Quote of the Day: “All we are is just pilgrims passing through..”

                We started off our day with several successes – not waking up super early like crazy jetlaggers, eating the best toast I’ve ever had off beautiful blue and white Tower of London dishes, taking the tram, finding a Starbucks, posting on my blog for the first time, and fulfilling Shaina’s dream of having a Starbucks cup with Cecelia written in black marker across the cup. She still has the cup. : )

                The weather was gorgeous and made for great pictures as we strolled along the South Bank, gazed at Big Ben, and touched the London Eye supports to make ourselves feel more accomplished. We considered riding it, but really, who wants to spend 20 pounds and half an hour waiting in line when the view might be more amazing on the ground level anyhow. And we certainly did see some … interesting sights. Lots of people were dressed as tin men or famous actors. A few had hats out with signs that read “operates with coins or notes” and we were tempted to pay to watch them dance (or do whatever they had planned for our entertainment) but were, of course, too cheap to do so.

There was a French man who called me over, asked me to put my finger out, and proceeded to make a Union Jack friendship bracelet for me. I still have that on. Makes me look like a tourist, but that doesn’t really matter because our accents give us away, although I have detected a slight change in them already.  Everyone at Uni will be pleasantly surprised.

                The scenic route was in order (kind of because we got lost for a bit) as we headed towards Tate Modern.  That was fun. Several wonderful pieces of art there.  We did find though that we didn’t seem to be as cultured as those around us because the random shapes didn’t exactly resonate in our souls, and we weren’t quite sure how the sculptures represented fish. We did find one piece about Thailand that left the four of us rather excited. Course, we couldn’t tell you what it said, but we were still quite proud of the display.

                Our feet were quite tired after walking around several display rooms, so we found what we hoped was a bench rather than artwork, and sat down for a bit before heading out on an adventure to find the Hummingbird bakery.

We took the tube and then decided to walk and found ourselves right in the middle of a Gay Right’s parade. Needless to say, we felt a little out of place…. although Shaina pointed out that my laptop case had a rainbow design so that helped me fit in. Yay.

                Eventually we squeezed our way through the thick crowds, giggling to ourselves (although I was sadden for a quick moment when someone spilled beer on my new shoes) and sighed with relief when we sighted our delightful bakery filled with delectable treats. Anna, Kate and I each picked out cute cupcakes and Shai got a brownie with a powdered sugar outline of hummingbird. It cost extra to eat in the tiny shop, so they wrapped our sweets in adorable bags and sent us on our way to the Starbucks down the road.

                I was thirsty for a sip of water, as was Shaina, so we put our heads together and decided that our cheapest option was for me to stand in line for the loo with her Cecelia cup and then to fill it up with tap water (an option we wouldn’t have in Thailand). I ended up standing in line for nearly 20 minutes before I could follow through with the essential part of our scheme and found myself surrounded by a few eccentric characters. The Indian guy beside me struck up conversation by asking “So, are you here for the Gay Rights Parade?” He, rather proudly, was. We carried on until it was finally my turn to use the toilet, and I learned that he was a chef, his eight best friends live in California (so he is planning to move there after he heads to Canada), and he finds the England weather shameful. We haven’t found it to be that bad though.

                So after our third time at Starbucks in England, we were back on our way to the Tube. In case you were curious, we didn’t walk back the way we first came, but we saw several rainbow capes just the same.

Anna met up with a friend at the Victoria station, so Kate, Shaina and I travelled back to Nanny’s as a trio and had a great time on the train. There are only two sections on each train car that have four seats facing each other, and we always try to sit on those.  When the three of us entered together, we found that three of those four seats were free, but didn’t want to make the poor man in the fourth seat feel too awkward, so I ended up taking the seat diagonal to him while Kate and Shaina sat together behind me. This way we managed to carry on conversation and leave him to his peace – until three VERY loud elderly adults walked in, taking the two free seats and one across the aisle. Kate, Shaina and I couldn’t help but laugh at their random comments (as well as the facial expressions of those around us) and giggled silently when the poor man, now in a very awkward situation, popped his ear buds in. I think our favorite comment from the excited group was when the lady told Jaffa that his face reminded her of a camel.

                Another funny moment was when we were walking from the tram to Nanny’s and Shaina mentioned how she had been too “showered to tire” the night before. I really enjoyed that. : ) Then we had to recall all of our favorite word flip-flops and were laughing rather hysterically when we arrived for a Shepherd’s Pie dinner. (Random note: the reason we were so punchy was that we were jetlagged and it was after eight, although the sun was still up.)

                A delicious supper led to dishwashing and preparing for bed, but when Anna got back, we sat around in PJs, drinking tea and talking until one in the morning when we decided we must go to bed in order to make it to the 11:30 Hillsong Church service the next day. And we went to bed.

                I crawled under the covers with my Bible in hand, but didn’t end up reading it before I fell asleep. Nevertheless, God and I had several conversations throughout the day, and I just want to share with you how the quote at the top of the page fits in with what He has been teaching me.

                Since I left Thailand for college, God and I have talked a lot more than we ever did. A major part of what we talk about is basically this: me marveling at the beauty He has created, and me asking Him why there is so much brokenness in this world. I love it when God shows me beauty in the broken places, but it is terribly hard to think of a place or person as divinely beautiful, and then to find brokenness there.

                England is perhaps the most beautiful country I have ever been to, but, to be honest, it has its brokenness. Boo. But the great thing about noticing the sad parts of our world is to realize that Heaven is completely void of all of them. God changes everything. And the great thing about the amazing parts of this world is the knowledge that they don’t even compare to the sights we shall see someday at our heavenly home.

                And that’s how the quote for Steven Curtis Chapman’s song “Long Way Home” fits in. I first heard the song this summer and absolutely love the way he talks about the hope of heaven on the hard days and how we must kept from getting too comfortable here on the good ones. It doesn’t matter whether we are surrounded but terribly wonderful or wonderfully terrible situations – Heaven is far greater than earth, and God is absolutely fantastic. And as His children, all we are is “pilgrims passing through”.

                So there you are. Wise words from Rissa. Aha. Hope you enjoyed them!  God bless!