My wonderful friend, Clark has recorded an instrumental EP. It's actually incredible. Go download it and help him out with his trip to Greece! Read the description on the page to hear what he's all about.
1/31/2014
chai and gasoline
What lovely negative five-degree weather I was experiencing one night in January. My dear friend, Carter and I went to Uncommon Grounds in Uptown to catch up on life's chaotic events. I haven't seen this man in quite some time, most likely about 3 years or so, possibly more. Whenever we have an instance of contact, he is either in a different country or in some random state doing something to change the world. I would pay money to hear his stories of adventure and whimsy, which is why the anticipation for this evening with my vagabond friend was flying through the roof. We had a delightful time and the evening held up to the expectation exceedingly.
ATTENTION: Uncommon Grounds has the best chai in the city. But seriously. You're welcome.
I wanted an adventure after I was sitting on my bum for two hours, so I suggested the sculpture gardens in this frigid weather, at this late hour. It would be spooky and wondrous. Once in his vehicle (which by the way wasn't even HIS car, but rather his little sister's because SHE crashed His car. classy), we realized there was no gasoline! What a conundrum. Conveniently, Ace Hardware was on the same block. We pillaged through rows and rows of extension cables, nails, and whatever else hardware stores have (I play music and like clothes, I don't know the first thing about a hardware store). Finally, we accumulated 2 paper funnels, a bucket, a lid, and two rubber gloves (for safety) all within a $7 budget and we were on our way to the nearest gas station. Let me remind you, it was one of those days where when you stood outside for 4 minutes, you couldn't feel your nose or toes. And we were walking about 5 blocks just to get to a gas station. Feel my pain right now. However, we made the best of it and pretended we were walking outside on the shore of an ocean, screaming, "I am just so warm right now! The sun is beaming. BEAMING on my skin." It was casual. It was an adventure.
After the endless journey back to the car carrying a bucket of gasoline, eventually it was poured meticulously into the vehicle. Boom. Ready to go. Little did we know, the car would give us attitude and decide not to start. Cool. Thanks, car. The vagabond headed back inside to find people to jump it whilst I wait patiently inside the car. Two minutes later, Carter comes out with three 18 year old girls who don't know anything about jumping a car. He ends up having a "how to jump a car" instructional with these girls and it was so precious. By this point, I am still waiting within the frozen vehicle, not being able to feel my toes, but I was fine. Carter kept looking at me through the window, making sure that I'm warm, offering me another jacket from the backseat while he's out there with no gloves trying to figure out this puzzling car predicament with the ladies. One thing led to another and we had to call AAA.
We whisk back inside the establishment and are asked to remove our coats because the wreak of gasoline was frightening the other customers. We end up sitting there with these girls and their eight other friends. It was so dang fun! We made all these new friends! I popped the question, "What was the highlight of 2013?" The girls shared stories of weekends at the cabin, spending time in France, being in various countries studying the world. And this was the coolest part: Carter and I got to hear these wonderful stories, but also got to share our own adventurous stories of ministry from the past year. These girls were shocked by the events we were privileged enough to experience and be apart of as servants for the kingdom. We love The Lord, and we got to share that with these girls.
I don't know the impact that we had, or even if it meant anything to our new friends, but I was honored to have met these ladies. They were so lovely. Even Dale, the owner of Uncommon, gave us all free cake because he loved us so much. From someone's negative perspective, the evening probably seemed horrible because our plans got all screwed up, we had to be outside in the cold, spend unnecessary money, and had to deal with annoying car problems. However, for me it was one of my favorite nights of 2014 so far. The evening stirred so much joy within me. I got to walk to a gas station and fill a bucket with gas, I got free cake, I met new friends, I was very well taken care of by a nice and caring gentleman, and even as Dale handed us back our coats from plastic garbage bags, I still was so genuinely joyful. Be happy today.
ATTENTION: Uncommon Grounds has the best chai in the city. But seriously. You're welcome.
I wanted an adventure after I was sitting on my bum for two hours, so I suggested the sculpture gardens in this frigid weather, at this late hour. It would be spooky and wondrous. Once in his vehicle (which by the way wasn't even HIS car, but rather his little sister's because SHE crashed His car. classy), we realized there was no gasoline! What a conundrum. Conveniently, Ace Hardware was on the same block. We pillaged through rows and rows of extension cables, nails, and whatever else hardware stores have (I play music and like clothes, I don't know the first thing about a hardware store). Finally, we accumulated 2 paper funnels, a bucket, a lid, and two rubber gloves (for safety) all within a $7 budget and we were on our way to the nearest gas station. Let me remind you, it was one of those days where when you stood outside for 4 minutes, you couldn't feel your nose or toes. And we were walking about 5 blocks just to get to a gas station. Feel my pain right now. However, we made the best of it and pretended we were walking outside on the shore of an ocean, screaming, "I am just so warm right now! The sun is beaming. BEAMING on my skin." It was casual. It was an adventure.
After the endless journey back to the car carrying a bucket of gasoline, eventually it was poured meticulously into the vehicle. Boom. Ready to go. Little did we know, the car would give us attitude and decide not to start. Cool. Thanks, car. The vagabond headed back inside to find people to jump it whilst I wait patiently inside the car. Two minutes later, Carter comes out with three 18 year old girls who don't know anything about jumping a car. He ends up having a "how to jump a car" instructional with these girls and it was so precious. By this point, I am still waiting within the frozen vehicle, not being able to feel my toes, but I was fine. Carter kept looking at me through the window, making sure that I'm warm, offering me another jacket from the backseat while he's out there with no gloves trying to figure out this puzzling car predicament with the ladies. One thing led to another and we had to call AAA.
We whisk back inside the establishment and are asked to remove our coats because the wreak of gasoline was frightening the other customers. We end up sitting there with these girls and their eight other friends. It was so dang fun! We made all these new friends! I popped the question, "What was the highlight of 2013?" The girls shared stories of weekends at the cabin, spending time in France, being in various countries studying the world. And this was the coolest part: Carter and I got to hear these wonderful stories, but also got to share our own adventurous stories of ministry from the past year. These girls were shocked by the events we were privileged enough to experience and be apart of as servants for the kingdom. We love The Lord, and we got to share that with these girls.
I don't know the impact that we had, or even if it meant anything to our new friends, but I was honored to have met these ladies. They were so lovely. Even Dale, the owner of Uncommon, gave us all free cake because he loved us so much. From someone's negative perspective, the evening probably seemed horrible because our plans got all screwed up, we had to be outside in the cold, spend unnecessary money, and had to deal with annoying car problems. However, for me it was one of my favorite nights of 2014 so far. The evening stirred so much joy within me. I got to walk to a gas station and fill a bucket with gas, I got free cake, I met new friends, I was very well taken care of by a nice and caring gentleman, and even as Dale handed us back our coats from plastic garbage bags, I still was so genuinely joyful. Be happy today.
a whimsical story by Madison Emily
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