Des Moines Snapshot

The balmy weather and my antsy legs propelled me outside after I got home from a busy day of helping people make copies at Kinko’s. Needing laundry detergent in preparation for Monday’s laundry, I decided to take my walk in a productive direction to Family Dollar. I had driven by the store several times and thought I could walk the nine blocks in a decent amount of time.

University was filled with the closing activities of the day, the street crammed with cars commuting home from work or out for a night on the town. The gentlemen who sell rugs from the back of their large white “moving” truck in the auto parts parking lot were rolling up their merchandise and stowing it away on the shelves lining the inside of the truck.

An elderly woman climbed down from a brightly illuminated bus, clutching her purse and shopping bag. A teenage boy ambled by a sagging house in need of paint and new windows to replace the plywood coverings.

Family Dollar sat back from the street; its parking lot providing a buffer zone from the speeding traffic. I walked into the store behind two Hispanic teens who picked a bag of Cheetos from the rack sitting right next to the door. Easter candy, curtains, children’s cloths were crammed onto the shelves and scattered around the store helter-skelter. I looped around the side of the store and wandered my way back to the laundry detergent.

As I was comparing the unit prices of the four different sizes of Extra laundry detergent a voice began making announcements in Spanish. Feeling slightly guilty for not having kept up with my Spanish, I tried to pick out a few words, understanding “gracias” and “Family Dollar.” After a half-minute lag, the announcement began once again in English.

“All your activities in this location are being monitored for your safety. Thank you for shopping at Family Dollar.”

The announcement repeated several times in the ten minutes I was in the store always beginning in Spanish and ending in English. As I glanced around at my fellow shoppers, I noted that the majority were Hispanic. What a contrast from my stop by Hy-Vee after work, in which I was not a minority, all the announcements for dinner specials were in English, and everything was stocked and displayed in a tidy manner.

As I walked West down University back to my apartment, I felt as if I were walking through a different community entirely, although 801 Grand, which is the tallest building in Iowa, illuminated against the darkening sky, reminded me that was still in Des Moines.

How many Des Moinesians understand that this community exists in their city? Of what benefit is it to me to live in this part of my city? How should it impact my view of my community and world?

This year I am listening to the Daily Audio Bible podcast each day with the goal of listening to the entire Bible by the end of December. I read through the Bible in a year while in college, but I always seemed to get behind and had to catch up at some point in the year. Listening to the Bible has erased this problem for me because I can always listen as I am brushing my teeth in the morning or cooking my supper or doing my dishes! Listening to Brian read from the Old and New Testaments, Psalms and Proverbs on the Daily Audio Bible is actually one of my favorite parts of the day. It is so interesting to see how the different readings link together, illuminating each other and the larger story God is telling throughout His word – a story I am apart of.

Today I was struck by the relationship between Matthew 26:47-68 and Psalms 32:1-11. In Matthew 26 Jesus is betrayed and arrested, sent to trial before Caiaphas the high priest and then beaten and mocked. It is a sobering set of verses. Psalm 32 begins with David exclaiming, “How blessed is he whose transgressions is forgiven, Whose sin is covered!” It is only because of the suffering and death of Jesus, which is just beginning at this point in Matthew, that I can make this statement with David and experience this blessing. What a profound, humbling and impacting truth it is! Saying I am thankful for this truth doesn’t even begin to adequately convey the depth and intensity of my thoughts and feelings to this reality in my own life.

“For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” ~ Hebrews 9:13-14

The Other Turning

January is ending on a very warm note – at least here in the Iowa! It is only 10:30 am, and I believe we have already hit the mid-30s! I know winter is not over yet, but it certainly is nice to have a bit of a respite and to have some of the piles of ice and snow shrink before more arrives. (I don’t know when it will come, but I’ve lived in the Midwest long enough to know that it is certain to!)

A month ago as I was thinking back over 2008 and looking ahead to 2009 my mom mentioned a quote to me from a sermon by John Henry Jowett in which he says that we may make decisions in our lives which take us in a direction we wish we had not gone. God, however, is not limited by our failings and can bring healing and restoration even in the midst of these decisions. Jowett terms this regret of ours and desire to have made a different choice, “the other turning.”

While he speaks of “the other turning” specifically in relationship to choices we would like back again in our regret so that we may make a different choice, “the other turning” seemed an appropriate phrase to apply to life’s journey in a broader sense, especially at the start of a new year. As I look back over my life, there are a number of instances where significant decisions were made that set me on a trajectory that has brought be to this place, to my little apartment in Des Moines, Iowa. If another decision had been made at one of those junctures, is it possible that I would be writing this post from a completely different geographical location than I am now?

For example, when I was 10 and living in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, my dad had applied and interviewed for high school counselor positions in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Lincoln, Nebraska. He decided that whichever school offered him the position first he would take. Lincoln Christian offered him the job first, so off my family moved to Lincoln where we/they have been ever since. Living in Lincoln certainly impacted the experiences and relationships I’ve had since then.

The second example that comes to mind, my senior year of college I applied for internships at both Living History Farms and at Deerfield in Massachusetts. Both were great programs, and I would have loved to go to either museum. I was accepted as an alternate at the Deerfield program and offered a position at the LHF program. I had to decide about LHF before I would know for sure about Deerfield. I accepted LHF and then was told a few days later that someone had dropped out of the Deerfield program, and there was a spot for me. I’d already sent in my acceptance to LHF, so off to Des Moines I went and here I still am.

I certainly see God’s hand in both situation, guiding my family and I to the places He wanted us to be, but sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if my dad or I had taken “the other turning.” Now I suppose one could become paralyzed wondering which direction they should turn, trying to figure out all the possible outcomes of either decision beforehand. Fortunately though, God calls us to live in faithfulness to Him each day, and as I do that, He will direct my steps in the turning He has for me. As I follow Him, I need not regret my decisions or wish I had taken “the other turning” because the plans He has for me will bring me purpose and fulfillment and Him great glory.

As I prepare to embark on this second month of 2009, I am excited to see what God has for me as I walk in faith, listening to God, trusting Him to guide me to take the turnings He has for me this year. Now they could be quite normal, mundane things, or perhaps it will be something completely life changing. No matter the case, a year from now, I know will be able to rejoice in His faithfulness and not regret the other turnings. I anticipate the journey and am looking forward to sharing it with you on my blog.

New Year's Prayer

"O Lord my God, to you and to your service I devote myself, body, soul, and spirit. Fill my memory with the record of your mighty works; enlighten my understanding with the light of your Holy Spirit; and may all the desires of my heart and will center in what you would have me do. Make me an instrument of your salvation for the people entrusted to my care, and grant that by my life and teaching I may set forth your true and living Word. Be always with me in carrying out the duties of my faith. In prayer, quicken my devotion; in praises, heighten my love and gratitude; in conversation give me readiness of thought and expression; and grant that, by the clearness and brightness of your holy Word, all the world may be drawn into your blessed kingdom. All this I ask for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen."

~ The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime
Compiled by Phyllis Tickle