What's the secret password?

What's the secret password?

Yeah, you heard right.

A new friend invited me out for drinks with her boyfriend and his friends.

Sounds cool, right?

I like to throw a drink back, and then polish it off with AShirleyTempleOrFour. 

That's just how I roll. 

For the record, if it's not a beer, I have usually spent at least 10 minutes googling drink names because I was a latecomer to drinking alcohol.

That basically means that I started at 21. 

Not that I pass judgement. Just, my drinking age equivalent is roughly 3-4 months

And all anyone drinks in St. Louis is Budweiser. 

Anyhow, I was just lying in my bed mulling over (see the motif? Literary high five) this gathering

because my new friend's boyfriend attends grad school at a local polytechnic institute, and hey, maybe I'll meet someone cute! 

Yeah, like you!
66ish percent of the students are male. Those are good odds!

And then I started getting worried, because many of the guys I attract...well

In 2013, my area was rated the #1 most post-christian city in America.

This year (like two days ago),

We were rated 2nd in least Bible-minded cities,

So yeah, most of the guys in my area (unlike OH), hence most of the guys I attract, are not doing the JC rap

Which is cool. Just, the process of finding that out is often awkward. And I kind of need to, since I conduct myself differently than most girls, and it's way better to find out early vs. later that someone I'm smiling at is someone that something could potentially work with. But you also don't want to creep someone/potential friends out at a party. 

But, have no fear little one! I reminded myself, listen for the secret password(s).

Things you don't know about Christians? There is a secret language. 

It may be talking about "your gifts," or "blessings in disguise," or "small group" or "(church name here)". It may also be "I feel so thankful and blessed that ______." 

These little nuggets are very helpful in discerning whether faith in more public/general conversations, along with actions. 

And when all else fails, googling dude's name + church or Facebook can be very instructive. 

I'm not even ashamed to admit that I do that

Since the last guy I went on a date with...well, had two car seats in the back and was in the process of getting a divorce

So I think I have earned the right to a more thorough screening process.

Thank you Senor Google.

And, after that initial password/code reply, you can feel more free to get into more in-depth conversations with new acquaintances. 

Luckily, this year is the year I'm working on memorizing bible passages (because "a heart knows what it knows by heart"), and so the single lyfe and awkward dates are great opportunities to reflect on and life out...

"whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing."