Mon, Jun. 24
... A sappy little entry on Testament
Wow... I know it's been forever since I last updated! It's crazy. Internet time is at a definite premium around here--it's not something we take for granted!! :o) I have a little more time today and tomorrow, though, which is nice. The place I'm staying has an internet connection in Janel's and my bedroom, so we can check it, and it's all good! Yay! Hopefully I can get something written in here.
I've been so blessed by the church on this trip. I mean, the ways that God has shown me things have been incredible, and I'm so glad that I'm able to see them. I'm so thankful for everything he's showing me.
One of my favorite things so far definitely has to be the way that I've seen the Christian community in a way that I've never seen before. I've always loved going to other churches and seeing how alive the church is and how much God works through other people, and how it's so much the same, but I've seen that on such a larger scale now than ever. I love singing the same songs that I sing at home, knowing that I'm not in some foreign place, spiritually, but that I'm right where I always am when I worship, and that it doesn't matter who I'm with. I love seeing the way that the church reaches out to people who need it--like us--and doesn't worry about denomination, or location, or age, or anything else. That's the way it should be.
It's not always like that, but often, it is. Sometimes, people get too caught up in the petty little details and forget the big picture, which is that we're all working together towards the same goal of worshipping God in everything that we do, and teaching other people to do the same. It's so amazing, though, when that is the central focus, and when everything else gets forgotten. Or maybe not forgotten, but pushed to the side, where it belongs. It's all about Jesus; everything else is just peripheral.
I'm loving our team, too. We have a great team dynamic... we really have become like a bunch of brothers and sisters. Sometimes we get on each other's nerves, or we pick at each other and annoy each other, but we get along so well, and any of us would do anything for anyone else on the team. There's no question. In six weeks, I've gotten to know all five of them better than I did in the past two years, working together almost every day, and I know them better now than I do some of my friends that I've known for years. There's just a level of honesty and vulnerability there that we all have to have with each other, or everything falls apart.
It's just a really amazing God-experience. The way that he's changing all of us, and shaping us to be more like him, and to love each other more, is amazing. I don't know how else to describe it. There are all the little anecdotal stories, but to explain them would take away the moment, and would destroy the joke. There are the profound moments, and the tender ones, and all of them make up this team, and make up a part of who we are. Without any of it, we just wouldn't be us, and we wouldn't be Testament.
infinite || abyss
posted at 2:47 p.m.
