After this, we did something that I hope will become another new normal. We went to Love Lounge.
“Like the Love Shack?” someone asked me while giving me a horrified stare the other night. Like, what was I DOING with all these Bethelites?
No, it’s not the Love Shack. It is an open mic night on the street outside of restaurants owned by “Bethelites.” Someone at Bethel started it a couple years ago, and since then it has become a popular event…with a slightly misleading name. I heard songwriters, rappers, and poets share what was on their heart. This inspired me to invest in the third Thursday evening of every month by performing two self-written songs there. During high school, I had always wanted to perform my music, but I was chasing the wrong dreams. Now I am ready for a fresh start. It is never too late to follow old dreams and finish old songs! Performing songs will both motivate me to work on music, bless the audience, and attain increased feedback and exposure. The next Love Lounge will be on September 20th outside of Old School Restaurant. Come hear me play!
During that night, I met many first-year students of all ages. We prayed for each other’s pain. There was a general excitement in the air! One woman was very drunk in the spirit and kept prophesying over everyone and saying how happy she was to be there. She stared at me, smiled, told me to keep singing, and that I would experience peace like never before this year.
On Friday, a friend picked me up to take me to my first Friday night service. I met Jenny: a dancer, worshiper, laugher, and intercessor who is beautiful and full of joy. Then, a girl named Jessica took me to In n’ Out and bought me a burger! As a starving college student, I had been craving meat all week. This was an answered prayer I had not even prayed!
As I bit into my big, juicy, toasted burger and shared the crispy, salty fries, Jessica and I discussed the revival she helped with in Hawaii at 18 and the ministry school she wants to go to in Mozambique at 19. It is amazing to talk with these other young people. We are all part of the same community, and we all have dreams, vision, passion, and above all a desire for revival! We were not placed here the same year at random.
After we ate, Jessi took Jenny and I home. As I got out of the car, Jenny hugged me and said, “I’m so glad we met!”
I smiled. I knew us two would hit it off.
A week later, Amy and Melanie came over. I served them dinner. Trader Joe’s Pappardelle Lemon Pepper Pasta with white sauce and a side of garlic toast. I served them dessert. Homemade yogurt banana bread. They loved it. They said I was a great cook. They made me happy. I had been served meals all year last year, so I was proud to be serving a yummy dinner of my own!
After that, we drove to the Civic Center lawn, where the city was playing “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” on the big screen. I had never seen it. It is a beautiful film about two lonely people waiting for dreams to come true that come to one another, especially when there is no one left to go to. I loved Audrey Hepburn’s character. I loved the scene where she is lounging on her window playing “Moon River.” I love what Paul writes about her: “There once was a very lovely, very frightened girl. She lived alone, except for a nameless cat.” I love when Paul tells her that she is the only one caging herself up inside, though she is blaming it on the men in her life. He leaves, she follows. The two stare at each other as she stands, sopping in the rain, asking where the cat is.
After the movie, we lounged in Melanie’s car for a few minutes just because of the heat before walking down to Sundial Bridge. It was beautiful at 10 PM. The neon blue and white lights of the harp and sidewalk shone on the bikers racing down the landing and couples walking arm in arm. Afterwards, they dropped me off at my house.
The next day, I again stopped by the Civic Center at around 11 AM to check out the “Bethel Shindig,” a family event. Kids were splashing in the fountain, people were lining up for face painting, and singers were playing live music on their keyboards. I wandered around for a while, observing all this, until I ran into a girl I had met on Friday, Gabrielle. The two of us spent the next half-hour talking about organic food and why eating raw clams like I did in France is very unsanitary while waiting in line at the prophetic booth. Afterwards, we dipped our feet in the fountain and took silly pictures at the photo booth. I put on a mustache face and bonked Gabrielle on the head with a giant blue Crayola crayon. Before walking home, Gabrielle enjoyed the last of the pasta at my house.
After walking her back to the crosswalk on Park Marina, I came up with this catchy bridge for a song I’m working on. Instead of eating a 1:30 lunch, I ate a 3:30 lunch. I tried to ignore my hunger pangs as I scribbled down notes and lyrics on staff paper and bonked out notes on the piano. After stirring up scrambled eggs with muenster cheese, frying sausage links, and attempting to flip a pancake that should have been a quarter of the size I made it, I gulped down food before making AMAZING soft and chewy Snicker doodles for a get-together that night. Melanie pulled up in front of my house as I scooped the cookies into a plastic container. I grabbed the warm container and my blue canvas bag and then squeezed into the car next to Jenny and Jessi. Jenny gladly took one of the cookies and then asked for another. I gladly joined the chew-fest. As we drove to Anderson for the dinner and life group, The five of us laughed about random things like silly street names we were packing and the fact that Jessi was a slightly unsuccessful human GPS and Melanie her chauffeur.
Once we got there, I met another first-year student named Jennifer. We have a lot in common and talked for about a half hour as I sipped my sweetened iced tea. Then, all of the young adults went into the living room to play a couple of fun icebreaker games before going into a time of worship, prayer, and sharing. I loved singing prophetically and encouraging those we were praying for. During worship, I thought of a bright sun over gray waters. God wanted to remind everyone how glorious he is and how “darkness and light are alike to Him” (Psalm 139:11-12.) I thought about how this was my third Life Group or “Groupe de Vie” of the year. I love them all. It doesn’t really matter where I am. All of them share the same thing: deep care and community and love for God. It’s just the different people I miss.
On the way back home, we played fun music, laughed, and danced.
To see the recipes, worship videos, prophetic images, and lyrics I talk about, please visit: joannameriem.weebly.com, a website for my creation expression!