Today I missed Bellingham...so I dressed like this: 
I felt like a true Bellinghamer—ready to strap my guitar to my back and head down to Boulevard Park to sing songs and write environmental poetry while eating Mallards ice cream, kicking my Chacos off, and letting my hair fly freely in the wind.
I miss you Bellingham! Thanks for four wonderful years!
More importantly, I miss all of my wonderful friends, old roommates, professors, campus pastors, and even acquaintances in Bellingham—a unique city brimming with one-of-a-kind people.
I don’t think I quite realized just how high my Bellingham friends had “set the bar” upon moving down here. I will be entirely honest; it is difficult to full-heartedly embrace change when your mind still wants to live in another environment. Mentally living in Bellingham is an easy thing to do—even now. I love it that quirky and charming city and I care deeply for my friends there. But lately I have seen the great need to ask the Lord to transform my mind into the here-and-now of Lake Oswego. This is my new home. This is where the Lord has called me and placed me for the time being. And, undoubtedly, this city is also overflowing with fantastic individuals that I have yet to meet (and some that I already have). It is inevitable that digging my roots down deep must happen.
I, of course, have no projection of how long I could be in this still-new Lake Oswego. Maybe a year—maybe more or less. Often the idea of uprooting and leaving hinders me from wanting to put any roots down at all. But the Lord has been showing me I have no choice. Wherever He brings me—even if just for a week—planting roots deep into people and relationships and letting others mutually invest in me is what He desires. Would you please pray for me as continue to do this in my new environment? Although I’ve been here nearly three months, it still isn’t easy…
I felt like a true Bellinghamer—ready to strap my guitar to my back and head down to Boulevard Park to sing songs and write environmental poetry while eating Mallards ice cream, kicking my Chacos off, and letting my hair fly freely in the wind.I miss you Bellingham! Thanks for four wonderful years!
More importantly, I miss all of my wonderful friends, old roommates, professors, campus pastors, and even acquaintances in Bellingham—a unique city brimming with one-of-a-kind people.
I don’t think I quite realized just how high my Bellingham friends had “set the bar” upon moving down here. I will be entirely honest; it is difficult to full-heartedly embrace change when your mind still wants to live in another environment. Mentally living in Bellingham is an easy thing to do—even now. I love it that quirky and charming city and I care deeply for my friends there. But lately I have seen the great need to ask the Lord to transform my mind into the here-and-now of Lake Oswego. This is my new home. This is where the Lord has called me and placed me for the time being. And, undoubtedly, this city is also overflowing with fantastic individuals that I have yet to meet (and some that I already have). It is inevitable that digging my roots down deep must happen.
I, of course, have no projection of how long I could be in this still-new Lake Oswego. Maybe a year—maybe more or less. Often the idea of uprooting and leaving hinders me from wanting to put any roots down at all. But the Lord has been showing me I have no choice. Wherever He brings me—even if just for a week—planting roots deep into people and relationships and letting others mutually invest in me is what He desires. Would you please pray for me as continue to do this in my new environment? Although I’ve been here nearly three months, it still isn’t easy…
What is most important is that Jesus is with me. And anywhere I go, He promises to stay, send His Spirit, reside beside me, support me, speak to me, commission me and instruct me on how to serve others.
Matthew 28:18-20
“God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."
-Jesus (The Message)
“God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."
-Jesus (The Message)
hey girlfriend:
ReplyDeletea) your picture of dressing like a Bellinghammer put me in hysterics, so hard to articulate and yet so brilliantly depicted.
2) I feel you in the roots department. It's a hard reality of living in the kingdom of the now but not yet. In truth, we have no promise for tommorrow even if we've lived in the same place for 40 years. But somehow our perceived uncertainty about the future can propel us into self-obsession and relational pessimism. But, girl, it's a carpe diem kingdom, making the most of every opportunity isn't just a mantra, it's a way of life. We have to invest because the investment isn't for us, it's for the one we serve.
and
thankfully
d) You can do it! We love because we've been loved by the greatest love of all. I'll be praying that this will be a time of great intimacy with Jesus.
Love you!
Thank you miss Lindsey! Beautifully put--the investment is indeed for the one we serve. God reminded me a few times today just how much it is all about Him. I have stories to tell you about this and I would love to be refreshed some more by your wisdom. Do call me soon!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Abbie
A note from Oswald:
"Wait on the Lord" and He will work (Psalm 37:34 ). But don’t wait sulking spiritually and feeling sorry for yourself, just because you can’t see one inch in front of you! Are we detached enough from our own spiritual fits of emotion to "wait patiently for Him"? Waiting is not sitting with folded hands doing nothing, but it is learning to do what we are told.
These are some of the facets of His ways that we rarely recognize.