Living a life that Matters

Today I was hanging out at the Scottsdale arts museum. By the way.. not as impressive as the Phoenix one. Anyway, it his me that I haven’t been to Scottsdale for some time. Or should I say Snobbsdale. I can say that because I lived there for 7 years and heard that a lot from my friends from other cities.

I really do like Scottsdale. It’s a beautiful city. Lots of great restaurants there. But I do have a hard time going there. Just not my scene anymore. I’m a pretty real transparent person and I don’t feel that with the majority of the people who live there are that way. Maybe because it’s a pretty wealthy upper class city.

I grew up in Tempe, but went to a church in Scottsdale growing up. My best friend growing up lived there. I dated a lot of girls from Scottsdale. My parents bought a house there and I lived there for a bit. I worked at Scottsdale Fashion Square in college at The Gap. Then I lived there for time when I was married. I interned at Scottsdale Healthcare and also did most of my partying there. I have a little bit of a connection with the city.

After going to the art center I went for a stroll at Scottsdale Fashion Square. It has been some time since I’ve been there. It has changed a lot. I do miss working there at times. I worked at The Gap for three years. Those were fun days. I bought a lot of clothes with my 50% discount. But I don’t miss the gossip and back talk. It was really bad. I had to get out of there.

I love to people watch. I observed a lot of people at that mall today. I just get blown away on how much money is spent on image. I really tried to look deeper than what people were wearing and more into what was going on in their life. It was difficult. Money hides a lot. I found myself praying and hoping that most of the people there were saved. I’m really not trying to be judgemental… I just lived that materialistic lifestyle and I know how hard it was to rely on Christ when I had everything (or thought I did). I did see one person with a shirt that said John 3:16 on it.

I did enjoy my time reliving those days. I’ve come a long way. The last time I did the night life in Scottsdale, I tried witnessing to a lady next to me at a bar/restaurant a couple of years ago. I’ve never told anyone this. She was nice but it was obvious this lady was struggling with life. Divorced, had kids, very done up and drove a Hummer. She was very wealthy, yet she was very sad. She got a sitter and partied every night. We had a good conversation. But she eventually had too much to drink and passed out. The restaurant called her a cab and she was taken away. But she left her keys on the table and I didn’t notice until later. I was with a friend and we drove her Hummer to her house (her address was in the glove department). She thanked us and thanked me for talking with her. I noticed she had very young kids at her home. I still pray for that lady today.

Well… I’m not sure where to go with all of this. All I know is that I tried to be friendly and smile at everyone I saw today. No one returned smile or thanked me for holding open the door for them. Its ok. I understand. I was there at one time. I was a pretty rude person at one time in my life and thought I was better than everyone. I’m pretty humble these days. The Bible says its hard for a rich man to get into heaven because of how easy it is to rely on wealth and material things instead of Christ. I get that now.