Well, I'm in Boulder, CO, and my sister (Elizabeth...or E for short) and I have been having lots of good conversation and time spent together. I left for my cross-country road trip on Tuesday. I first drove all day to St. Louis, where I stayed with my friend Becky and her new husband-of-three-weeks, Andy (he's so great for her!). Then yesterday I drove up to Omaha, NE and stayed with friends of a friend--they are Navigators staff, so that was a neat thing for me. I enjoyed talking with the wife of that family and getting some insight into mentoring and discipleship, etc...especially since that's some of what I'll be doing in Mexico. Then today, I stopped in Lincoln, NE to see an friend from college and then continued on here to Boulder. It's been three long days of driving, but the scenery has been beautiful and the time in the car has been welcomed. I'm enjoying my Lord of the Rings dramatized on CD by the BBC...very enjoyable. And there's lots of time for thinking and praying and soaking it all in.

A funny thing happened today in the town of York, NE. It's in the middle of nowhere about an hour or so west of Lincoln. I stopped there to get a latte from Starbuck's (there was a billboard advertising that they had a Starbuck's and I wanted a good cup of coffee). I pulled into the parking lot of this Starbuck's, which just happened to be right up next to a corn-field, and my car was THE ONLY ONE THERE...zero customers except me. So, the staff, being bored, were sitting around trying to figure out my license plate, which I discovered when the first thing I heard upon entering the store was, "Please explain to us what your license plate means! We just can't figure it out!" Since it means God's Girl, I had the chance to tell them that God's name in the Bible is I Am.

I left that store thinking that my answer was such a deflation to the potential that my license plate holds (just for the record, my license plate says "IAMS GRL"). I always walk away from those interactions wondering if I could have or should have said more, shared more, etc. This time I was challenged to intentionally make my license plate a witnessing tool. Hopefully I can glorify the Lord even in that, plant seeds even with something as simple as that. I know that I have wasted opportunities in the past that have presented the chance to share the gospel with someone, and I am becoming more acutely aware of the the truth that every time someone asks, the Lord can touch them, as well as of the urgency of the need for Him to touch them. I don't want to get in the way of that by being timid and afraid. Christ was so bold in how he touched this world, and it made the world sit up and pay attention. I want to walk in those footsteps. What if the only time someone heard about God was because they asked about my license plate? Am I willing to simply say, "it means God's Girl because I Am is the name of God in the Bible." and leave it at that? Or am I willing to make that opportunity count for the kingdom?

So, to the staff of that little Starbuck's in York, Nebraska...thank you! Thank you for letting the Lord challenge me through you..whether you knew it or not!