Almond: Milk, Vineyard, Health

I am yet again blessed to be staying with an awesome family. Clinton, the husband and father, is SUCH a good man. He is a gentle leader with his daughter, a respectful and romantic supporter of his beautiful wife, and a strong facilitator of love and harmony (he gives their 12-week old son to their two-year-old daughter to kiss every night before bed!). This morning, instead of sending me off to the Almond Vineyard by myself (25 or so miles away), he readied his family and went WITH me to the service (they usually go to a Baptist church). We were all loaded up, and he forgot his jacket so he ran back into the house to get it. We saw him duck around the corner of the house after he'd gotten his jacket, and he came back with a delicate rose petal from their rose bush for each lady in the car. I almost cried. Just before, he'd put her into the car seat and had accidentally hurt her somehow. She started crying and he was like, "Oh gorgeous girl! What's wrong? What do I need to kiss?" (!!!!)
Oh right. Before all of this, Clinton made me some almond milk for the muesli (raw granola). They are a super healthy family (no dairy, no sugar, no oil) and usually put juice on their cereal, but Clinton offered to make me whatever would make me more comfortable. (and then, I listened to him read a Bible story to his daughter, and sing to her before bed. Then, his wife came in and they took turns reading to her, alternating to do the voices. Then, Clinton cleaned the kitchen!!! And THEN, he offered me a cookie - one HE MADE HIMSELF).
The church service (I've noticed that most Vineyards in Europe meet in a school or YMCA they rent so I'm grateful for our own building back in Seattle) at The Almond Vineyard was awesome - yay Scottish accents (even though they are surprisingly difficult to understand!). Actually, there weren't that many Scottish accents - there were a lot of foreigners, specifically from South Africa and Zimbabwe (they have cool accents, too; I could recognize the South African Accent because my worship pastor is from there!) Another awesome thing: the blue curly-cue in the background says, "Be yourself. Remember what you see." (!!!) There was about a half hour of worship, then announcements, then a message: what was awesome about this message was that it was about "helping the poor" and the pastor had us break into groups and talk about what the passion of our heart is/what we felt God was putting on our hearts and then to discuss ideas amongst ourselves on how to actually DO that sort of thing, brainstorm ideas about how to put our passions into practice, and then finding accountability partners (for those to whom that applied, so not foreigners like me). So, they're SERIOUS about this stuff. It was SO cool.
After the service, I met a cute couple (the dude was from Zimbabwe, the gal from Dundee - a town in Scotland) who were going to the biggest festival in Edinburgh (once a year) and invited me to come along. I watched a play about apartheid in South Africa. It was an intense look at human relationships, sin and how hard it is to be the good voice of reconciliation and helping others at the (sometimes total) expense of yourself (it wasn't explicitly Christian, but it certainly could have been). We also had an interesting conversation about one of the most painful (to them) of the church's failings: that is, the experience common to all of us (in the group) that people sort of assume that, if you're already Christian you don't need people to be kind to you because you're the one that is supposed to be being kind to others. It hurts a lot, because caring for "the poor" starts in your own backyard. Mother Teresa said, "To love your neighbor, start at HOME." That was part of the message, too. Not about throwing money at the homeless on the streets, not about praying for God to "bring people/resources/time/whatever else into so-and-so's life" but to DO THAT YOURSELF. BE that person in someone's life. GIVE that person something to eat. Don't just pray for it. DO it.
After that, the couple had to leave, so I wandered around the streets of Edinburgh (just a tase pictured on the right) and the big festival for about 4 hours by myself. Edinburgh is a beautiful city, but festivals make me kind of sad. Like, what's the point? All these people forcing what can't really be all that natural for them (painting themselves silver and standing completely still until someone throws a pound or two their direction), people passing around fliers, clamoring for your attention so you'll give money, etc. It was really hard to be there, but the city is actually really incredible. What's even more amazing is that, surrounding these really old, European buildings and cobblestone streets are beautiful sighing green hills. Maybe that's why it's called Edin"BURGH" (it's not "Ed-in-BURROW", it's Ed-in-BurA, but the "foxhole" feeling remains...). Then, I took the train to a station close to the family's house, and Clinton came with his daughter to come get me from the station. We had a wonderful home-cooked, really healthy meal, and Clinton gave me a recipe book of over 600 raw-food recipes written by Christians based on Gen. 1:29. Now, we're going to watch some more educational DVDs from a really interesting (and funny) guy about health, food and eating. They've also got this great series about evolution vs. creation - these people are, pretty much, just what I've needed (and what some of my friends have been praying for, I think...)

(Oh, I forgot to mention that yesterday, while I was hanging out at the Geneva Airport waiting for my connecting flight in Heathrow, I read through my quote-book...I know some incredible people: some deeply intelligent people, some lavishly loving people (they have been trying to love ME), some wildly hilarious people, some wonderfully sensitive people, some honestly real people, and most that are all of the above. If I can know it no other way, I know from the people in my life that I am extravagantly blessed. Wow.)