becka lippy

I went to a birthday party in Queens on Monday. You could tell the neighborhood was newly hip. Here in New York, it seems like we mere humans are never rich enough to afford living in the city, so we comute in from the various boroughs. And as more and more of us move out into the boroughs, the boroughs become more and more hip. As I was walking through this neighborhood with my friend Diana, the comment was shared that you can judge the safety of a neighborhood by the presence of a Starbucks. Right then, as we turned the corner, we saw one. Starbucks, proclaiming that this neighborhood must indeed be safe. I've been thinking about my future (no conclusions yet, though) and I realize that should I stay here in New York past June I will need to seek residence somewhere outside of Manhattan. Of course, a miracle might happen and I might find myself still living on the island, but truth be told, it might be nice to live in a borough. I was thinking about the Starbucks safety test. Is

People are funny about their dogs here in the NYC STARBUCKS... just in time for a walk through the Park Sarah and I at Alice's Tea Cup Chubs and I at Katz's

Today I let a guy named Joel pray for me. Or was his name Josh? Or John? In any case, I saw him standing in the subway, tall and lanky, long shaggy hair, kinda emo looking. Over his hip trendy clothes, he had a red smock on that read "prayer changes everything". I walked straight up to him and asked who he was with. I figured he was probably with some church and I was curious to see who was sending their youth out into the subways to pray for strangers. There was a whole group of them there. All in their red frocks, walking up to strangers, asking if they could pray for them, walking alongside them as the strangers almost always said no. My red-frocked and prayer-ready friend seemed glad to have someone show interest. We talked for a few minutes and I found out that the group was actually a DTS (Discipleship Training School) with YWAM (Youth With A Mission). ((Sidenote: ever notice how ridiculous we can get with acronyms?)) So Joel prayed for me. I couldn't think of anyth

I heard a quote recently, "The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating.” (John Scharr, whoever that is) And with all the decision making in the air right now, this quote caught me off guard. I liked it. And then I was nervous that I liked it because I often like things that are less than godly. So I took a moment and examined it. How does it fit into the story of the Lord, the One who laughs at man trying to plan out his own life, for only He can direct man's steps. That's when the image came into my head: Me, at a potter's wheel, creating my future, slowly and carefully molding the clay into what I desire. So much control, so much pressure to create something worthy. But I am not the one directing my hands over the smooth wet clay. The Lord's arms are reached around me, His hands lie over mine, strong and confident, and my hands relax under the strength of His. I had felt the weight of my decisions, the pressure of producing something b

Warning: I'm going to say some things in this blog post that might step on some toes. If you're offended, deal with it. One of my closest friends (in California) asked me if it was harder to be a Christian in the city. Some of her other friends who had moved to the Big Apple, had stopped going to church and stopped doing those Christian things they had done in college, claiming that it was harder in the city to be a Christian. So I ask, is it harder here in the city? So many thoughts came to mind when I began to ponder this issue. One of the first things that came to mind was the experience I had a day or two into living here when I realized that unlike the suburbs, where the homeless and ugly are hidden, the city hides nothing. I heard people commenting on the smell left on a subway seat after a homeless person sits there. I thought about the countless times I am asked for money each day as I go to work. The city hides nothing. All the ugly people ride the subway with the bea