Hotel People & Jesus
We’ve been living in a hotel near Akron for the last 30 days. Free breakfast, appetizers at happy hour, pool and a great staff keeping the five of us comfortable. Kinda makes me feel like Joe Walsh. The plan is coming together and with any luck we move into our new house, August 1st. The hotel is filled business travelers, tourists if you can believe it and long term residents transitioning from a number of life’s possibilities. There’s a couple from California on the fourth floor dealing with cancer, they came for treatment at the Cleveland Clinic. They have two elderly dogs and are about the friendliest people I’ve ever met. They are never without time, always asking us about our new house, always loving on the kids and always encouraging our new season. Also on the fourth floor, an old woman who doesn't talk too much but always chucks a smile at us as we pass on the elevator. She sits in her window at night working on the computer, I know that because I walk the dog around 11pm and see her banging away on a computer. In my mind, she’s a great American novelist putting the final touches on her next masterpiece. As I’m walking Breezy I am pulled to pray for her. The staff? Ohhh man… Sue! She’s the best, she manages the cleaning staff and lives on the property. She has tattoos and a permagrin, always and I mean always willing to drop what she is doing to grab a clean towel or chat it up about the happenings in the area. Sue has a sister essence. I can tell she wants to care for us and ask more questions but something keeps the distance, I’d like to go deeper and probably will. Jimmy! Jimmy is a musician and works as a server for the breakfast shift. Mid 50’s, he was a corporate attorney for years but his dream never made any noise. He quit lawyering to “play-out” more and working the hotel allows him to make sound. He inspires me, makes me cry tears of joy some days as I watch him wipe down tables, knowing, he could give a shit about I think as he lives fully alive with nothing to prove, nothing to lose. I’ve really come to love and care for him. It’s not just me! Each one of us has been touched by these wonderful hotel people.
It would be easy to over spiritualize the hotel people, tell you these wonderful humans are designed to bring us life while we transition from 10 years in SoCal. It would be easy to say these people are literally filling us with Christ as we grieve and mourn people, places and things. It would be way too easy to say the Divine is holding each of us as these people love us into our new house, new schools, new clients, new season and new sense of who we are. But, it’s just a hotel people, just folks behind numbered doors trying to survive or make a buck while playing music, so… I won't bore you.
Are you interested in working with J.R.? Here’s how to get started.
Step 1. Schedule a complimentary, no-obligation consult. Do that here.
Step 2. Watch your email for questions from me. Before we hop on the phone, I’d like to know a bit about you and what you’d like to get out of spiritual direction or coaching with me.
Step 3. Hit “reply” to that email and answer the questions.
Step 4. At the scheduled time of your consult, we’ll talk! We’ll use the opportunity to make sure we’re the perfect fit.
Step 5. Then we’ll get started! If you decide to work with me, I’ll tell you the exact steps for getting started. If you decide not to work with me or if we aren’t a perfect fit, I’m happy to share other resources to help you get what you need.
Have questions? You can call me… 619.964.0337
