Life in St. Louis (part 2)

07/31/2009

strange, but true

Being back home and driving from King of Prussia to Allentown, to Danville, in one day reminded me of how drastically different PA is from MO. All of the roads here are straight! They are on a grid that runs North/South and East/West. The small roads and the interstates are all perfectly (for the most part) straight and don't winds around mountains, don't snake and down, don't go up hill and down hill, don't meander, tunnel through mountains, etc. It's not like we are in rural corn field country - we have plenty of trees and it's a nice upscale suburban area, but still it's nothing like PA.

People really do say, "Mam" and "Sir" here a lot. Especially when I've been washing people's windows or moving their rocks I've come to regret that it's not my natural impulse to use those words. Not only am I not going out of my way to be extra courteous and polite, but I'm actually failing to meet the normal acceptable standards for the bear minimum of common decency. I worry that I come off as a degenerate!

Panera Bread is called "St. Louis Bread Company" here. We couldn't figure out why at first. Then we learned that, actually, "St. Louis Bread Company" is called Panera when it's not in MO, which is where the company was founded. Ah... this "national" chain that I recognized was born and raised right here in the gateway to the West.

Comments

Matty Wolfgang link

08/04/2009 06:28

Brother,

Awesome to read all of the updates and to hear how you're doing! Plus that's pretty sweet to hear about Panera (or St. Louis Bread Company)!

-Matty aka CR2

Hello,
I am Jason Knox

Student at
Covenant Theological Seminary
in St. Louis, MO
e-mail: Knox.r.jason@gmail.com
my other web page:
Jason Knox dot net

     I'm going to Seminary for lots of bad reasons.
     I have good reasons too and now I'm trying to live a life of putting aside the bad ones, really pursuing the good ones, and being open to surprises.
     It's been a strange journey to get me to this point. I think what I've realized is that I actually do have certain life goals: 1) To fall deeper in love with Christ and 2) help Christians understand Christianity better (namely by allowing them to fall more madly in love with Christ too).
     In light of that, I've decided to come up with some career goals that are quite similar to my life goals (makes the list easier to remember). That's why I'm going to seminary. I'm taking steps to be a pastor of a church.
    I'm at Covenant Theological Seminary because what I want is to say with Paul,            "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" and I have become convinced that Covenant is an institution that is committed to not only knowing about Christ but just actually KNOWING Christ. More than anything the best way to combat all of the bad reasons I have for going to seminary is to encounter and embrace Jesus. I want to be in a place surrounded by the people who wrote to me in a letter saying, "The education of our students is far more than a merely academic exercise--it is our ministry to you and to those whom you will serve in Christ's Church. Our goal is to walk with you--not only through your seminary years, but also well beyond--so that, by God's grace and for His glory, you may faithfully fulfill the ministry to which He is calling you."
     I'm so excited.

I'm (still) learning to be more open with people and offering of myself.
This blog is a step in that direction (like a band-aid on a missing limb).