Merriam-Webster defines immersion as; absorbing involvement, and when we set out to go to Cuba the primary task was that of immersion. To become so absorbed and involved in the culture that our lives would forever be changed.
At our dinner, in December we were having a conversation about church shopping and one of the couples with children said, “We chose this church because there were so many young families.” Their words hit me like a ton of bricks. In my three years of being at the church, I had never described our worshipping community in that context. When the board and I met for the very first time that was my primary objective; bring in young families.
Last week marked the end of the 2017 Fall Semester in seminary. I have one semester left in seminary and it has been an absolute grind. Lots of learning, lots of reading, and lots of paper writing.
I am pretty sure I wrote more papers this year than in years past, and I wrote longer papers. And for the first time in my life, like ever – I didn’t wait until the last minute to write them. For the first time in my life (academically) I was ahead of the game.
Three years ago, I walked into the church like a starving man on Thanksgiving Day. I wanted to grow, I wanted to grow younger, I wanted soooo many things for the Kingdom of God. Some things I prayed for but didn’t understand, some other things I thought I understood, but never prayed for.
I have a tree in my front yard that fiercely holds on to its leaves. I don’t know if it is trying to prove something, or wants to win some sort of tree competition, but EVERY SINGLE YEAR the leaves wait so long to come down.
I have strong opinions on disciple-making, and I went in with a critical eye of what to expect from these organizations. Thankfully, they didn’t disappoint. We spent hours talking about what disciple-making looks like in the local church, and it was intriguing to hear people discuss a call back to authentic community. One of the major themes this year is that people wanted to be connected in deeply personal relationships.
Today is kind of a crazy day for me. Today, Nov 1, is the day I officially started at Centerville UMC three years ago. Three years! I can’t believe how fast the time has gone, and I can’t believe all that God has done in our community in three years.
Four years of blogging. Four years! I spent as many years blogging as I did in high school. Crazy to think about this whole adventure, It has been one of the most consistent things in my life. I have learned so much from blogging that I thought I would share with you some of my biggest lessons learned:
Have you ever met someone that you just connected with immediately?
That’s the way it was with me and Corey. I walked into United Theological Seminary and immediately sought the sanctuary of the corner, I don’t know if you know this or not, but the people who aren’t sure about what’s going to happen like to hide in the corner.
My son has done the unthinkable. He has done something I could never have imagined, and honestly – I don’t even know how to respond.