Drinking Coffee out of a Tea Cup

(I know this is way longer than a blog entry should be but it was just so good I wanted to share it all with you.)
This Saturday Amanda and I found the greatest restaurant we have ever been to. If anyone reading this ever comes to KC (and we hope every one of you does soon) you have to check out this place. We went down to the city market just to walk around, we didn’t need anything and just felt like getting out of the house. We decided to get something to eat and this Actor/Comedian that I met, and had a great conversation with about Bob Dylan, at Espresso dell’Anatra told me about this place called Succotash that was on the market so we decided to try it.

We walked up and the place was packed. It is half inside and half outside divided down the middle by one of the main walkways at the city market so it was hard to tell who was waiting to eat and who was just walking by. In fact it was hard to tell where the restaurant actually was and where it wasn’t. Nothing at Succotash matches. There are some high tables and some low ones and some booths and some big wooden spools that serve as tables. The chairs are all totally random and the paintings and posters on the walls and columns don’t make any sense at all. And the entire bizarre mismatch is painted in bright colors or covered with very cool, very original, 50’s or 60’s vinyl.

It’s like looking at a mix between a yard-sale at a junkyard owned by an old woman who never gets rid of anything and the kind of crazy dreams you have after you’ve been awake for a couple of days but insist on eating half a large supreme pizza before you go to bed.

We saw a sign that said please wait to be seated but there was no one standing by it to take our name. Then we realized we couldn’t really tell if there was anyone working there at all. There were some people standing there and we asked them how to get a table; they pointed out a guy wearing jeans, a buttoned up shirt that was only buttoned half way, and a apron that hand been made out of an old green dish-towel with flowers embroidered on it. He was smoking a cigarette and holding a little stack of papers on a little tray. We gave him our names and he told us it would be about a 20 minute wait. We sat down on a bench that had the words “Waiting Area” stencil spray-painted on it.

The guy which we gave our name to called out a name, and the people stood up and came over to him. He pointed over to the other side of the restaurant and said they could have the open table that was over there. He never made eye contact with them, just told them where they could sit and walked away. He kept walking around and watching for tables and taking people’s names and smoking cigarettes. He would call out names and point where people should go but never took them to their table. One time he told them that there weren’t enough chairs at their table so they would have to get some extra’s from some of the people sitting around them.

We also noticed the other people that were working there after we sat down. They were all younger and wearing jeans or cut-off jean shorts and T-shirts and old dish-towel aprons. This one guy had a rat-tail and another guy had a fu-manchu mustache. They were running around like crazy but they looked like they were having so much fun doing it.

There was a lady sitting at a table across from where we were waiting who asked one of the girls that worked there if she could have a plastic zip-tie. And since it was a restaurant, of course they had bags of them and she went in the back and got her some. She used them on her backpack that we hadn’t noticed. There was a ferret in there that kept unzipping it from the inside trying to get out. We watched it for while until he clawed through the zipper and got out again. So the lady just held him in her shirt until she was done eating. The people that worked there would pet him when they walked by.

Our twenty minute wait turned into an hour but we really didn’t mind because it was so cool just watching the people there. It was like being in the picture on the back of a Hi-lights magazine and trying to figure out everything that was wrong with it. When the guy with the cigarettes called our name he pointed us to the table where the lady with the ferret had sat.

We sat down and a guy brought us two cups of water. Then our waiter, a guy named David that called me “hon”, came and asked if we wanted coffee. Yes. He brought two cups, one was a normal coffee mug and the other was a little tea cup. Amanda took the mug and I got the tea cup. A couple minutes later he brought the coffee pot by. We told him that we were ready to order so he sat down at our table and said, “Okay let’s talk about what you want to eat today.” We told him and he said we made great choices, and then Amanda asked if she could have a spoon to stir her coffee. I assumed he would bring us both silverware since we didn’t have any and she asked for a spoon bringing his attention to it. But he just brought us one spoon… that’s all we ask for. So we shared our spoon and drank coffee. I drank very slowly since my tea cup didn’t hold very much. The host with the cigarettes came over and talked to us some about some dogs that people were walking and we waited for about 20 minutes for our food to come out.

