forward motion

Maybe we idealize and idolize adventure. 

But maybe we don't. 

Maybe we truly are made for grand adventure and faithful plodding- 

all mixed together in one life well lived. 

A both/and sort of deal. 

This has been a season about learning to live life well (and by season I mean the past four years). 

Deuteronomy 10:12-22

 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you,

 but to fear the Lord your God, 

to walk in all his ways, to love him, 

to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, 

which I am commanding you today for your good?"

The mountain throughout scripture symbolizes a place where the divine encounters the earth. It is a meeting place. I guess there were parts of me that had the expectation that going to Covenant, and living on Lookout Mountain, would be one, grand encounter with God. I thought that it might be like Moses on the Mountain, seeing the God as he passed by, like the disciples as the journeyed up the mountain to see Jesus transfigure and reveal his glory and his sonship, like the cross sitting on top of the hill, or like the places where idol after idol was destroyed in order to bring Israel back into right relationship with God.

Holy Encounters.

"Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, 

the earth with all that is in it. 

Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers 

and chose their offspring after them, 

you above all peoples, as you are this day.

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, 

and be no longer stubborn." 

This expectation left me empty handed and confused. Instead of these deep intimate encounters with the Lord I was left with frustration and my own brokeness to face. 

"Love the sojourner, therefore, 

for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." 

I was just listening to this sermon- and the guy teaching said that the only difference between a break-down and a break-through is that one sends a person into the depths never to return, and the other sends a person into the depths to come out of it made new. That picture is the past four years of my life. Perhaps it is the ultimate picture of the Christian life. That is the story of Christ, sent into the world as a fetus. He died. He was buried. He rose again. He was sent into the depths to come out of it as ChristusVictor.

"You shall fear the Lord your God. 

You shall serve him and hold fast to him,

 and by his name you shall swear."

 

"He is your praise. 

He is your God, 

who has done for you these great 

and terrifying things that your eyes have seen."

"Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, 

and now the Lord your God has made you 

as numerous as the stars of heaven."

The thing is, the Mountain has been a place of Holy Encounters. 

They came through the laughter and tears of housemates, through the joy of bookclub, through professors who are willing to pray over me, through learning to enjoy the foggy mornings, and through the gift of having a place. 

Encounters with God 

and

encounters with His children-

That has been my Mountain experience in the most unexpected ways.

Dependence

 Lent is about death in the dependence. 

Easter is about the life and victory found in total dependence. 

We are not intended to stay in the cocoon forever.

Release the fear.

Three years on the Mountain top.

I just finished three years on the Mountain. 
It has been long, hard, and really beautiful. 
Every year passes faster than it should. Each contains lots of memories and lessons learned.
This year I thought a lot about who I was when I first visited Covenant- and how God's faithfulness has made me new and brought restoration into my life. 

This was a year of friendships- new ones and broken ones. 
A year full of missing family

 and at the same time loving where I was at.  .      .    . 

It was a year full of studying subjects that I dislike 

but being diligent anyways.

This was the year that God re-awakened my heart to the need for prayer,

his presence,

his love for me, 

and his reminder to receive his good gifts.

This year I was invited back into the church calendar. 

I participated in advent and was filled with joy during Christmas. 

For the first time in my life I fully engaged in lent. 

Maybe LENT was the most significant season of this past school year. 

I use to pride myself in being independent.

an individual- not in need of others.

And for the first time I fully leaned into my Jesus- relying fully on him.

I felt strength and his spirit move in me.

I noticed how freeing and humbling it is to live as a dependent. 

I walked away from my junior year at Covenant being so aware of what God has been doing inside of me. Over the past three years God has ripped down what was shakeable in my life and reminded me that my foundation is CHRIST ALONE. 

"My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. 

I dare not trust the sweetest frame, 

but wholly trust in Jesus' name."

I am heading to Seattle and Hope to see my beautiful family.
I am already so thankful for the next three weeks of my life.
After that, I head to Pemba, Mozambique.
This year is not over- and as much as it is important to notice seasons it also important to notice how God moves in one continual story.
We are just part of his story and he can use us as he choses.

God is so faithful

and I want my whole life to be about him.