Job News!

Ok, it's what you've all been waiting for - I am now gainfully employed. I decided to take the nanny job. I babysat for the kids a couple nights ago, and though I had concerns about their behavior, I talked with their mom about it and I think we'll be able to work everything out. It's quite a commute, but I'm dedicated to becoming at least as well-read as I pretend to be this summer, so there's a bright side. The really great thing about the job is that it's only 10 weeks, so I get a whole month off before school starts, and it's only 30 hours a week, so I get a three-day weekend with plenty of time to run around and cause trouble. All this and I will still make enough money to survive the summer. I may or may not wind up with enough to buy a plane ticket back down south, so don't get your hopes up.

Let's see ... in other news, last Sunday I went to church with Deven. He goes to Morning Star, which is a nondenominational church in Times Square. It was a totally different experience from the week before! I really enjoyed it. It wasn't really a typical worship service, because that day was the 48th anniversary of Israel's independence, and they devoted the whole night to a celebration of that. It was so cool. I realize that among those who read this the opinions regarding God's plan for Israel are many and varied, and I acknowledge the validity of each of those, but for me personally it was great to be able to recognize the work that God has done and is doing in that nation. One man who spoke is a Jew (it was unclear whether he has become a Christian) and he said that where he grew up he was the only Jewish boy in his class, and everyone else called him "Christ-killer." That we should treat God's chosen people that way is tragic. It reminded me of something Madeleine L'Engle says in Walking on Water: "A friend of mine, Betty Beckwith, in her book, If I Had the Wings of the Morning, writes about taking her brain-damaged child to a Jewish doctor. He said, 'You people think of us as the people who killed your Christ.' Spontaneously she replied, 'Oh, no. We think of you as the people who gave him to us.' " If we all had that attitude, maybe Jews would start to see Jesus as He is, instead of who we've made Him out to be.

Ok, enough commentary. The church was good. Since then I have mostly spent my time trying to find a job (fortunately that was a successful endeavor) and hanging out with my housemates, about whom I will refrain from gushing, but suffice it to say that there was a spot in this house for me long before anyone else knew it.

Song In My Head: "Forever" by Ben Harper. Don't ask me why, because it really has nothing to do with any of this :)