went to my first pub and ordered an imported beer with some new friends in Pacific Grove.

I was baptised in the Holy Spirit on Del Monte Beach, where I also saw the red tide for the first time. I remembered praying all the time when I was there. I had only been a believer for five months, so everything was fresh. Moving to Monterey syncopated with moving into the Kingdom. I didn't know my directions. When you are on a peninsula you are surrounded by water so it is hard to tell which way is north. The water cannot be the landmark used to find north. You have to understand where you are in order to know directions. Hard to explain - you have to have been there. I grew a lot, spent a lot of time learning what it was to be a believer. I had to know new things to believed. I read Acts. I loved what I read of the power of the believer.

I was in a covenant group with some Calvin Crest staff people who I had met the summer before. Because of this group, I read my first book, Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This was an amazing feat because I didn't read. I had a reading disorder that was diagnoised as "being stupid." I taught myself to read. Slow but steady. I learned about the Holy Spirit and about myself.

Once I adventured into an abandoned cannery, which is where the Monterey Aquarium sits today, and for a week I read John Steinbeck's Cannery Row inside the old cannery. I was sitting in the place Steinbeck was writing about. I took risks, I met new people, went new places, tried new things.

I made some decision about the person I wanted to be. I remembered watching Richard Nazarian, a friend's father, one weekend. Everywhere we went this man would talk to everyone as if they were his friend. No one was off limits. Conversations struck up at any time and place. When people walked off from meeting him they were in a better mood. I decided I wanted to be that. I wanted to make people feel better when we met. I started talking to waitresses, store clerks, movie ushers and ticket agents. I found it wasn't just about talking to them but it was respecting them as souls who had something to offer and each one had value.

Amazing times...

This past week, I drove around, remembering what happened to me there. I saw places I walked and discovered and I realized I don't spend as much time discovering because I don't take the time to walk. My prayers are more to Him instead of letting it come from Him. I drive more than walk. My rhythmn is too fast. I need to deal with my ADD, my eating, my fear and what I do to resolve my fear. Time to take risks again.

I enjoyed my time even though it brought up some realities to which I need to change. I am appreciative to Dianne for her "questions" and her hospitality. I found The Old St. Angela Inn to be a place of sanctuary.