This has been a summer of change for me ... and some pretty massive changes, for that matter. I graduated from college, ended my lifetime status as a student, moved out of the town that has been home to me for four years, watched my best friend get married and move to the opposite end of the country, started the process of ending my financial dependency ... woah. And now I am ending a three-summer ministry streak in Philly.
Yesterday the Lord called me to sit with him in the upper sanctuary of the church where we live (a place the two of us have met powerfully in the past), and he spoke beautiful things to me. He ministered his redemption powerfully to me and, despite my valiant efforts to avoid him, he dealt with darkness that I had let fester in my heart.
And then he brought to mind people, places, and events connected to Philly that have blessed and changed my life. This place has been of the utmost importance to my life, and I can do nothing but profusely thank the Lord for his generous gifts.
So thank you, God, for:
water ice, Kensington Ave, prayer walks, grasshopper pie, breaking the chains of addiction, worship, our creaky staircase, fire hydrants, Rocky, Vinnie and Destiny, Love Park, sweet baby Selah, community, leadership, comfortlessness, Trish, speaking newness into my life, morning coffee with the staff, a hero (Elizabeth), wisdom, getting to see you wreck students and then build them up again, hard lessons, hipsters, Cast Your Cares, cheesesteaks, Belmont, Rock Ministries, the dress code, midnight vomit clean-up, basement adventures, Jonerik, Frank, footwashing, humility, authority, tattoos, and so many other things I can't begin to express in words.
I know that I will be back, hopefully even next summer to lead a project. But I am walking into a new life season that doesn't afford the opportunity to spend months at a time here. Lord, thank you for letting me be here ... please bring me back someday!
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