Gift #5...free things

Grace Cathedral is this beautiful Episcopalian cathedral on top of one of the many  hills in middle San Fransisco. We went to Wednesday service in the cavernous place and were completely enthralled. The service was sung, we sang, they sang, everyone sang and it was hauntingly beautiful and it was wonderfully free. We were in a side chapel as they could not fill the main space. Wow, what a building. I thought it was a Catholic building, it may have started out that way. But if you have a chance...see it for yourself. On that afternoon while we were wandering through, we had two different kind of expereinces. The first one  was a prayer maze to walk on right to the side of the main door. We decidide to walk it only to be twarted by a small group of Chinese women preparing for their tai chi, or jogging routine. Whatever it was, they were loud and running on our maze...Strange mixture of culture expression.  Soon after for our second expereince , we had  about 25 preschoolers come to find their easter eggs that had been obvioulsy scattered about. How excited they were, and how fun to watch.

 Art on walls...free and a bit creepy.

I think I am done with our San Fran trip.

 I could talk about the aggressive homeless people right outside our hotel door, or the window in our room that needed to be repaired with Duct tape to keep it closed or the hotel room bathroom that was the same size as the closet or that a glass of orange juice cost $5. Or that the great deal I thought I was getting for the hotel room was offset by the $35 a night for parking.  I could tell you about having to drive to San Jose because we forgot to tell our GPS to allow toll roads, all bridges to San Fran are tolls. I could also tell about the road trip home hugging the coast and the full moon while driving through the redwood trees and how amazingly effecive 5 hour energy drinks are when you are sleepy. Or how green, my color car green it was as Spring was taking hold. But then...I have kept you long enough.

Gift #4...weather

We had spectacular weather in San Fran while we were there. Clear, sunny, windy and COLD. We had tickets on a tour bus where we could hop on and off. This was great getting where we needed to go but because they went on a certain route, if you got on in a certain place in the trip you would have to go the long way around. The long way around was going over the bridge. The first time we went across the Golden Gate bridge, we were in the open top...it was great, it was clear, it was really windy, it was COLD. The second time, the bridge looks about the same from below...and it was warmer.
We walked everywhere and even today, 2 weeks out, the shoes I was wearing still are painful in the same spot. Nick and I wandered and found ourselves in out of the route places and I feel we kind of know San Fran a bit better than from the roof top of a tour bus.
If you know anything about me I don't do cold well. After this open roof top adventure, it took me the whole night to get warm to the core. Some things though are worth doing uncomfortable.

San Fran gift #3...Nick

San Fran gift #2...prison windows

   One of the reasons we went to San Fran was because Nick really wanted to see Alcatraz. This old prison is only a short mile from shore and as we piled on the shuttle boat, I was amazed at the volume of people just like us wanting to see this old place of haunting stories. It was a spectacular sunny day and as we meandered in the prison hearing stories of those who had lived or worked here. I was struck by the smallness of the cells and the lingering hopelessness of being in this prison. The most desired cells to find yourself were the ones facing these windows. As I looked up, I realized why...sunlight was streaming into an otherwise dark and gloomy hallway, bars on the windows, but sunlight nevertheless.

It has been a rainy spring here and gloomy. We have had a few sunny days but not a string of them. San Fran is known for its fog, and I am sure on this island in the Bay, fog was constant company. Wet, dank, dark , and cold were the four other tyrants of this prison. When the sun comes out here...it is as if we sigh collectively...I can imagine those men did the same when the sun came streaming in those high and barred windows.

We are all prisoners of something...fears, the unknown. There are walls we ourselves have built that keep us from reaching out, trusting...being free.

I stood in the pool of sun collecting at the bottom of this barred window.

I was grateful.

He shines into all our misery...glimpses at times, and at times through the bars of our fears.

He shines nonetheless.

Giggles and Fish... San Fran gift #1



I can't quite figure out how to make this picture vertical...This was taken in the San Fransisco Science Academy and it was fantastic.

I am amazed with fish, the color, the shapes, the sizes, the personalities, the fantastic mixture of it all swimming around lazily, darting, sitting, scoping... It is just a peek into the creative mind of our God. Just a peek, mind you, and at the same time something a very small child can grasp.
The morning we were there it seemed as if it was fathers day out  with their little 3-4 year old children. There were a lot of families running from one tank of fish to the other.
Nick and I were just starting to look into the first aquarium when this little boy ran giggling past us laughing and screaming...whale! ...whale!  That would have been interesting in that enclosed environment. What he saw was a small shark and he was so excited and giggly,laughing, pointing, stopping, running back and yelling. I could not help think that this was exactly how God much have felt when he began this creation process. He must have been giggling.  Every time a 3 year old giggles it is that same pleasure. SO much of the ocean and its inhabitants are only there for God's pleasure as He is the only one who gets to see them all the time. When they are displayed for us humans to see...the child innately seems to  get the splendor, sense of humor and wonder. I think that is why they were  giggling. It is funny, it is wonder..full, it is spectacular.
 It was a gift to be a part of the whirl of visual and audible magnificence.