Went up to the coffee shop 30 minutes north of work, instead... reading a book for a book club i'm trying to decide if i want to join.  

Met a couple of people outside the coffee shop-- we were all waiting for them to open.  I love the community the shop is located in, because it's an area where i run into few Christians.  Not that i spend time avoiding Christians... but because i love talking to strangers from different walks of life.  The particular area this coffee shop is located is a highly gay community, and people often have had bitter experiences with believers.  I like to go there, listen to their stories, and process with them.  And help them understand Jesus a little more than they did before we started talking.  

Today though... today these two guys I met happened to be pretty open to talking.  We'd made a little small talk outside, but when we came in, I thought the conversation would be over.  Then the one guy says his wife is in Kenya for three weeks.  Considering the length of the trip and the fact that I haven't run into too many people who travel quite so much who aren't tied to some sort of faith, I asked a few questions and eventually discovered the two guys I'd been talking with actually went to the same university I did.  

I've typically really tried to distance myself from my educational institution, given having run into too many people who are so close-minded there and walk around (particularly in communities like the gay one in which I find myself this morning) judgmentally glaring and trying to "convert" people to "straightness and God."   It's been kind of ridiculous.  

This morning though... it's been good.  

Chill.  

Like-minded people.  

God's teaching me to have grace with other believers...  something I've lacked for a while.  Grace for non-believers?  Sure!  But for people who claim to follow God?  Hard time.  Curious, since grace so embodies the God that I, too, claim to serve.  

It's been a journey...  but so good.