It's a Dutch Bingo small world after all

This morning at church (PA CRC again) I ran into a girl I knew in high school. Actually we didn't really know each other as such, but we knew who each other were. She's from Rock Valley, and her family goes to the same church that my brother and sister-in-law go to. Anyway, she sat down in the same row as me, and after the initial weirdness of "You look really familiar...are...you...Kristi De Ruyter?" we got it figured out.

The weirdest part of this is that although we weren't friends at all in high school, and her experience of Western was probably much more positive than mine, we have lead quite similar lives since then. She's a travel nurse, moving to different cities with nursing shortages. She's lived in about 3 or 4 different places since college, and spent some time in the Dominican Republic.

We had lunch together after church, and got to talking about N'west Iowa. We both agree that we appreciate a little more diversity, but I think we differ on whether or not it's okay to not really acknowledge or want to know about parts of the world other than N'west Iowa. I somehow feel that it's just plain wrong, even if just so that those who live there permanently can be more accepting of people different from themselves, even those in their midst. She seemed to think that it was fine if they want to stay in a closed community, but that for her she wanted something different.

A few months ago I heard something that sort of changed my mind, or at least softened. Wiseman Josh asked a question (at Christmas maybe?) about if everyone is so worried about the whole world, who's going to be paying attention to and taking care of the local community...a good point I think.

And to think I was feeling ungrateful when I left for church...and then I'm smacked in the face with blessings.