1) Smog - I didn't sense as much as I had expected. Maybe I should go back in the summer and breathe deeper.

2) People - I thought it would be crowded. There was a huge traffic jam on Monday as I was coming through the city at 2 pm. Traffic was everywhere. I'm thinking, "Where are all these people going?" Chinatown was nearby and I'm thinking...hmm.. "afternoon happy hour at the buffet." Wrong again, opening day at Dodger Stadium.

3) Clothing - I thought everyone at this high powered Leadership Conference would be casual. They were, and I the ONLY ONE out of 1200 people that was not wearing jeans. Also, people in Beverly Hills wear jeans too, and folks at the bus stops wear suits. Go figure.

4) CA would be expensive - Gas was $4.10 a gallon...but bottled water was $.50. I discovered that when you try to make a car run on bottled water, they sputter a lot. I finally made it to the airport, though. Thank goodness the Enterprise agent was a slow runner.

My greatest surprise was that the quotes I remember came from the most unlikely of sources. Here are some of those that blindsided me:

"Those who provide the greatest resistance to what God is doing today were on the cutting edge of what God was doing yesterday."

"People who are spiritually burned out start doing ministry out of memory rather than from imagination."

"If everything that you do is excellent you are moving way too slowly."

"We often blame people for not being open to the Gospel when we are merely babbling a rote message. The Roman Road works best back in Rome."

"Anytime we label something Christian (ie Christian novel, Christian sports league, Christian coffee house) the message is to the non-believer: "this is not for you.'"

Honestly, I am convicted by many of these statements. I am a little surprised by the sting that I feel when I read them. It even stung a little when I typed them just now. Even more, I am surprised by how God has used these simple sentences to make me mindful of what little impact I am really having in the world. Finding the gospel in an appointment with God is easy, living that gospel in a world full of little surprises is not so easy. I had to go to LA to really hear that clearly. Maybe, just maybe, that is the point of a sabbatical. Surprise, surprise!