A crab, an angel and a ghost walk into a bar...Or Drive-Thru Nation.

There are Drive-Thrus for just about everything in MS. Aside from the fact that most of the eateries are fast food, the cleaners and post office also offer a drive-thru. While this undoubtedly accounts for the fact that MS is the most obese state in the nation, I thought it might serve as an allegory for the human state as well. In life, we want to place our orders clearly, preferably to someone we don't need to make eye contact with. Its helpful if our orders have a number, there's less room for error that way. We get frustrated if we have to repeat ourselves. Then there is the waiting, but even in the longest of lines, its ok because we can see the ending- the window. We deal with the waiting because we are in our comfy boxes, safe and sound. Exhibiting no physical effort to obtain our desires, we have our money in hand ready to exchange it for a neat bag containing the answers to our orders, but don't we get frustrated when its wrong! I said barbecue sauce! But its too late, I've already driven away and I can't go back because I'm late already and oh well I'll just have to make due we say to ourselves as we look disdainfully at the chicken nuggets that only moments ago were the answers we were looking for. Now they're just what we'll "make due" with. Then, the last phase of the drive-thru: the guilt. If only I had walked inside I would have at least made a little room on my ass for the fries I am now hungrily eating without enjoying. That same five dollars could have bought two gallons of gas or a cup of coffee or food for one of Sally Struthers' orphans. Where there was once hope, there is now guilt and compromise and emptiness. So I think what I am getting at is that faith does not go through the drive thru. Faith makes time to pull its ass out of the car and goes inside to meet to God, unafraid of making contact with another living thing and waiting to get something really satisfying because God in his wisdom and love knows just what we need.

This is not to say that I don't take the drive-thru of life many times during the day. In fact I am struggling most with expectations and time here. This isn't what I ordered! The dream isn't happening fast enough or smoothly enough. Yet piece by piece my order is coming together. We have the potential of having up to ten kids in Andy's Club by the end of the week. We're getting a van. I met and may be mentored by the first ordained woman in the state of Mississippi. God is giving me all the barbecue sauce I need.

I had intended for this blog to be a recap of the weekends events with all its ups and downs and halloween shenanigans but I'm tired and need to get up early to give breakfast to day laborers. I will say that I wore the above crab hat all around Gulfport last night. It was pretty amazing.

Lots of love!