Amanda got a meal called “the kitchen sink” because it had everything in it; eggs, potatoes, ham, cheese and God-only-knows what else. I ordered the Monte Cristo because it had the word “gooey” in the description and I was in the mood for something gooey. It could have been that we just waited an hour and 20 minutes for our food and we were hungry or it could have been that we were in such a cool place or it could have been that the food was just that good, but it was the best meal I have had in as long as I could remember. We ate and drank some more coffee, talked to David some more, paid him then we left and talked about how great it was the rest of the day.

After thinking about it, I think the coolest thing about Succotash was the fact that it works so well. Not works as in sense of efficiently (which I totally believe they are but there were probably 80 people there, because Saturday morning is their busiest time… the best time to be there). It works in the deeper sense… that it is honest and genuine for what it is. None of the dishes match and the people are a little strange and at a glance you might think it is dirty or weird. They aren’t trying to be like that, they are just being themselves. There would be plenty of things to complain about if you wanted to, but you don’t really want to there. Succotash was cool because it made me think about my life. Let me be honest for a moment; inside my head my dishes don’t all match and I think there are some strange people in my head that smoke cigarettes while they work and have fu-manchu mustaches and call me “hon”. Sometimes life is like drinking coffee out of a tea cup. Sometimes things are dirty and weird. And we try to ignore the fact that the ferret just won’t stay in the backpack while I am trying to enjoy my meal. This is all the stuff they try to hide at all the other places we’ve gone to eat… but it is almost like they celebrate it at Succotash. Maybe that’s how life is. We try to hide all that stuff inside, but if we would just celebrate it and embrace it because it is life, it would be a memorial experience. The kind of thing that we want to tell people about. The kind of thing that we would want to share with everyone we know. The kind of thing that we think people from all over the world should come and experience because we know they would love it.

Why I don't want to invite my new Polish friends to my church

I was talking with on of the polish guys I've been playing soccer with on Sunday nights named Ted. I ask him how he knew all the other polish guys... I thought they might be related or something but he said that they've all met here in KC. He said that whenever they are somewhere and hear someone speaking polish it kind of stands out, which I imagine it would, so they start talking. He said then they will invite the new Polish person to hang out with them sometime and "as long as they aren't jerks we become friends." He said then they become really close and begin to take care of each. He said, "if someone goes of vacation it is nice because then we will watch their house and take care of their dog or whatever they need." He told me how one of the guys got sick and couldn't work so the others went and did his job for him and brought them food and took care of everything he needed "just because he needed some help." He went on to tell me how that is what friendship is, "it takes time... it cost you something... but it is worth it... too many people don't realize that it is worth it."

I don't know what the church has to offer someone like Ted. Sure there is Jesus and salvation and spiritual peace and knowing that you have a purpose and that life has a meaning and all that stuff. I have all that stuff, but it just seems to me that if church was more like a pick-up game of Polish soccer, then it would really be good. Sure it would cost us something... we wouldn't be able to take a day off and we would have to spend our free time, our money on other people's problems... but I think it would be worth it. I think people would just keep showing up and want to play in our game too like they do on Sunday night at the park where we've been playing soccer.

new guitar strings

I have been playing with the worship team here at Cornerstone since we got here. I haven't played my electric guitar for years and it has been even longer since I have played with other people like this. I was enjoying playing with them but I didn't feel like I was doing very well. It always sounded like I was playing alittle off and I didn't sound very good. I want to be on the worship team, but I was thinking about steping down because of how poorly I was doing. Then yesterday when I left the coffee shop I decided to stop by a music store just to look around and play with stuff. Everything I saw that I wanted was way to expensive, but I was in the store for an hour and had ask the sales people some questions about things so I kind of felt like I really should buy something. So I went over to the guitar strings and found a cheap pack and bought them. I went back to the church and put them on my guitar and tuned it up. Right away I thought it sounded better than it had. Then last night we had worship practice, it sounded so good with the other instruments. It wasn't like I was playing out or anything... it was just like it fit in.

I was ready to quit because it didn't feel right but all I needed was a $2 pack of strings. I wonder how many other times I have walked away from something that didn't feel right when if I had just tweaked some things and made a little investment I could have seen it turn into something beautiful.

