Free Things to Do in SA

One day, I'm going to create a website that tells people about all the free and fun things to do in San Antonio. Maybe I'll have a scavenger-hunt kind of project or running competition available for people to find and post weird, noteworthy, beautiful, or interesting things they've found across this city. Here's my first post for the website--this mural thing, on a building across from the San Antonio Museum of Art.

E-mails to Replace Text Messages

Dear Friends and Family,

This e-mail is to inform you of an unfortunate circumstance; namely, my recent cell phone bill. It seems I have far exceeded my monthly text allotment of 200, and will now have to pay a painful overage fee. If you are receiving this message, it is probably because my inability to stop texting you has helped contribute to this sad state of affairs, and you will now be asked to contribute to my Bill Relief Fund out of your own pocket. Oh wait. That only works for Wall Street and the Government. Ok, well I guess I'll pay for my mistakes myself.
Actually, I'm hoping each of you, when you need to ask a brief question you would normally text, will e-mail instead when possible. E-mail, you see, is free, and always up when I am at work, making it a significantly more affordable communication method than paying an additional $15/month for unlimited texts. You can thank Dave Ramsey for the inconveniance--he's putting me on the envelope system and apparently saving $15 today will help me live like no one else tomorrow.

Kindest Regards,
Sarah

Still broke...-en.

Apparently, being broke can lead to being broken. My mom responded to my "I'm broke" post a few days ago with a rather pointed e-mail. She said, "maybe here in lies the problem. You might be "way smarter and way more hard-working and way more skillful than this job", but you lack much humility."
Aw, gee, thanks mom!
The rest of her e-mail was equally pointed, but--my now infamous lack of humility makes me cringe to say--right. When I first got her e-mail, I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry, but I'm thankful I have at least one person in my life who will tell me like it is (well, I have six people, actually--two brothers, two sisters, and two parents!).

Perhaps for the above-mentioned reason, I've felt a little "off" lately. I've been faithful to (attempt to) seek Him, but in the midst of spiritual battle, these are the verses I cling to:

Psalm 23 The Lord is my Shepherd...

Romans 8 Oh, the **crazy** love of my Savior!

Petals

Flowers in general, and yellow roses in particular, touch a place deep inside me. In a world of flat, brown landscapes, row upon row of apartment housing complexes, and metal boxes on wheels racing back and forth, something as simply stunning as a rose takes my breath away. A flower is also beautiful for what it can speak to somebody. I led my college lifegroup in an outreach on their campus yesterday morning. We made about 200 rice krispie treats and packaged them with little cards that had a bible verse and information on our group's meeting time and place. We also had a few flowers to pass out to girls we thought might want them. To one girl, the flowers made something in her face light up like Christmas. Another girl got my number and sent me a text later, saying how grateful she was for the flowers. Sometimes, it's the smallest, softest, most vibrant petals that sometimes have the deepest impact.

I’m broke.

Here’s an excerpt from a recent Relevant article that caught my broke eye:

“Try the ‘100-Percent-Down Plan.’ Luke called me from Cleveland. He made really good money. His income at 23 years old was $50,000, and he married a young woman making $30,000. His grandfather had preached to him never to borrow money, so Luke and his new bride lived in a very small apartment over a rich lady’s garage. They paid only $250 a month for it. They lived on nothing, did nothing that cost money and they saved. Man, did they save! Making $80,000 in the household, they saved $50,000 a year for three years and paid cash for a $150,000 home. No payments! If you make $80,000 per year and don’t have any payments, you can become wealthy very quickly.”
-Dave Ramsey, personal money management expert and New York Times best-selling author (page 55 of the Jan/Feb 2009 Issue of Relevant)

Now, I don’t make anything like $80,000. In fact, that’s what frustrates me. I love the people I work with, and I mostly enjoy what I do, but (modesty aside), I’m way smarter and way more hard-working and way more skillful than this job.

What really unhinged me was this company here:

That was my idea. Now some other kid is making tons of money. On my idea. So, it’s not that I really want the house, or the $80,000. It’s just that I have more in me than this.

Starbucks

Last night, I went to go meet a friend at Starbucks. After an incredible weekend at World Mandate, I was determined that if two little Iranian women could march up to armed Muslim guards and give them a message of God's love, I could give the same message to the nations of my own city. I got to Starbucks a few minutes before my friend and tried to share Jesus with the girl behind the counter, but somehow the words wouldn’t come. I sat down with my drink and caught the eye of the woman packing up her stuff at the table next to mine. Something inside said Go For It! "Hi," I said, "how are you! Can I ask you a question?" I asked her if she knew Jesus. She looked a little stunned and said she was Catholic, so I said "that's great. Do you have a deep relationship with Jesus, like, do you really know Him?" She explained there were times in her life that she had known Jesus like that, but felt she was currently in a desert. I hope she felt the compassion in my voice. I've been in the desert, too, and it's hard. I told her that, and I also said, "I just want you to know that Jesus loves you, and He sees you where you are. He notices you, and He cares for you so, so much." There weren't just tears in her eyes when I finished--she was really crying. She said, "thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me."