kinda quiet

I think today's the first day that it's really setting in that everyone's leaving. The office is so quiet (what I expected with Jenni gone :). Today, I was asking around at what everyone was doing for lunch. We had usually gone to the park every day to eat, but out of the 4 interns that were in the office today, 2 of them had mentoring lunches and Lisa wanted to go to the bank. I ended up eating at my desk and catching up on random information on the internet (Jon's cool India pictures, Jordy's blog).

I decided to look at George Bush and John Kerry's political agendas so that I could be a more inforned voter. I still don't know how that's going to work out (california or hawaii residency) but I want to vote this year. Not that I know anything or could make a good decision about stuff like this (remember when I voted for Nader freshman year? Everyone made fun of me). I don't ever really agree with anyone, so how am I supposed to make a decision on who to vote for? We'll see.

I was also reading "The Healing Path" some and was surprised to see that it was talking about being American Christians in a way that didn't piss me off. Yay! Sorry that I'm skipping around so much, but to me thinking about Christian America is directly related to thinking about American government. I don't really know what it means to be a Christian in America, and am constantly struggling with that. I still struggle with being in Colorado Springs and hearing so often the view that America is always right. Anyway, the book says:

"There is a shrill, chest-pounding demand among some that we must return to a "Christian America." The stridency and self-righteousness often associated with those views only seem to kindle a more intense "secular" response of disdain that insists Christianity return to the margins. The defensive world says, "Don'e impose your views on me." The angry church clamors back, "You are not only imposing your godless philosophies on me through the public schools and the media, but you are taking my freedoms away." The result is an intractable debate that further serves to divide and distract the church from living the gospel. What exactly are some Christians calling society to return to? No monolithic, singular Christian viewpoint has ever structured our society; pluralism has been the United States' foundation since its inception. And even if there once was a culture we associate with a more civilized, uniform, and predictable era, it is no more possible to restore that consensus than to click our ruby heels and suddenly return to Kansas. Instead our important task is to engage our culture."

It says more, but it's easier to end there. I gotta get back to work. I'm trying not to be frustrated about work here. Funny, but a lot of it feels meaningless too. I thought I came here to do work that would do something for God's kingdom. I haven't felt that way. I went to Honduras and saw the needs of the deaf community there, and was struck by God's love for them, and His desire to help them, so I was excited about helping with the project. It seems though that that project is a little stuck because the architect hasn't been in touch, and I don't know if I'll get any work done on it before I leave. Maybe I just have a bad attitude today, but it seems like people in the office just want interns around so that they can do busywork to make things look nice. I think people care too much about things looking nice.