UA = Me.

Upper Arlington, Ohio is an extremely nice place to live.
I've been here about two months and having seen what I have of it, I think I can honestly say that.
It is a typical, suburban-American community with nice people and nice places.
Everyone's houses are very nice internally and structurally, with nice lawns and nice landscaping.
Children are typically nice in school and out of it (from what my teacher friends tell me anyway), and parents have very nice, meaningful interactions with their kids.
There are nice schools, nice fire houses, nice playgrounds by the fire houses, nice police stations, nice libraries, nice gardens and bike riding trails, and nice activities for nice families to take part it.
The people are really nice (both on the surface and some truly at heart). Most people here are very nice looking, and while there's not a lot of diversity in ethnicity or background, they are nice to the people who are different from them.
Moms here love their daughters having nice friends; "oh she's such a nice girl" is the phrase kids want to hear, and often do.
Friends are very nice to each other, inviting each other to their nice homes or to do nice things around town.
Dads take their sons on nice trips to the ballpark and nicely devote their time to coach some form of team.
Churches are very, very nice. Too much to describe now..but I can another time.
        I use the word 'nice' because  that's truly the best way to describe it. 'Nice' in this context then means clean, well-kept, color coordinated, pleasant in demeanor, "pretty" by society's standards, and giving the perfect appearance of well-roundedness, peace and harmony. Funny enough, dictionary.com defines 'nice' as "pleasing; agreeable; delightful", "characterized by, showing, or requiring great accuracy,precision, skill, tact, care, or delicacy", and (this last one's my favorite) "showing or indicating very small differences; minutely accurate, as instruments". I like that: indicating very small differences...as instruments.

Before I get ahead of myself, let me first state that the above statements are strictly observations. They are not sarcastic slams against Upper Arlington or bitter feelings toward this community. In all honesty, I have really enjoyed my time here as far as surroundings go. It's a beautiful town with opportunities to grow and enrich yourself, however you see fit. The availability to be outdoors is more than appealing and the amount of family interaction really is beautiful. I am overjoyed to see parents investing in their kids in a real way and teachers genuinely striving to see growth in a child. The resources here are rich indeed and it does give a sense of "groundedness" (I know that's not a word) and security for individuals who grow up here. Coming from a mainly inner-city exposure, this place has actually been somewhat refreshing. As long as you stay grounded in Jesus and His Kingdom though.

I made those observations above because that's simply what I've done since I got here: observed. Not for any specific purpose or goal, I am just genuinely interested in culture and people groups so I have really jumped into this one. Whether I'm watching interactions, biking around to check out the area, or actively engaging in people's lives, I've been observing the way people live and the affect that has on who they are. So, while I'm fully aware of the dangers that comforts and securities can have on the mentality and lifestyle of Christians, my main objective in making these observations was not for malicious intent--it just sort of happened. Every culture has barriers to really living the Christian faith, so attacking the suburbs is not the way to go about change in our society.

I am writing these observations out, because I realized the other day that this way of living somewhat resembles my faith. This thought came after a run. It was a really tough run that day, physically and mentally which led to emotional frustration, so I decided to take a longer time walking at the end to literally cool down. As I was walking, I started to talk to God...and it was really raw. Anger, hurt, frustration, and hope all mixed together as I talked to God about life, and where mine is currently in particular. I realized that this was the first time in about a week that I really felt vulnerable before God and was genuinely telling Him things, believing He would hear me.
In the past few weeks, God has been giving me a lot of cool thoughts about a variety of things. I've done a lot of reading by a lot of really enlightened and talented writers, and those, mixed with my own thoughts and experiences have generated many deep thoughts about the Kingdom of God in relationship to the way things are right now--and simply faith in general.
In the midst of these thoughts and writings, I somehow managed to weasel my way out of being vulnerable before God; I avoided being real with Him and trusting that He heard me.
How is that possible?!
Very simply for the compartmentalized mind, unfortunately.
As I walked, I cognitively devoted that time to God alone--taking Him on the walk with me.
Sounds weird, I know, but it's not. It's real--and that's where the suburbs tie in.

The err in suburban living is that it often remains surface level and self-centered. It leaves the door wide open for selfishness and temporary mentality and therefore temporary living.
In my own life, this has manifested through how I spend my time and it has really affected my connection with God.
I'm not talking about giving time to the people around me, I mean specific, devoted time to be with God alone. To recognize Him, to talk to Him, but most importantly to listen to Him.
While I was "cooling down", following my vent session, I was silent--for a long time--and was aware of the God who Created all.
By simply looking at the sky, or the movement of the leaves from the wind it was as if God was like "Hello, I'm a person too!"
I forget that.
I forget that He's real.
It's sick.

As a Christian, we spend so much time trying to discover how to live instead of trying to discover who God is.
Not just in character, but His heart and His mind.
These things are inexplicably intertwined and the problem is when we see them as separate. Like I often do.
But it starts with God--who He is and then how He wants us to live.
If we miss that, we're all off.

This has been extremely long-winded to come to this one point: I (and often many of us) am like the mom who calls their daughter's friend 'nice' without actually knowing them. I call God 'nice', and talk about His ways sometimes without acknowledging Him in my daily activities.
We make time for boyfriends/girlfriends and when not with them we "balance" it out by making time for friends/family.
We make time to read our bibles, maybe even time to study it, and sometimes make time to pray for the world around us.
We make time to serve, and time to tell people about it.
We make time to go to church and invest in the lives of people in our home groups.
But what we don't often do, what I don't do enough, is sit and be still and connect with who He is.
Jesus' life was that of consecration and obedience to the Father--so why should mine be any different?
I pray God will not just make my actions/words still, but my very heart itself.
That He will humble my to a quiet place with His love and that from there, live will flow.