i think that those of us who move into the city from intervarsity and college campuses think too much and feel too much for our own good. we are desperately self-centered and ill-equipped to handle even the most routine realities of life in the city. we compartmentalize our expereinces into intellectual, emotional and spiritual categories and then think and reflect on them over and over. We are needy-- needy for people who are like us to surround us, affirm us, provide us with a listening ear, entertainment, comparison, and people to share weaknesses and insecurities with. We have not suffered, not fought an uphill battle our entire lives, we are uptight and hyper-sensitive, hyper-analytical and rigid....whereas our neighbors are more spontaneous, able to cope with living and working and struggling in real life, aged and educated by accumulated wisdom, family bonds forged in survival, migration, poverty, upward mobility, cultural adaptation...
we take many things too seriously, yet we give ourselves to very few serious things. We talk about suffering and sacrifice and community, yet we run away from discomfort and continue to be individualistic until we hit a crisis point and then we ask someone to pray for us. Our character growth is so slow because our egos and insecurities are so big.

praise God for using us anyway. he loves us so much.