California to Indiana

Now, California and Indiana. Differences and similarities.


In this part of California, there's very little humidity.

We have a dry season (March through September) and a rainy season (October through February.) Like Africa. In fact, this area reminds me of what Mom says she likes. We'd drive through Colorado for vacations, and she'd point out dry, rocky hills with scrubby bushes and exclaim that she loved the scenery. I just didn't understand it. But recently I realized it must remind her of her young home. Same reason I like the rain.

The sun doesn't set here until 9pm. I guess now that would be a similarity, due to Daylight Saving Time.

Everything is brown and dusty here in the summer, starting in June (sometimes sooner.) Greenery comes with the rain.

It is legal and expected for motorcyclists to ride between same-going lanes of traffic. There's a term for this, but I can't remember it. (I know, Dad, I know!)

This area has an odd mix of old hippies and yuppies. Which means that it is chilled-out with all the modern amenities affluency demands. Birkenstocks and Beemers. Ponytails and Porsches. Yoga and Volkswagen. And yes, it's very liberal and new-agey and politically correct. Tolerance is being championed as the national religion pretty much everywhere; people are embracing it here. In lieu of that, our Biblically-firm church here (another post) is standing strong by God's grace. It's a beautifully stark contrast! Pray for us!

It's "soda," not "pop" or "Coke."

San Francisco is referred to as "The City." "Hey, we were all planning on going to The City Friday; wanna come?"

People are open and seemingly less concerned about appearance (this is very different from LA to the south of us). But people are not as friendly as in Indiana. There's a feeling of not-as-hurried, not-as-frenzied, not-as-bothered... I think it has a lot to do with the fact that there's considerably less commercialism in this area than what I'm used to in Indiana. Hardly any billboards around our town (you'll see a few on the freeway), very few chain restaurants and stores... And TV-watching seems less prevalent around here. No messages screaming for you to "BUY!! LOOK GREAT!! EAT THIS!! AQCUIRE THAT!!" It's nice.

Yeah, "freeway" instead of "interstate." Because, really, it IS a "freeway" with lots of very short exit and entrance ramps. And sometimes it turns into more of a highway than an interstate, with stoplights at various places for an intersecting road. People drive more crazily, sporadically, almost. Fast accelerations and speedy stops to get the most out of the road. There's not the common feeling that 10 miles over the posted speed limit is a given ok, like there is in Indiana and surrounding states. People change lanes a bit uneasily, it seems. All of this, I think, comes from the fact that Californians aren't used to driving over long stretches of flat road. There are hills, and frequent traffic jams, that keep the flow of traffic more like a crawl-and-GO than a flow.

The laws are set up so that the little guy wins, to protect him from the CORPORATE BADNESS.

My sisters are not here or anywhere nearby.

Phil is as crazy here as he was at home, which is great. :)

I still change my haircolor (it's as blond as it was black.)

Tomato soup with milk tastes the same, except for the absence of rain and Mom.

I still love you all!

Home?

Hey, I know it's been a while (a long time, even.) Phil and I are still in California, and the Lord is still taking care of us. For instance, He has provided couches, a kitchen table with benches, a bed, and a vaccum sweeper-- we had no real plan for acquiring these things. But we did need them. The Lord used His people to bless us, and aren't givers blessed in the process of giving? The Lord is so good. I'd intended to write about how I'm homesick, but this came out instead. I'm reading in John Piper's book, Desiring God, about God's sovereignity and how, since He controls everything, everything in some way gives Him glory. Even blogging.

I have been wanting to talk about how California is different from Indiana. And what defines home. I'm learning alot about that. Phil is now my family, and California is my home. But I still miss my family, and California doesn't feel at all homey. I think that if California in some way resembled Indiana, I wouldn't feel so far away. And maybe it would be easier to miss my family. Like if it rained, or if there were nice, big, dark trees around where we lived. Something that gave me comfort. But it's always just sunny. Sun, sun, sun. Open fields that are brown and golden and hilly. Nothing is green here in the summer; even the trees are blackish green. It never rains in the summer, and that means no thunderstorms. I want rain like most people want sun. Phil has been trying to get me to open up to the possibility of not only accepting the dry heat around here, but liking it. But they've always been such fierce opponents, SUN or RAIN, that I'm afraid if I started to like the sun alot, I'd stop loving the rain. So I'm homesick.

I am enjoying the people here, though. And although (or maybe because) it's a little difficult for me sometimes here, I think the Lord might be trying to teach me that He's home, and He's enough. "Home" takes a while to grow. Our apartment does not feel like home yet. Phil doesn't exactly feel like family the way my family does.* But the Lord is the same, always. Always. And He is comfort. And His people feel like family and they love you like family, because you have the same Father and the Spirit through the Son.

We read these verses tonight. I'd like to share it as encouragement for us all:

"But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for 'love will cover a multitude of sins.' "

-- 1 Peter 4:7-8



*But he already loves me like my family. Our relationship just doesn't have the platform of years like the one that my family's is built on. It's just natural that it takes time.