On Thursday the 14th of April, I had the opportunity to feel both very close and very far from home. It was bittersweet.
I miss home. I really do. I miss my family, my friends, and my Church. Growing up and going away is part of life and the reality that I am likely never to call Hillsdale and Concord "home" again is hard to stomach sometimes. I am happy where God is calling me, but that doesn't mean I don't look back with nostalgia and affection. I don't think it should ever be that I don't.
In any event, I suggested to my youth pastor, Dave Turner, that I skype chat with my youth group back at home for one of their Wednesday night services. I never had a chance to really say goodbye to them before I left due to a snow storm which cancelled all services. So I thought it would be a good idea to just pop on, have them ask some questions, and say hello.
(For those of you who don't know Skype, get your head out of the sand! Haha. I am joking. It is a free program that has an instant messaging capacity (like AOL or MSN messengers), a webcam chat capacity, and the ability to call land or mobile phone lines. For this "call" we were both using our webcams to send video of ourselves to each other while we talked into microphones.)
Dave and I worked it out and I woke up early on Thursday morning to talk in their Wednesday night service. The conversation was good! I talked about koala, kangaroos, my hatred of vegemite, what God is doing with me and through me in Australia, and challenged them to continue walking strong. It was good to talk with and see those guys again. I really do miss them.
So it was bitter sweet for me. I walked away remembering aspects of my ministry which I have effectively walked away from. I also waled away, however, looking forward to the ministry I will continue to have.
In Christ,
Chris
No comments:
Post a Comment