back to beginnings

Hope College Campus Ministries have been such a huge blessing to me lately. But tonight the Gathering, the first Gathering of the year, really spoke to me. It was a topic I thought I knew like the back of my hand.

Genesis 1.

The Creation story, the time when life began, the very first chapter of the Bible.

It's amazing how alive the Bible really is. How it speaks something new every time you read it.

Something interesting I learned this week is that the Bible was written to be studied in fellowship, not to be read on our own.

I am excited for my Bible Study this year, as we will be studying Genesis in pure fellowship, which at first I was wary about, and now I realize how perfectly God has planned this. I don't know what will come out of it yet, but I know that the beginning in itself has already opened my eyes a LOT.

But, that being said, what did this chapter, the very first chapter of the Bible remind me of?

I need to rest. I need to rest in His Presence above all else. In His Peace which passes understanding, because only He can make me feel whole, at peace. Also, I need to listen. He still wants to speak things to me, to us, and speak things into being within and around us. We are made in His image. We are a creative people, created from the dust of the earth in order that we would continue to create. Always connected with nature, yet always connected to Him.

So that's what I'm going to try to do.

Rest & Listen. Create & Enjoy Fellowship.

Praise God? Amen.

changing slowly...

I wish I could bottle up the feeling I get sitting in Dimnent Chapel listening to a particularly profound person saying some particularly profound things. I wish I could bottle up the butterflies that traveled from the pit of my stomach all the way up my throat as I saw the first "Welkom to Holland" sign as I entered the campus I love. I wish I could bottle up the feeling when I'm walking through campus and feel particularly blessed. I wish I could bottle up the energy I get from all the amazing people I have here. I wish I could bottle up that first hug when I see a friend on campus, that feeling that I'm home.

I think my home is in many places, or maybe my home is everywhere I make it to be. I'm not sure, but I do know that I have felt at home in some of the strangest and most different of places. But I am grateful and treasure each "home," knowing that I don't deserve to feel so blessed, but I do because I have a God who likes to spoil me.

Since being back on campus, it's true I miss Uganda so much. I think about it constantly, I hear things that remind me of it and wish there was someone in my company who would understand the giggle I mutter under my breath, I see their faces in my mind all the time, I touch my bracelets, remembering each set of hands that tied those on me and send a quick prayer for them up to Heaven. However, I am filled with joy at being back here. I have needed this place, and this is exactly where I need to be right now.

I could list all the things that have blessed me since being here, but I think I will just leave it at that. I am blessed to be here in this company, and in this community of believers.

p.s. One particular morning when I was missing Uganda, God provided me with a friend. An international student from Uganda. We are already good friends and have shared many stories, and we have plans to share more stories over chapatis and rolexes that he has offered to make me.

(Thank-you Lord, I love You.)