During these past couple of years, I've been judged by fellow believers numerous times. They've called me out on things I do, saying I am in the wrong and I need to turn from those "sins." I used the word sin in quotation marks, because the sins they mentioned were man-defined sins, not God-defined sins. Nowhere in the Bible could I find that I was in the wrong for those specific issues.

When being wrongly judge, one easy trap to fall into is judging your judges back. I was guilty of that. I can still fall into that trap when I'm not watching my steps. Under the rules of karma, return-judgement would be perfectly acceptable. Karma isn't the rule of the law. We live under the law of love.

I wrote an earlier post on "One-anothering." Before I began concentrating on this Biblical idea, the first few verses of Ephesians 4 use to be fly-over versus for me. Now, I'm finding that this is part of the meat which makes the church live as it was intended to.

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ~Epheisans 4:1-3

I'll be the first to say I don't do a very good job at this. As much as I try not to, I find myself condemning others and looking down at them. My human nature seeps out way too often.

Am I the only that struggles with this?

Last Tuesday, while taking a break at work, I decided I want to go somewhere new. The remainder of September and October was very tightly booked due to personal commitments. Since I work for the largest online retailer, it's not easy for me to take any time off during the holiday season. I didn't have anything planned that current weekend. I began bidding on flights to Seattle for the following day. I wasn't able to get a flight for a price I was willing to pay. I then bid on a flight to San Francisco. My first bid was accepted. I was now embarking on the most spontaneous journey of my life.

I didn't begin my journey alone, while waiting to board my fight at the airport, a woman began speaking behind me. "This is Jennifer from Riverwalk Dental Spa," are the words she said in a secretarial tone. I looked around it saw it was the receptionist from my dental office with her family. They would be on the flight with me to the Dallas hub.

I was cashing in on two free nights at a hotel at a prime location in San Francisco. I had pay for a room for one night at another hotel. This one night, I stayed at a very charming hotel, in the middle of all the activity of Market Street and Union Square. The hotel was built in 1908. It showed signs of its age, but it was clean nonetheless. Just right outside the door of this hotel was the beginning of one of the cable car lines.

My two free nights were spent at a nice chain hotel at the Fisherman's Wharf (a tourist hot spot in San Francisco). I was given one of the larger rooms at the site, which faced the pool. The outdoor heated pool and jacuzzi were quite relaxing in the chili weather. I just had to survive the cooler air in the 4-second walk from the pool to my room.

I spent much of my first two days in San Francisco sight-seeing by myself. I did a bunch of walking around. I took a hop-on-hop-off bus tour. I did make a new friend from Victoria, British Columbia on the boat tour I was on.

I attended a CouchSurfing meet up at the end of my second day. It was "After Dark" at the Exploratorium (a museum for children and teens). The bar made the already entertaining exhibits much more fun. I had a blast with my three new friends. We were literally from all over the world... Taiwan, Egypt, California, and Kansas. We went to a cafe after the event. A couple of them had a beer, and I had the best tasting hot chocolate. The hot chocolates were unique. The servers made a design in your drink with the creamer.

I spent most of my third day sight seeing with another new friend from CouchSurfing. We visited National Maritime Park. She rode the cable car for the first time. We spent hour walk through China Town.

Day number four, the day I departed, I spent entirely resting in the hotel. I was worn out from my spontaneity. When I did leave, I was sad to go.