At the end of my trip, I was sitting in a cafe called the Chocolate Bar in Buffalo, NY, waiting on some native buffalo chicken. (I had had my chocolate already-trust me-when I figured out that Buffalo was the home of Buffalo chicken. Since I feel an almost ethical responsibility to eat foods in their native home, I delayed my departure and ordered some. Also I didn’t want vacation to end.)
As I sat, I looked across the street at the base of a shiny high rise. The Key Bank logo was at the bottom, along with a placard that said, “We’re all looking for clear answers.”
A basic vacation, I think, provides answers at least to the questions of exhaustion and lack of perspective. That’s why I want to review some of my favorite refreshing “answers”.
Kristie’s students putting on the surgical gear I gave them, and singing “Heart, heart”.
Arabic and baklava and good conversation at Rosetta’s!
Pizza and good conversation with Trell and Cynthia and Jamarion ( I forgot to take pictures!) and Moroccan chicken and good conversation with Daniel and Joetta and Malachi, Daniel being my ruthless editor. 🙂
Have you noticed that good conversation is about my favorite thing in the world?
Seeing the famous hospital and its schools in Baltimore.
Curry and good conversation with surgeon Hans and Sharon and Braxton and Cameron, plus the unexpected blessing of a cozy attic room there after a long day of fighting NYC traffic.
Later in the week, I got this text showing their young son Braxton perusing our Syrian refugee book. What a great reflection on Rosetta’s photography, that even young children are engaged!
My Brooklyn graveyard…
Yale’s dogwood tree…
Lunch from childhood neighbor Colleen’s restaurant in Boston, Eastern Standard.
Did I show you the asparagus salad? I wasn’t sure either but it was SO good. Thanks Colleen!
Harvard in the rain…
My favorite ocean and dangerous cliff path.
But perhaps the clearest “answering of answers” was the confirmation I heard in Bangor at “Why Jesus?” Hearing my Oasis Chorale friends singing for 6,000 people was exhilarating… “He burst from the fetters of darkness that bound him!”
And the words of Christians, most of whom did not grow up in Christian homes, will stick fast in my mind for a long time, especially in the moments when I need “clear answers”.
Lee Strobel telling us that his wife had given up on him ever coming to Christ. “He’s the editor of The Chicago Tribune!”she protested to other ladies in her Bible study. And an elderly lady pulled her aside and gave her the verse in Ezekiel 36:26–“I will give you a new heart”. She prayed that verse for about two years before he gave his heart to Christ.
Randy Newman, in response to someone who lamented that they are not well-educated in defending Christ. “This could be taken too far, but sometimes I think you can say some really bad stuff (as in mess up when sharing your faith) and God can say, ‘Okay, I’ll work with that!'”
Ravi Zacharias: “Jesus did not conquer in spite of the dark mystery of the world, he conquered through it.”
I admire Johns Hopkins, Yale, and Harvard, because they are symbols of doing something well. I loved Brooklyn and Boston and Buffalo, the chocolate and curry and chicken and all the good conversations I had from Virginia to Connecticut to Maine.
But praise God, the life of Jesus Christ is ultimately the clear answer to everyone’s questions, even if that’s not what Key Bank meant.