Contemplation

I can't sleep tonight. It's 1:30, and while I'm not exactly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I can't seem to end this day. So I thought I would share some of it with you all.

It amazes me how much I have learned through this experience already, despite the fact that I haven't actually started my year of service. Solitude causes me to become contemplative, but I think it's more than that. I think it's my complete change of environment.

I am living in a neighborhood where I am a racial minority. And no one who lives around here has any great sum of money. There are lots of liquor stores and there are visible security guards in the Dollar General and Kroger stores. My car is one of the nicest cars in the lot, and not all four of its doors open.

This environment has brought to light in me a number of assumptions I hold about the lower class in America. And it's made me aware of what I really think of myself.

This Sunday I went to church in a nice area of Indianapolis. The houses were beautiful - neatly manicured lawns, "for sale" signs instead of "for rent" signs, etc. But the church, while filled with neat, white, beautiful people, was not at all fulfilling. I left there wondering what all the fuss was about. On the previous Sunday, I'd gone to a racially diverse church near my home that was held in an office building. The people showed up in t-shirts, shorts, and tennis shoes. And the worship experience was incredible. I left there having truly experienced God.

In the coming year, I cannot imagine what other lessons must be in store.