The Love Project 2014: Divine Appointments

I was offered a ride to the airport.

But in true Elizabeth fashion, I declined.

I like the freedom that public transit allows. The quiet moments to think, mixed with a myriad of opportunities to meet someone new. Learn something. See something you've never seen before. 

Public transportation has taught me to better manage my time. 

I tend to cram too much in too short a time frame.

Today, my "A" game was on.

Ready to go. Check list completed. On the train. Let's do this. 

I didn't sit in my normal spot. Because every transit rider had their spot. Kind of like in church. With pews. 

She wasn't from around here. Alaska.

We connected over food. She spilled her Sprite. 

Then music. I told her I'm singing in a wedding this weekend, when she asked where I was heading. 

Then she asked me to sing.

I don't know why I still get nervous and shy, but, I do. I chuckled and declined.

She wanted to hear the song I'm singing for a wedding this weekend. I sorta sung the first line.... 

Then she practically begged me to sing "Amazing Grace." Because she needed encouragement. How can you refuse that? I closed my eyes and sang. 

I felt myself going back to last year when I sang it to my grandfather 24 hours before he passed away. 

It was moving and powerful to share the language of music with a perfect stranger. To share Jesus with a fellow sister in Christ and feel that connection even though we'd never met. 

We spoke of Jesus. Of faith and prayer. She prophesied my getting married soon. I chuckled. 

We spoke of the Mission and how she had just walked past the Men's Shelter. 

She is a photographer and showed me her work. Then she gave me one of her shots. It is lovely. I know exactly where I am going to put it. 

When I first started working at the Mission, we had lunch with the Prez; and he asked us to share something that we collect. He said that whether we realize it or not, we all have something we collect. And he was right. 

However, at the time, I didn't really have an answer. I mean, I am always downloading music and always buying books and funky coffee mugs at the thrift store. But are those the things that most excite me? The things that I will go out of my way to find? No. Not really, not truly. 

Today when I met Karen Elisabeth, I knew it was a divine appointment from Jesus. 

I also realized in that moment, what drives me. What I will go out of my way to find. What I long to gather to myself and keep forever. 

I am a collector of stories. I want to know them. Keep them. Hear them. Tell them. Experience them. Create them. Find them.

Stories? They compel me, captivate and inspire me. Move me to tears and laughter, all in the same breath. 

And this was just one....