buenos aires.

wow, this place is definitely happening. the streets are so alive. there are people pushing things, people carrying things, pulling things, riding things, driving things, walking things, yelling things. there is so much energy in this place. i love it slash need a break. we saw one large political demonstration yesterday and several smaller protests, hmm.

abrazarme.

so, yeah, turns out i´m a huge fan of the "greet one another with a kiss" practice here in South America. but just yesterday after an intense worship time at this church retreat we were on the pastor said, now everyone go hug your neighbor or something like that en Español. wow, what a beautiful experience - for several minutes it was just - embracing, love, friends, strangers, no cultural boundaries, love is all you need. it was so real & moving - not just receiving the hugs, but even just watching the others. i think that´s how God intended the body of Christ to live.

sure we can all show up to church and sing together and pass the plate and take notes together - but do we really love one another? john says, "if anyone says, 'i love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen." So many people go to church, get inspired and want to go fight for something, want to make a difference, want to take a stand and "they" or "i" really want to change the world and often i get lost in the idea, in the theory of it all. i push it aside and say, "when i get older" or "when i get the chance." when really there are all these people all around me waiting for their worlds to be changed, longing to be inspired, to be loved. that´s how we change our world, we turn to the left or to the right and embrace the person beside us. the person that knows all of our faults. the person that doesn´t know us at all. we embrace our brothers because we know that deep down we´re all the same, we´re all afraid and well, perfect love drives out fear...

customers in love

we have these two customers at the coffee shop that are so in love. they've been coming in pretty regularly for the last couple of weeks. i don't know their names though we're pretty well aquainted. they said today was their luck day. on monday they were eating Chinese and both of their fortune cookies said that Wednesday would be their lucky day. so they assumed that meant they were going to win the lottery today. they said they'd definnitely share some of their winnings with me - i mean i didn't ask them for it or anything, but they're really in love and i like them a lot.