I love living in San Francisco, I adore this city, it's character, it's beauty, it's complex weather systems, and it's unique combination of vast spanning nature and sky scraping urbanity.  In my almost 4 years here God has molded the resolved tolerance with which I arrived into a love for this city that truly has become a piece of my heart.
In January I began running, another thing that God has slowly but surely given me a love for.  My faveorite and most frequent route is the 2.5 mile stretch from lower Haight, straight down Market to the Ferry Building.  It isn't anything to brag about- but the reward is the time spent sitting on the docks, drinking coffee, observing my two of my favorite things, tall buildings (hence my instagram handle @adventureswithtallbuildings) and beautiful sky.  

I have always been enamored with the sky.  I have files upon files from as far back as high school on my computer of pictures of the sky:  Sky1, Sky2, SkiesAtNight, OnAPlaneInTheSky, CloudySkies...you get the point.  I don't know why, aside from the obvious, it's beautiful.  Something about it just always takes my breath away. 
And call me a city girl- but there is nothing more exhilarating to me than being in the midst of skyscrapers, or even better, observing a sea of them from a high perch.  This love was often practiced in my years in LA driving through the hills with my only directions being the repeating words, "just keep driving up" only stopping when I could see the homes in the canyon, the Capitols records building and had enough space to park my car.
But in the awesomeness that is SF, one must only run a brisk 2.5 miles and the two can be found from one sunny bench.  No Parking Necessary.
About a month ago, some wonderfully generous friends left their car in my care for a season, this has been a wonderful gift- as well as a much needed reminder of something I had forgotten since my time in LA. 

I will not get into the life that I had from 2007-2009 here- it is far too much to cover in one sitting- but I can't help but remember one precious thing about that season- something it seems I am reliving these days.

For those of you who have known me more than 5 minutes, you probably know that LA wasn't my favorite season of life.  While it was incredibly formative, and incredibly necessary for me to be where I am now- it was hard- as growth always is.  It was exhausting, disappointing, and straight up bad at times.  But in the moments when I found myself tucked away in a little clearing off the side of a canyon looking over this city I called home and creation that surrounded it- I was reminded of how small this all was in comparison to the rest of the world.  Not just in a, "buck up- you're being so self absorbed" way, or even a "there are people who have it worse than you!" way- it was almost comforting to know that this wasn't it- this was a blip- a mist- this was going to be over- and it would be a piece of the whole- not the whole.  I took great comfort and went to great lengths to find these moments.  Moments where I could be reminded of my own smallness and the hope in a God who promises something much bigger.

These days, I have found myself in a hard season.  Changes at home and shifts in whats happening at work, and as I wrote in my last entry, 20 units at school- never in my life can I remember having such an unending to do list.

So I have this car.
Who would have ever guessed the power of Prius- this car has been a means of Gods grace. 
So weird. 

On the mornings where I don't have the time (or lets be honest-energy) to run, I have been able to get in my car- drive about 8.5 minutes and pull into a spot (thats right- there is designated parking- take that LA) climb onto a cold stone wall and watch the sun come up just behind those far off mountains.  I can then turn my head to the left and see the Golden Gate Bridge, the fog rolling over it, the entire span of this beautiful city, and then back to the rising sun painting the sky pink and red.

As I sit there- I am reminded of God's grace in my life in times-and skies- past.  I remember His faithfulness to me in cities far less wonderful (*cough cough* Los Angeles *cough couch*), His grace in always providing more than I have ever even had the courage to ask for.  The flood of His peace in times of total drought.  I sit there observing all He has done and know He will be faithful to do the same again- knowing it will be hard- but absolutely beautiful.







That's all for now....
#nofilter #justgrace