"The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations." Psalm 33:10-11 Cool evenings have drawn me out to my back porch in the evenings, to sit and soak in the last bit of the dog days of summer before the crisp autumn air invades. Those moments provide a place for my mind to wander, back to the places I've been this summer and the ways in which God has worked in my life and those that I have come to know. Like the morning glories that have wrapped themselves so delicately around my porch railing, garnishing it with their hope, God too has used his people to gently intertwine his hope into my daily life. There is no spectacular splash of excitement in my summer, but that's just it - it was the daily creeping up of the hope inside people around me that made the summer special. I spent time building relationships with those in my church community - knowing them more fully and getting into good conversations about what it means to live as a young professional in the city. What it means to serve our church in the place we are at in life right now. How we can help others who are in different stages of life. It was these conversations - these deep places and fears in peoples' hearts - that I found myself driven to the gospel. To the good news of the anointed one, who has a place for us here and a path for us and purpose. Truth be told, if my car and phone hadn't broken the week before my vacation earlier in the summer, I would have lost multiple chances to get to know some of my friends. But God took my wandering spirit, my selfish desire to be alone, and stuck it to me to stay in my home city; and to add insult to injury, I spent almost every waking moment of my vacation with people. God's people. But he promises us our hearts desires. I found that the more time I threw up my hands and spent time with people, wasting time I had come to selfishly call my own, the more abundantly he sashayed me into fulfilling dreams of mine that I'd written off as being impossible. My car got fixed; I got a new phone; I moved into a new house. And I finally feel settled in this place. As I headed into several college freshmen orientation programs to help facilitate experiences for new students, it was the hope that had twisted around my heart these past months that gave me confidence and assurance. It was that confidence and promise of hope that I was able to pass onto students who were preparing to start a new phase of their life, one that greatly shapes who we are as people. And it was my privilege to see these students take on challenges that they couldn't have dreamed doing and learning from them because of the confidence in Christ that others had nurtured in my heart, day by day. I know the flowers on my back porch will fade and wither soon enough, yet the intricate and delicate work that God has done these past few months in this community will continue to hold fast to the sides of all of our hearts. Because the truth and breathe of the living God always remains.
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