A New Kind of Church Experience

I went to a church tonight to check out their mid-week service and had an experience like never before...

First of all, the church does not have their own building, so they meet in different locations throughout the city.
Tonight, they were at the Manhattan Center.  A building that hosts various events during the week, one being church.

I got off the subway (right at the corner, where the Manhattan Center is) and thought something might be up as I walked towards the venue.
There were many hippies in the street and on the sidewalk and you could smell the strong scent of marijuana as doobies filled the air with smoke.
stink.
I thought, maybe it was just a crew of college kids waiting to get back on the buses that lined the streets, yeah ignorance.  I just wasn't sure.

I walked closer to the venue and the crowds got bigger.
I walked up to one of the doors that looked like an entrance, asked the woman at the door if I was in the right place for church, she directed me to the doors a few yards down.
I made my way through the crowds, that got bigger as I progressed, towards the line, and proceeded through the barricades.
I thought, "wow! this is amazing! so many people showing up for church! and it's so crowded that they need security!"
(did I mention this was my first visit to this church and it's location?)

I went through security, they checked my bag, and asked if I had a ticket "huh? a ticket? for church?"
ok, then I def knew my ignorance was getting the best of me.
As the security guard asked for my ticket I said "for church?"
She looked at me, smiled, and pointed me in the direction of the door I had come from, the door where the first woman directed me to the line of barricades with security.
oh boy.
I finally made it back to the first door, asked the first lady if I was in the right spot for church and she apologized for thinking I was not there for church.
ahh....I was in.
I went inside, up the stairs and was ready to sit down.
Though, again, I was in the wrong place.
The smell of pot got stronger and the noise from whatever concert was there got louder.
Back down the stairs.
I once again went back to the lady (that kept directing me to the wrong places) and told her I had no clue where I was going.
duh.
She finally pointed me in the right direction, I was on the elevator headed to the eighth floor, and then in the Grand Ballroom.
now, I sat.
Church was awesome, the preacher was fantastic and I sat next to some lovely ladies.

Then, it was time to go!
Instead of taking the elevator back down (because there was only one for the many folks at the service) I decided to walk down the stairs...the smell of pot was really really strong as I went more and more flights down to ground level. The concert was in full force.
I made it to the ground level, saw the lady at the front door that had lead me with so many misdirected directions (some front door greeter she was), thanked her for her help, and made my way outside taking a big breath of fresh air.
Never once did I think I would go to church and have the stale stench of pot lingering on my clothes.

In the future...
I now know the Manhattan Center has two venues inside: the Grand Ballroom (where church was) and the Hammerstein Ballroom (where the concert was).

I also found out what the concert was...Joe Russo, whoever that is.
I enjoyed church and got my fill of some good preaching.
The concert attenders went to a show and got a whole other high.

Church like none other.

It's almost the end...

Last year I was SO SO happy to have '08 done & over with...after having had a stroke, the passing of my last grandparent, & a little catheter shoved up my groin to put in a wee little device.
ah, after all that 2008 was over.
yippee!

Little did I know what 2009 would entail:
-a major surgery that left a mark almost 10" long to remove said 'wee-little device'
-a nice little open heart surgery!
-months of recovery time
-& many many many hours fighting billing agents, hospitals, & insurance companies.
er, yay!?

praise ye the Lord 2009 is on it's way out.
bring it on 2010!!!

BUT! as I've been trying to focus on the good things...
this year has also been full of many blessings:
-Dr. Oz was my amazing, wonderful, kind, gracious, & compasionate doc for the open heart surgery. LOVE him.
-We moved into a new apartment; went to my college reunion, saw many lovely wonderful old friends, & showed Joel the beautiful place where I went to college; my bro-in-law got married
-spent many wonderful days with family & friends this year (many bittersweet because of the surgeries, but wonderful nontheless)
-took some trips to break up the recovery/between surgery time (including seeing Canada, Atlanta & the Grand Canyon for the first time)
-celebrated weddings & baby showers

Though an extremely rough year, I have been blessed.
The Good Lord has protected me.
I am still alive.
I have deeper friendships.
I know (more than ever) the stick by-ness, go into the trenches, love, encouragement, support, protection, care, blessing, loyalty, strength, prayers of so many around me.

Especially my amazing husband.
LOVE HIM!

May I not forget the good of 2009, yet I am so excited to have a new year, come on 2010!

Could've been 200 bucks richer

It's a good thing I'm an honest gal...

When at the laundromat there is an unspoken rule:

If the person using the machine before you does not come back for awhile to claim their goods you have the right to empty the machine out & put your stuff in.

Today this happened to me.

I waited for about 15-20 minutes after the dryer was done...waited...the woman did not come back.

So, I emptied her dryers & used them.

Upon emptying the dryer with many pairs of jeans,

I found $200 cash.

I'm assuming she didn't check the pockets before loading in the dirties?

I just stuffed the cash within the pile of clothes...what else to do?

But, she came back eventually (another 10 minutes later) & I told her what I found.

She was grateful.

Merry Christmas lady! & Happy Holidays!

Subway Observations...

The other day on the subway I saw:

-a woman strumming her guitar on the 7 train (in Queens) who I used to see ALL the time when I lived on the Upper West Side, 9 years ago.

-a homeless man helping a blind man onto the train

-a man on the platform tossing bread to the rats

yes, all on the same day.

all in a days work...