  This past weekend, I went to Philly with Jimmy to enjoy his church's community fair, then went to Baltimore to reunite with my college church and my family of friends. 1) Jimmy's church's community fair served me a slice of pure Americana. Picture this classic Norman Rockwell delight: free pretzels, hot dogs, snow cones and drinks; children running around with helium baloons and face paint; games and a rock climbing wall; and live entertainment.
What a blessing to see a model of Christ's love exhibited through the fellowship of this body of believers. 2) Being in Baltimore filled me with so much life. I shared a lot about myself and heard much about what everyone was going through. Hearing their experiences, as well as sharing to so many people opened up many new perspectives of things I'm living through. For example, although I'm so intent on changing myself for the better, I was posed a challenging thought; how much am I intent on knowing God?
The only source of change and growth is Him, and if I'm looking to myself to change my bad habits, I'm looking at utter futility. Furthermore, the issue of fear in life came up. We all live in fear, and have learned to turn to different saviors to fight it. We can turn to extreme self-confidence, to a charismatic figure in our lives, to the comfort of routine, and many other things to cope with fear. But have we, have I turned and called for the real Savior to remove fear of man, fear of failure, fear of uncertainty, and fear of confrontation? Jesus, save me. 
