Checking In

Nothing truly profound in this post this morning.- just a sense of anticipation for this new day, this irreplaceable gift we've all been given. I wonder - what will we do with the opportunity?

Tuesday evening is typically date night for me and Rebekah. Lately I've been cooking special meals at home, but yesterday a felt a call from one of my favorite restaurants - the Bonefish Grill.

I had the soft-shell crab. It's only available for a short time and I went for the selection because it crossed my mind that I may never see crab on a menu again. It's a devastating thought, to imagine the long-term effects of polluting the entire gulf and - possibly - much of the eastern seaboard as well. All because of unrestrained greed that sustains a culture of shoddy workmanship and lackadaisical regulation in order to boost profits by - what? - less than 1% in savings...?

So the crab was perfect. But once again - and I've noticed this quite often since our trip to Italy last June - the food came very quickly, and things moved ahead at an efficient rate.

The waiter was good. He was polite and engaging - no complaints. But I believe American restaurants have much to learn from the Italians when it comes to a more relaxed dining experience that just seems to stretch out - as if it really didn't matter what else we did all evening.

So we moved the party over to Borders, ordered a - surprisingly good - cappuccino, wandered the book stacks, and met over at the comfortable seating section to read and chat and sip coffee and just be.

I ended up purchasing the book I was looking at when I realized I'd already arrived at page 50 - and it made me wish that the big-box stores had ample copies of my books on hand, rather than simply ordering them on demand, and how cool it would be to run across someone sipping coffee and reading through "The Unmaking of a Part-Time Christian"....

So I brought home "Blink". It's a discussion about what happens in those two or three seconds that lapse between running into a person or a circumstance or a crisis and making a snap-judgement. Fascinating, and I'll probably share some more of it in this space when I've got further into the book.

So, nothing truly profound in this post this morning - just a sense of anticipation for this new day, this irreplaceable gift we've all been given. I wonder, what will we do with the opportunity?

Grace and peace - DEREK