& it feels like I just arrived in San Diego, like the summer just started and there are so many adventures left to be lived. Yes, much was accomplished these past two months: I spent 100 hours on my internship, slaved away at 30+ hours of homework, ran around San Diego & it's lovely beaches, and enjoyed the friendship/hospitality of my aunt.
Much was left to be desired // I missed summertime memories with my family, surviving Kansas heat with Kansas friends, & most of all, my home church. Now, I see more clearly how the call for believers in Christ to be involved in the local church cannot be ignored. I can serve people everyday for the glory of God, but I miss being able to serve my brothers and sisters in Christ on Sunday and throughout the week. I am really thankful for Live-Stream, the technology that made it feel like Pastor Rick was practically in the room every Sunday morning (I love hi-def!)
Thinking about another country, another timezone, another bed, another long-distance relationship, & another group of companions...can I look to God and be thankful for these opportunities in all circumstances ?
For anyone who has ever struggled with "moving on"
these words by John Piper forever changed my outlook:
And the question rose in my heart – almost like a cry of rebellion – Lord, is this all that life is – the accumulation of memories? The closing of one chapter after another? And as we move to the end of our lives, more and more life lies behind and less and less lies before, so that the closing of every chapter becomes more and more painful?
Or does this very ache in our heart – this reflex of rebellion against the closing of chapters – signify that we are made for something more? Something future? Something permanent? Has God, as Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "set eternity in [our] heart"? Is this immense longing in my heart to experience something precious and deep and true and beautiful and personal and satisfying that is permanent and not passing away – is that longing just an evolutionary, chemical development with no more personal significance than an upset stomach?
And at that moment, standing on that porch, I rejoiced that God has made known to us in his Word, the Bible, that we can belong to a kingdom, and a family that is permanent, and that not even death will separate us from him and from all those who trust him, and that his mercies will be new every morning forever and ever, and there will be no more sense of loss. No painful endings anymore.
Read the rest of John Piper's story here:
Thank God for the Mercies of Christ
