Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Three months ago I took a trip to Wheaton, to visit with Rob and Janet. It was fascinating seeing Rob as a dad and a husband. Even though we keep in touch, I hadn't spent any time with him while he was "parenting" or "husbanding." It was a beautiful experience.

I had about six hours of drive time after leaving Wheaton, which usually translates to some silence and meditation. I then got to thinking about something that Rob said to me a long time ago.
You see Rob was the Assistant Site Director in Monterrey, which was my last summer with TIME. Rob wanted to surprise Janet, his then girlfriend, by showing up in Chicago when she was getting back from some sort of missions trip. Rob left Mexico for a week, and when he got back to MTY, he told me about all of the great things that people do when they are hopelessly in love, and all of the things that he and Janet did because they were hopelessly in love, and so forth.

He also told me about his ride on the "L" from the airport. He said it was the first time he had been alone all summer, and it felt great. It felt great. I knew exactly what he meant. We had been around large groups of students all summer. You kinda forget what It means to be alone.
I wanted that. I remember wanting to be alone so much after hearing about Rob and how he got to be alone. It was such a strange feeling, because before that summer, I was a lonely bastard.

I thought a bit about loneliness on that drive home. How it sucks to be alone sometimes and how it sucks to be with people sometimes. I also thought about how Rob and Janet must have felt alone sometimes while they were in Croatia, and how they probably wished they weren't feeling alone.
I also thought about my friend Aaron and how he probably felt alone when he first moved to Dallas.
Then I thought about Donald Miller's Don Astronaut cartoon from Blue Like Jazz, and how I didn't want any of my friends to end up as " just a shell of a man with nothing but a spark for a soul."

Waterdeep has a song, which at one point says:

I hope we sit together when Jesus serves the wine.
So I can look into your eyes when I taste it the first time.
You know that there are no secrets when
your sittin' at that table.
And I believe we'll smile really knowingly
when we read the label.

And it says "passions sacrifice to keep from going crazy."
And we'll all tip our glasses to the host who used to look so hazy.
We'll drink it down all sweet and slow and slip inside His mind,
and realize as it goes down, that this is communion wine.

It was really great to see Rob, Janet, and Sim. It was wonderful experiencing their servants hearts and their love.

As a Dog Returns to its Own Vomit

Well my friends, I have some good news. I have returned to Starbucks. I have already worked four days this week, and am on the fast track to the position of shift supervisor. I had forgotten how much I missed "the siren." Her warm embrace was a welcome one. I truely am glad to be back at the "Bucks." (Just a quick update).