My Orange Cone Parallel Universe

So my day started off being trapped in LA! I was leaving for the day, and I wasn't running late, but I wasn't really on time either. I got in my car innocently heading towards the 134. I was humming to the music playing in my car excited about the day ahead of me. I happened to check my phone and my friend Cindy had text me to bring her a coffee. I thought, okay I will be just a little bit late if I stop and get her a coffee, but she really needs one, so, Starbucks here I come. I mindlessly begin to turn right on to the freeway on ramp and promptly am stopped by a zillion orange cones...the entrance is blocked off. Frustarting but part of living in the city.

I regroup and take the challenge head on at getting to the next freeway entrance going east. I take all these back roads, loop around, navigating through this neighborhood. I proudly emerge from this neiborhood right at the next on ramp....ORANGE CONES! AGHHH at this point I have been atempting to enter the 134 for 15 minutes. I look at my clock and realize it is now 8:55 and am due to arrive at 9:00. Is it a movie shoot, a real shooting...who knows in LA? I just know I am annoyed and still have to figure out how to get to Pasadena. So I ventrue out again with new resolve to figure out how to get out and into Pasadena. I tried 3 more exits only to be stopped again by more orange cones! I head way out North thinking I can make my way through side streets into Pasadena...I end up in the Hills with all these beautiful houses, but no idea how to get out.

Finally after 30 minutes I landed on the 134 going East...not exactly sure how I did it but I saw the ramp and saw NO orange cones. Don't know what the cones were for, but it was smooth sailing for me. I could get back to my great day now.

I stop by Starbucks to pick up Cindy's Venti Latte and saw the line, but would not let it get me down. The line moved fast, but unfortunately the Barista's didn't. Did they have orange cones on all the machines they were trying to use??? I sat in Starbucks wondering how on earth a Latte could take 20 minutes. I finally roled in at 9:35 (where I was supposed to be at 9) and had to laugh as I re-told the story.

Back to my great day....no more orange cones, I hope. I head to lunch with a great friend. We try to catch up on Sunday's, spending hours at Soup Plantation. We usually laugh, eat, talk, cry, laugh some more and then eat just one more piece of yummy bread or dessert. As we sat for hours I just couldn't help but dreamily think of how much I enjoy friendship. There is something so sweet about friends, and friends who have walked through so much and have so much history. With much sappiness I walked back from the bathroom and told her how much I loved spending all afternoon just hanging out and talking. Right then she said, I have actually been meaning to talk to you about something....Orange Cones.....that's never a good sign. We had a very weird and awkward talk about some mutual friendships and left not mad or even bad it just was really weird.

I felt a little startled internally and couldn't seem to put words to what I felt. I was due at a friends house for a Bahai celebration that he invited me to. A little dazed still I head up to the Hills above LA. I spent the evening experiencing a new culture in this beautiful home that had a wall of windows that overlooked LA. One of the most incredible views I had ever seen. My friends were incredibly hospitable and it was interesting to hear the things they believe and stake their life on. As I sat and listened to prayers and hearts that night I was so reflective. Bahai believe that their is a lot of roads to God and that their is a revelation that is ever unfolding. They shared that they are one of the most persectured faiths in Iran (their home country) and with much sadness they told me some stories of their families, friends, and homeland. As I sat their pondering my relationship with God through the person of Jesus Christ, I had another Orange Cone moment. What a day I had already had, and sitting here with friends that believe something so different than me, yet so the same I was a bit overwhelmed.

Following Jesus Christ doesn't mean that everything works out. You get hurt, you feel betrayed, you feel frustrated, you have great days, you have suprises that excite you and other ones that side swipe you. I often approach my personal relationship with God like I did this day. I head into the day (or circumstance) so excited at the prospect of all that is ahead. I see all the potential good things that are there and can't wait to just begin the day. Then I hit the proverbial Oragne Cone in my day or circumstance. I try and try and try to get back on the Happy Freeway and when I can't get there I get so disappointed and frustrated.

I so badly wish that a relationship with the God of the universe meant happiness, but it doesn't always mean that. But it does mean, just that, a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. God loves us and actually just likes hanging out in the car with us when we are madly attempting to find the freeway again. He knows where it is or what we truly need, but He loves us and really wants to just be in relationship with us and love us. It is a hard concept to grasp for me. This invisible God really loves me and cares about me.

I headed to my friends house to watch Dexter after that long day. I cried a little with a friend on the phone over the day and the news I got. I think I was mostly crying that I wasn't perfect and that I was being hurt over something a friend did that they never intended to hurt me with...yet still my eyes were a little red and teary as I walked in the door. I headed back to the kids room to say good night and saw this bright smile greeting me at the door. Audrey was wide awake ready to play ponies, dollies and do my hair. She giggled with me and played ponies while me and Amy talked. We reminded eachother about hope and just staying in the midst of where we are believing that God is with us and has something He created us to do.

I finished the evening watching Dexter, where I root for the seriel killer! If you watched the show you would too...who knew? What a weird day. I thought it was going to go one way and it went a different way. I kind of felt like I was in both worlds: the world I hoped it would be that day and the world it really was. I am not sure which one I liked better. Sometimes it just is what it is.

Though I was sad, happy, confused, hurt, a little disoriented, and unsure of what was happening I liked the fact that I sensed God with me. I don't always understand him, and today I didn't at many times. He was with me though and some how the more time I spend with Him...even on Orange Cone parallel universe days, I find myself a little more loving, a little more compassionate, a little more honest about myself and the world around me. He really does love this world and I love that I catch glimpses of His heart for people and for myself. If you haven't ever checked anything out about God and Jesus I would suggest giving Him a chance. He Loves you beyond what anyone in this world can love you and He is alive. I don't get it. I wish I understood it totally but I don't. I know what I have experienced, and in your Orange Cone moments of life I hope you have someone to walk with you when no person is able to be there for you.