The train and the errrr....'beach?'

7/30
Hello, did we ever have an adventure today!! George starts work tomorrow so we decided to do something fun and exciting for our last family day for a while.  Well-exciting I guess but fun? questionable. Do you think it sounds fun to ride the train to the beach (that is only about 30 miles away) for the day in the middle of the week? We sure did! Little George will love it, we thought! We are awesome parents for our decision not to sit at home but to get George out on a train (his favorite thing) and the beach (his second favorite thing) all in the same day. We are so smart to figure out the metro system that little George and I will use daily to get us from point A to point B.  Can you sense the sarcasm?
It took us two and a half hours to get to the "beach" and we never even saw the ocean.  We could not find  anything but a harbor which was not our idea for the day.  But back this train up....Picture me, in my bathing suit, my cute cover up (and I threw on shorts at the last minute just in case- thank goodness!), canvas beach bag with my monogram, George's beach toys and my handsome tall dark husband and beautiful blue eyed child.  Got that image? Good. Here's what we saw on the train.... Poverty, pimps, an old school boom box on a shoulder, skateboards, mohawks, tats, darkness, filth, some kindnesses shown, tall tall palm trees, boarded up buildings, and Jesus painted on the side of a building near Compton. That was an encouragement to me as our little family sat huddled together a little frightened and feeling very very white.  We felt out of place, blessed beyond measure, confusion at each train switch, exhaustion, companionship, burdened by our beach toys and picnic lunch, itchy and most of all I felt complete relief that I had not tried this on my own with little George.
So needless to say, it wasn't exactly what we planned for the day but you know what? That could be the theme of this year away, "Not what we planned".
But here's the cool part. That mural of Jesus we saw had a verse painted underneath the picture. Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest".
Jesus has taken our burden, however big or small we consider it to be.  He has taken my picnic lunch and sand toys burden, and the homeless man's burden who rode beside me on that train. He has taken George's little owl backpack filled with snacks, crayons and toys and he has taken the prostitutes heavy burden who twirled her hair as she sat six inches in front of me.  He has taken George's burden as he tried to keep his family of three safe and not lost and he has taken the old man's burden who sold M&Ms on the train for some extra cash. Our burdens are relative but we all have them. Today, I gave my burden to Jesus because he reminded me to by a mural on a wall.  Lord, help me remember tomorrow too.