re connections

I just got off the phone with a good friend of mine from back home. We had a wonderful conversation. I guess that's been an interesting product of my stay on the mission field long term - seeing the growth and change in my friends lives from a disconnected perspective. I have to talk to them without ever seeing them, ever taking them out to lunch or staying up late and watching a movie together. It's almost like life, distilled. How do you relate to someone who isn't living life with you everything that's been going on? Words can't describe where I've been, what I've felt, or what I've done - which brings me to the conclusion at hand.

This is going to be an interesting homecoming.

Seriously, if I've realized one thing more than anything else this summer, it's that when I said goodbye to my friends before leaving for Maryland, I was saying goodbye to them for good - because in a way, they're dead. My friends as I once knew them are dead. This summer has changed those I once knew so much: maturing many, humbling some, changing all. And the scary thing is, I'm not immune. I am as much a changed man as any of them are. My experiences on mission have made me more retless than ever, but are slowly building in me a love for people, and not just change. I am realizing that I am not a fluke - God made me to speak, to serve, to lead and to support. Do you get that!?! God really does have a purpose for me! It' s like putting together a 5000 piece puzzle, and finally getting the border right - you don't know the picture yet, but you have a shape, some color, and a direction. God's direction is a beautiful thing.