This is the thing: When you hit 28 or 30, everything begins to divide. You can see very clearly two kinds of people. On one side, people who have used their 20s to learn and grow, to find God and themselves and their dreams, people who know what works and what doesn’t, who have pushed through to become real live adults. Then there’s the other kind, who are hanging onto college, or high school even, with all their might. They’ve stayed in jobs they hate, because they’re too scared to get another one. They’ve stayed with men or women who are good but not great, because they don’t want to be lonely. They mean to find a church, they mean to develop intimate friendships, they mean to stop drinking like life is one big frat party. But they don’t do those things, so they live in an extended adolescence, no closer to adulthood than when they graduated.

Don’t be like that. Don’t get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal.

Ask yourself some good questions like: “Am I proud of the life I’m living? What have I tried this month? What have I learned about God this year? What parts of my childhood faith am I leaving behind, and what parts am I choosing to keep? Do the people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me feel small? Is there any brokenness in my life that’s keeping me from moving forward?”

Now is your time. Walk closely with people you love, and with people who believe God is good and life is a grand adventure. Don’t get stuck in the past, and don’t try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven’t yet earned. Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life’s path.

I was on the T (up in Boston) a number of years ago.

It was rush hour and crowded and everyone was doing their typical ignoring everyone else.

All of a sudden the guy next to me, who has been trying to control his cough the whole ride, lets out this one, violent cough that ejected what I can only imagine was a chunk of mucus. It flew across the T and right into a girl’s mouth that was only slight agape. It was like the perfect shot. Seriously. I’m talking all-the-way-to-the-back-of-the-throat perfect.

What happened next was really surreal. It went real quiet. The girl didn’t do anything but shut her mouth. I think she may have even swallowed. No one said anything, although I think I heard someone gag a bit. The guy just looked down and started acting all nervous. I was just dumbfounded at that point just staring at the girl waiting for her to show some emotion.

The second the train stopped and the doors opened, the girl suddenly leaps into action, pushes everyone out of the way, gets just outside of the door (which was, of course, being blocked by douchebags trying to force their way on) drops to her knees and just started vomiting. I definitely heard some more gagging at this point, and the guy turns and fights his way out of the next door down.

The people standing outside were kind of like “WTF?” looking back and forth between the girl and into the train. Not a single one of them got onto the train, and eventually the doors closed and we moved on. At that point, people were either laughing or being vocally totally grossed out about it. It was interesting how no one really made a peep until the perp and the victim were out of ear shot.

[via EatATaco on Reddit]