Those old strings had been on that guitar for over a year. They were stiff and stretched out and they just wouldn't ring out. The new ones are bright and vibrate and sound great. I pray that I am constantly aware of the strings inside of me. That when they start to get stiff and dead that I will take the time to change them out. I know they will eventually... I just pray that I would be aware when they do and that I would take the time to sit down with God and fix them together.

meeting lots of people, playing lots of soccer, drinking lots of coffee

We've been here two full weeks now and things seem to be going well. We've been staying busy and getting a lot done.

Saturday was our Church Soccer Game Day on our church's property. We played soccer from 1pm to 4:30 and then had a cook out. It was great; a lot of people showed up (there were 20 in the first game we played) and everyone played very well. There was plenty of sportsmanship and fun. Then Saturday night a group of us went and watched the KC Wizards lose to FC Dallas downtown. Even though our team didn't win, it was still a great game of soccer and we had fun.

Sunday morning went great. Amanda and I are slowly getting use to the different worship setting. Sunday Night was the greatest time we have had here though. Mike took me to a park where he met some Polish guys a while back that have a pick up soccer game every Sunday Evening. I got to meet them all and they laughed at me as I tried to pronounce their names and then we played soccer for over 2 hours solid. It was the most fun I have ever had! They are all so warm and friendly... and very good at soccer. By the time we were done playing it felt like I had been hanging out with those guys for years... half because I was so tired and half because it just felt like I was very accepted right away.

Monday morning I woke up and couldn't move my legs after the long weekend of kicking and running. When I finally got moving I came to this awesome little coffee shop near our house called Espresso dell`Anatro. I have been coming here every morning to get online, read and meet people. I have had some great conversations with a lot of people here. I figured I would build relationships and make friends and maybe in a couple months be able to start talking about the church and believing in things with them. But the door swung wide open yesterday. There is a Barista here that is really cool. We started talking and it just felt right so we ended up talking about ministry and church and everything. It turns out he has a degree in ministry and did it for a while but now isn't going to church anywhere so I told him about Cornerstone and invited him to check it out. It seemed really into it. Pray with me that he checks us out and maybe we could be some healing for him.

Anyway, things are going well. I'm still figuring out what I am suppose to be doing, but all this stuff seems to be working for now... so I guess I'll just keep doing this some more.

-- Eric

congrats Amanda

Amanda's second interview at the Nazarene Headquarters went great. It lasted 30 minutes and they called and offered her the job within 2 hours. She is so excited and she is going to do a great job.

I prayed for 3 things when we decided to come to KC. The first was that Sheridan would hire a good youth pastor to take over the ministry and they did. I know that Ryan and Kelly Van Matre are doing a great job. The second was that Amanda would get a good job still doing ministry and now that one has happened. The third is that the church would grow and God would move and ministry in North Kansas City through Cornerstone Wesleyan Church... I can't wait!

Thanks for your prayers.

--Eric

we made it.

We've been in KC for our first full week now and we're already busy with plenty of church business.

Our move was crazy. I didn't get a big enough truck so we ended up overloading it to the point that the back wheels were bulging... but we made everything fit. Mike and I took turns driving the truck; we couldn't do more than two hours at a time because of the terror of immanent death as the truck swayed back and forth with every little gust of wind or passing vehicle.

Our first Tuesday night with the youth went great. I got to teach and tried to learn all the new names. They seem to be a great group of kids and I'm really excited about getting to know them better and watch them learn.

Sunday was awesome. It is a totally different worship setting than we came from so we will have to get use to it, but we loved it.

On Saturday, we went to the Kansas City Wizards game versus Columbus Crew. Jose Burciaga Jr. scored the lone goal to win the game in the 90th min. It was so great!!!

Amanda had her first job interview at the Nazarene Church Headquarters last Wednesday and it went very well. She has her second interview with the department director tomorrow.

Please be praying God continues to let this transition go well.

Pray that Amanda gets this job at the Nazarene Church

Pray for Cornerstone, that God would have favor on us and He would send people to the church.

--Eric