Eight Eight Bo Bate

Yep. It’s year EIGHT for meeeee this month. Eight years ago the scales fell from my eyes. Eight years ago, my heart turned back to the Father and He came running to me. It’s been eight years of rediscovering the things that I lost about my identity, my passion, and my dreams. I still can’t believe that it marks my eighth year. I was a pretty wild lost child and now I ‘m just a wild child of God. I truly thought the party would have ended by now but nope. It’s been such a wild ride, I don’t think my heart will ever stop being thankful.  I’m also so thankful for the many people that reached out to me, loved me and supported me. I couldn’t have done it without them. To go from the streets to where I am now....is a miracle. So many fingerprints of people  helping and encouraging me have been left on my heart.

 So to properly celebrate this eighth year, I decided to share eight things that either freaked me out about the new Christian culture I was suddenly surrounded by or what I love about the Christian culture. 

**disclaimer:  some of these comments are vast generalizations and of course I know that this isn’t every Christian out there. So if you get offended easily, please stop reading. **

Number One:  Coffee Shops. Freaked. Me. Out. The term “Let’s grab coffee” made my insides twirl and I would feel like the flying cow from the movie “twister” would sideline me right as the person was asking me. Now, when I decided to go all ghetto, coffee shops were not popular. In fact, never heard of them. But when I decided to come back to civilization and hang out with Christians, the coffee shop business had exploded and they were located everywhere.  Anytime I met someone new in Christianland, I was always told “let’s grab coffee” . (was that even a question??) To me it was like going into haunted houses. I wanted to scream. I didn’t know the language of the shops...honestly, I still don’t. London Fog? What is that? Cafe AuLait? Was I just called a bad name? How is that a name of a drink? Since I’m on this honest roll right now, I still don’t know what a cappuccino is.  BUT i do know what an Americano is. Coffee and water....aaaaand no girls, you don’t order an Americana if you want this tasty coffee/water beverage. ;)  SO back to my story--I figured out that coffee shops are like Bars. That was something that I could relate to. You go in, you can order shots  or speciality drinks. You can sit alone or with friends, you can get picked up at such places or just be that loner creeper  in the corner that everyone stays away from. 

Something happened.

 I don’t know if it was going to coffee shops because I was desperate for friends and the people I clicked with went there or because of school, where  I had to be at these shops to study but I now love bars...I mean coffee shops.  I’m even  one of those people that quit caffeine a year ago and  now orders a decaf light vanilla latte...in the morning. *shakes head* Shame.

Number Two:  I love how American Christians dance. No for reals. I especially love it at conferences when  large groups of people are dancing around. There is such freedom when you see bodies moving.  It makes my heart smile. Now every culture has it’s unique flavor of dance. White christians,  I have noticed mainly bounce up and down. But hey, at least if they are desiring to move, they are actually moving around.  I love the booty shaking in African praises.  That was my favorite. (Surprising, I know. )The hand movements in Asia.I just love it all.  There is something about dancing around no matter how silly you look, when all that matters is that you are doing this to praise the Lord.

Three:  Large groups of Christians move slowly. I never witnessed this before in groups of people. It’s like you were just with an entire group of Christians at some event. It’s time to go to the parking lot to go to restaurant where you are going to meet everyone you were JUST with ...and it takes hours to get there. As a newbie these large crowds made me nervous. I couldn’t figure out what a person should talk about. Seriously,  I couldn't figure it out. People would just sit and talk....and maybe this group would made it to the foyer but then they would stop there for some time and talk some more....and then they move to the parking lot. more talking would be involved..and then they would finally make it to the next destination. But then it would just repeat. I couldn’t figure out if these new people were zombies. Maybe they got bit and that was why they moved so slow? I never knew if someone in the group should herd the bleating sheep sheep friends or what.  I started to try things on my sheep sheep friends and get the herd to move. I  learned  if I made exaggerated movements with my body this would somehow signal other people to follow suite and the crowd would move. Again, I don’t know how this happened but now I m usually the one that is getting herded. Baaah ba baa bah bah baaaaaaaa 

Number Four: dates.  Not even dating but dates. Very bizarre. I think I could write a book on this. Okay, so where I came from (aka ghetto fabuloushood) , you see a hawt guy, you go up and ask him out. On a date.  Not marriage. A date.*gasp!*Apparently girls aren’t supposed to do this.  Big no no. BUT nobody ever told me the rules. I had to figure this out the awkward way. Heh heh. Eight years ago I think people were still confused about that whole “I kissed dating goodbye” book that ruined so...opps! I m not getting into that. Anyways, now, I know  girls can ask a guy to coffee just to be friends. But girls asking guys out on a date is like guys wanting to have the ability to carry a child to full term. Lesson learned. *rolls eyes*

Number Five: I love newbie Christians. They bring me such jolly times. Watching them learn. Learning what it’s like to love Jesus. Learning how to be a son/daughter of God.  Loving their raw vocabulary, their intense encounters and passion. .. ...   .. I wonder what it would look like if instead of submerging them with the Christian culture of Do’s and Don’t and putting them in a church and program if we went out with them into their sphere of influence and loved on their friends...<insert some statistic about new Christians bringing people to Jesus>. They remind me of....me.  Awkwardly learning, awkwardly loving and  very awkwardly becoming who we were created to be.

Number Six: Christians went out to eat a lot. Now remember, I just came off the street where I was hungry a lot. Going out to eat was like getting fast food. Then I come into this Christian cultureland where there is food everywhere. All the time. I remember telling someone once when they asked me what Christians do to have fun, I told them they eat food and drink coffee. After conferences, after parties, after church, restaurants and homes get flooded with hungry/thirsty Jesus lovers.

Number Seven: The phrase “I’ll pray about it” I think it was the season that I was in with all my new friends but I noticed at that time, the phrase “i’ll pray about it”  sometimes (most times) really meant “I m mean no”. Of course, I know that people really do pray about it...I hope they do but I think in your Christian walk at some point, that phrase has been used as a means to find more time to figure out how to say no. ;)

Number Eight: I love the corporate anointing. To be with people with the same heart, worshiping together, praying together, loving each other is such a beautiful thing. When the  corporate anointing comes, things happen! I love watching groups of people pray for each other.  Seeing them surround that one person in need and then standing with them as they receive a touch of Love from our Father. Ahhhhhh. Makes me drool. I just love it. 

Eight eight bo baite, banana fanna fo fate