#bplate

I cope with stress by talking to my favorite person in the world, sarah wang. Going to bplate together and indulging in the terrific tart froyo, bomb brisket, superior salads, and wonderful watermelon makes me wanna BUST. Bplate with sarah makes me so happy and it makes me want to skip around in a meadow on a sunny day with butterflies. I also enjoy relieving my stress at wooden, not bfit because I am too swole to workout at bfit. I squat and bench 100+ pounds and it makes the adrenaline and serotonin course through my veins with every squat and lift I perform. 

I think I used to always bottle up my problems growing up but I’m slowly learning to use my friends as my outlets as they’ve shown me that they’ll be there for me no matter the situation! I also find that doing things outdoors like hiking make me feel a lot more at peace and relaxed, allowing me to take my mind off of the things that I’m worried about!

I hope someone gets this reference.

Bonus post: This past Sunday, I visited Evergreen Baptist Church for their Sunday morning service. It was definitely a different experience -- though, really, every experience has been pretty different since I came to L.A. Still, though, as I’ve been hinting in the previous posts, it seems to me that most churches/church groups lie on a spectrum ranging from conservative to liberal, with all kinds of varying degrees in between. For me, as far as I can tell, I think I’ve grown up surrounded by a more conservative-sided Christianity, and I definitely see the value and truth that lies on that side.

Evergreen is very much not on that side. The sermon for the morning posited that Jesus’ death broke down every conceivable wall that divides us as people -- rich and poor, white and colored, and -- wait for it -- straight and queer. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that the fact that this topic was brought up in church came as a pretty big surprise to me. I’m trying to imagine a sermon about this being given in my church back at home, and I really do have a hard time picturing it happening.

But it’s so important! The fact that I know almost nothing about what God wants us to do about those who don’t have the societal privilege in our world says that this is important to talk about. The struggle and occasional contradiction between what God’s law tells us to do and what Jesus’ command to love tells us to do is something that I’ve been wrestling with for a while now. The Evergreen pastor’s message was clear: Jesus’ command to love comes first.

So, I don’t know exactly what to make of all this new information. Though it’s hard, it might lead to some truth, which is always good. I'm intrigued, and I’ll definitely be back at Evergreen next Sunday.

Tune in next post for the exciting conclusion, to find out the exact location of Jesus on UCLA’s campus (hint -- not at BPlate. That place is actually the closest place to hell here on Earth)!