Five Minute Friday :: Vibe

• Five Minute Friday Vibe :: Linkup

As someone who's never watched a soccer match – or an American football game – I still had to experience the vibe I could hear from outside, so a few minutes ago I came back from a stroll to observe and to feel some other Los Angeles denizens alive with the vibe of South Korea vs Mexico in World Cup 2026.

In my current "between lives" circumstances, I live and work in the Koreatown community of LA. Many of my neighbors citywide (and this city rocks a very wide swath) are Mexican immigrants or otherwise ethnic Mexican, to such an extent most signage everywhere is bilingual.

A few years back as I reminisced with a now former friend I'd met when we both lived in the same Koreatown hostel, she observed, "Koreatown has a nice vibe." Although maybe the part of Koreatown on the other side of Wilshire where we first met does, I'm not sure about this south of Wilshire section. But today's World Cup vibe isn't "nice" or tame—it's competitive yet neighborly yet still wanting my side to win.


But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3:20

There is no longer Jew or Greek;
there is no longer slave or free;
there is no longer male and female,
for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:28

And yes, Thomas Friedman! Because the world keeps getting flatter every day, why would we want to emphasize our own tribe, our own ethnicity, culture, or brand? Maybe because it has so much to offer the world, just as your tribe, your perspective, your ways of being could enhance my world and broaden my vision. And let's all celebrate and live into the reality that the ground is level at the foot of the cross.

As I'm finishing this FMF, I can feel the roaring crowd that's gone way beyond a chill vibe. Mexico won! Enjoy the moment!

What's your vibe today?

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