This is what I think about when I don't have class to plan for

I fall into that category of people who tend not to label themselves religious, but rather "spiritual" because religion has too close a connotation to dogma, which by the way, is the name of a fabulous movie by Kevin Smith. In that movie, Chris Rock plays the roll of the 13th disciple who has a great mini-speech about how everything got fucked up by religion, how Jesus is generally pissed off about what gets carried out in his name (wars, persecution, misogyny, injustice, to name a few) under the guise of religious doctrine. Rock asks why can't we just have a "good idea" about something- which implies openmindedness, which, really, is a common value of many of the ongoing religions worldwide, if we look close enough.

But enough spewing about all what my mother calls my 'anger management' issues with religion (fair enough). Truth is, I'm quite faithful and have a strong idea that something akin to the Holy Spirit, Divine Inspiration, or something along those lines breathes through the current of our lives. Bottom line, how else could I explain the fact that so much has worked out for us? That's not to say that there's so much that HASN'T worked out for the majority of the people in the world, and while I'm still agonizing over that, I can't ignore the FACT that when we had NO IDEA how we would move through the coming days, weeks, or months, things did work out. OF COURSE, we didn't just sit back and let it all work itself out; like prayer, we put our two cents in and hoped we we doing/saying the right thing.

I'm not one of these people who can spout of Bible verses verbatim, but there's some probably over-used one that I have been thinking about. Apparently, the Bible reminds us that the sparrow (or any bird for that matter) doesn't look too far ahead and worry. They wake up, do their good work with what they have and the knowledge of their life up to that point, and have no choice but to do otherwise. As humans in the United States with resources that easily lends itself to overconsumption and obesity, we tend to have the opposite problem -- too much security, or better yet, too much of a sense of what may or may not be true security. (To be clear, by "we" I mean the middle-class and higher).

Last night Ed, Jack, and I visited the home of a family who is willing to sublet their condo to us for a very reasonable price the first two weeks in August. We met them through one of Ed's co-horts at BU whose husband plays for the Boston Symphony. What are the odds that Ed would
meet someone from Germany whose husband is best friends with a Romanian who just happens to live in Boston but works in Western Mass in August? They are a lovely family-open warm and generous (even if they aren't leaving their $2000 espresso machine for us). Only two days ago we really weren't sure how to navigate the month of August. Do we put all our eggs in one basket and just buy plane tickets for Seattle, thinking that I'll get the job? Or, do we play it safe and try to live here at least through mid-August in order to have the space to buy not-too-overpriced plane tickets OR look for a new place in Boston? So much of that decision came clear last night when we knew we could live here for two weeks and not pay a full month's rent.

There is still a lot in the air-for example, just how quickly I'll know either way whether or not South Seattle will hire me, how quickly we can sell my Honda to cover the moving expenses in case they do- but YET AGAIN, a piece of the future puzzle fell together wonderfully. The evidence of faith in SOMETHING shines again.

Jack and I are headed to Hull where our friends are adjusting to their new one-week-old baby. And, tomorrow Ed heads to Seattle to celebrate his brother's wedding. It's a weekend of blessings. I should plan for my online class that starts in two weeks, but I can do that next week.

Peace.