The boy and I took to the highway today as courier from C'ville to D.C. for a friend. Once in D.C., the boy loves to ride the Metro and he came up with a large loop we could take around the city. First stop was lunch at ChinaTown where I got this fortune.

Next we took a long route to Union Station where we walked a block and stopped by Ebeneezer's Coffeehouse, the coffee shop started by National Community Church. This was such an awesome space. The ground floor is the store, tables & chairs, comfy chairs and outside seating. Then downstairs is a large room with more seating and a small stage. This is where they hold worship every Sat at 5:05pm plus apparently host lots of other different events. They have spared no expense, this is an enterprise created at the "starbucks" level, but then taken to the next level with all fair trade products and community outreach.

I also picked up a couple of the In a Pit with a Lion books, so I'll leave one in my mailbox at church if anyone wants to borrow.

On the way home, all I could think about was how great it was for a church community to have a space like Ebeneezer's that gets used all day and evening instead of a church building that doesn't and how we could duplicate something like it in Charlottesville. Seriously, I was thinking about locations (like that box space next to Gold's Gym or the movie theatre) and how we could partner with local businesses to stock product and local artists to provide art (live and still).

I've taken a lot of bumpy roads, wrong turns and dead ends to get to where I am today, but I now unexpectedly find myself on a highway at ever-increasing speeds, not knowing exactly what the destination is, but that getting there is important, keeping focus is vital and apparently freaking out is not an option ;)