Home Depot

I have to say there wasn't much going on yesterday during the day, so I volunteered to pick up some paint and supplies for my roomie, A. She has a friend coming in this weekend who was going to paint our living room. So, of course, I said yes.

Now, I love the Home Depot. I spent enough time in that store buying supplies, shopping for and with clients, checking out things for home projects, etc. No store is more exciting to me (well, office supply stores are a close second!) And they have power tools, too; what could be better?

But this trip to Home Depot was different. First, I don't have a car, so I have to walk. I take the large hand cart we have at the apartment to haul back two gallons of paint and supplies. Thankfully, HD is just across the street. But it was my trip there and back that made it interesting.

Walking down the main street, quite busy at 3 in the afternoon, I am about 6 feet away from the gate when I notice a man urinating right there in the corner, inches away from where I need to enter. So I had to just stand there and wait for him to finish before I could get near the store. That is something that never happened to me in MI.

Then walking home, there were a bunch of children, maybe 8 or 9 years old, who just got off the bus. Two girls started fighting--hitting and calling each other some really nasty names. The crossing guard broke it up. What did I do? I stood there saying nothing, doing nothing, staring in disbelief. I spoke with the guard for several minutes after. She is an older woman, a Jehovah's Witness, who I've seen a few times now. I hope to act as quickly as she did the next time I'm faced with a similar situation.

I know there is definitely a lesson here for me. I need to be more intentional, more about action than watching, (although I think I made the right call with the public urinator.) Sometimes I can't help but to wonder if God chose the wrong person to send here. But since I am here, my goal is to learn to be more bold, not an easy goal for me.