Not the strongest first post

I finally finished another book. Not the spiritual giant type like Shaver finds the time to read, just something simple and humorous from Anne Lamott. Here's a couple things that caught my attention though:

In retelling a story of her fear of going to serve in a prison, she was given this advice by her preacher, "In dark times, give off light. Care for the least of God's people. She quoted the Reverend James Forbes as saying, "Nobody gets into heaven without a letter of reference from the poor."

"Finally, we stood outside the inner gate, showed our IDs to the guards, and got our hands stamped with fluorescent ink. "You don't glow, you don't go," said one cheerful, pockmarked guard, which was the best spiritual advice I'd had in a long time.

As we stepped into a holding pen, my mind spun with worries about being taken hostage, having a shotgun strapped to my head with duct tape. I don't think Jesus would have been thinking thete same thoughts: everything in him reached out with love and mercy and redemption. He taught that God is able to bring life from even the most death-dealing of circumstances, no matter where the terror alert level stands."

I continue to be lost inside words like love, mercy, redemption. I confess I find so many times that don't bring life to bad situations like I ought. I love the idea of a letter of recommendation from the poor, that they and not my family and friends would speak of who I really am. I remember reading recently that it is our waitresses and those that serve us that will speak to who we truly are at the judgement. Scary way to think sometimes.