sometimes
I have a great love affair with this city. It feels like a strong marriage, sometimes. My first moments with Austin were walking through the new Highland Mall in 1982, this midwestern girl infatuated with the cleanly-laid-out lines of clothes in Foley's. The gleaming make-up counters made me forget my dried-up tears from leaving my home in Springfield.
Then there was my first date with the city at one of Austin's finest Mexican restaurants, Chi Chi's. That's when I knew there was something here. And although I had a broken heart from leaving the Midwest, Austin slowly grew on me, much like a lover who has compassion and wins you over.
Now thirty years later, I'm still loving this city. I have been victorious here, I have been brought low. I have worked in it's grocery stores, gift shops, TV and radio stations, churches, hotels, hospitals. I have had my share of dates: blind, first, last, heartbreaking and joyful on the grounds of this city. I was married on Red River in a breathtaking Lutheran church. I have had the best margarita here and have thrown up the worst vodka here. I have delivered 2 babies in it's hills, in it's city. I have cried over coffee too many times to count, in too many coffee shops to count. Happy tears. Can't find the words tears. I have hiked, biked, walked, and ran through these streets. Sometimes laughing, sometimes cussing. Totalled many a car on it's streets as well. Me and Austin, we are tight.
And in it all, the last 3 years have been some of the hardest of my life in Austin. I still don't have the words, but this song holds some of them.
Sometimes every one of us feels
Like we’ll never be healed
Sometimes
Sometimes every one of us aches
Like we’ll never be saved
Sometimes
Sometimes you believe when you are depressed if you take a pill, you will be better in 6 to 12 months. Sometimes life doesn't go as prescribed.
When we’ve given up
Let Your healing come
When there’s nothing left
Let Your healing come
‘Til we’re rising up
Let Your healing come
This summer was a turning point for me. Whether it was the love of my blonde boys, or extra sleep, or mango smoothies, or Jesus (mostly Jesus), I started to feel the turning of the wind. The smooth place that follows the hurricane.
There are places I want to go. People I want to see. Specifically, 60,000 college students in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta at a thing called Passion on January 1st through the 4th, 2013. But that all requires money and that requires a job.
Where You go, we will follow
Where You go, we will follow
At my first job interview for a sales cashier that paid $9.00 an hour, I get grilled for a good thirty minutes on my customer service skills. I find myself talking about the dynamics of problem solving in prayer groups. I tell them I've been at home with my boys for fourteen years.
Which gets this kind of response: "Ohhhh....(grimace)...yeah." Then shaking of the head. If I ever wanted to leave an interview it would have been at that moment.
To Austin's credit, it happened outside of her limits.
So I did what any person on a mission does. I drove to the place I really wanted to work and began the journey to get said job. To get to said aforementioned place with 60,000 college students. Never say never.
It’s Your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You, we’re lost in You
It’s Your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You, we’re lost in You
In that place I found a team that cares about this city and puts it's money where it's mouth is. That holds navy blazers in high-esteem as I do. Well, probably in higher esteem than I do. That knows it's place in a world of shopping therapy. A place to work, to laugh, to heal. As I get ready to stand in the gap for thousands of college students, I'll be standing in the Gap working with college students. In Central Park, in the center of this city I love more than I can say. A city that is loved by Jesus so much.
Sometimes
It’s like we’ll never atone
For all the love we’ve known
Sometimes
Like in a smile or a song
When you feel it come
And that feeling’s gone
It flies
Where You go, we will follow
Where You go, we will follow
It's Your love that we adore
It's like a sea without a shore
We're lost in you
We're lost in you
Don’t be afraid
Don’t be afraid
Just set your sail
And risk the ocean there’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean there’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean there’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean there’s only grace
- lyrics taken from David Crowder Band's Sometimes
Then there was my first date with the city at one of Austin's finest Mexican restaurants, Chi Chi's. That's when I knew there was something here. And although I had a broken heart from leaving the Midwest, Austin slowly grew on me, much like a lover who has compassion and wins you over.
Now thirty years later, I'm still loving this city. I have been victorious here, I have been brought low. I have worked in it's grocery stores, gift shops, TV and radio stations, churches, hotels, hospitals. I have had my share of dates: blind, first, last, heartbreaking and joyful on the grounds of this city. I was married on Red River in a breathtaking Lutheran church. I have had the best margarita here and have thrown up the worst vodka here. I have delivered 2 babies in it's hills, in it's city. I have cried over coffee too many times to count, in too many coffee shops to count. Happy tears. Can't find the words tears. I have hiked, biked, walked, and ran through these streets. Sometimes laughing, sometimes cussing. Totalled many a car on it's streets as well. Me and Austin, we are tight.
And in it all, the last 3 years have been some of the hardest of my life in Austin. I still don't have the words, but this song holds some of them.
Sometimes every one of us feels
Like we’ll never be healed
Sometimes
Sometimes every one of us aches
Like we’ll never be saved
Sometimes
Sometimes you believe when you are depressed if you take a pill, you will be better in 6 to 12 months. Sometimes life doesn't go as prescribed.
When we’ve given up
Let Your healing come
When there’s nothing left
Let Your healing come
‘Til we’re rising up
Let Your healing come
This summer was a turning point for me. Whether it was the love of my blonde boys, or extra sleep, or mango smoothies, or Jesus (mostly Jesus), I started to feel the turning of the wind. The smooth place that follows the hurricane.
There are places I want to go. People I want to see. Specifically, 60,000 college students in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta at a thing called Passion on January 1st through the 4th, 2013. But that all requires money and that requires a job.
Where You go, we will follow
Where You go, we will follow
At my first job interview for a sales cashier that paid $9.00 an hour, I get grilled for a good thirty minutes on my customer service skills. I find myself talking about the dynamics of problem solving in prayer groups. I tell them I've been at home with my boys for fourteen years.
Which gets this kind of response: "Ohhhh....(grimace)...yeah." Then shaking of the head. If I ever wanted to leave an interview it would have been at that moment.
To Austin's credit, it happened outside of her limits.
So I did what any person on a mission does. I drove to the place I really wanted to work and began the journey to get said job. To get to said aforementioned place with 60,000 college students. Never say never.
It’s Your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You, we’re lost in You
It’s Your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You, we’re lost in You
In that place I found a team that cares about this city and puts it's money where it's mouth is. That holds navy blazers in high-esteem as I do. Well, probably in higher esteem than I do. That knows it's place in a world of shopping therapy. A place to work, to laugh, to heal. As I get ready to stand in the gap for thousands of college students, I'll be standing in the Gap working with college students. In Central Park, in the center of this city I love more than I can say. A city that is loved by Jesus so much.
Sometimes
It’s like we’ll never atone
For all the love we’ve known
Sometimes
Like in a smile or a song
When you feel it come
And that feeling’s gone
It flies
Where You go, we will follow
Where You go, we will follow
It's Your love that we adore
It's like a sea without a shore
We're lost in you
We're lost in you
Don’t be afraid
Don’t be afraid
Just set your sail
And risk the ocean there’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean there’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean there’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean there’s only grace
- lyrics taken from David Crowder Band's Sometimes