I am now officially a college graduate! After 24 years, 189 hours, and three different schools, I finally hold a bachelor's degree...in liberal studies no less! I am not sure whether to laugh or cry over that last sentence.
These last few years in Nashville have been brutal to say the least. Lindsey earned her Masters of Divinity at Vanderbilt while I worked full time at Home Depot and went to school full time at Belmont (this is not recommended for the faint of heart). We are still feeling a bit dazed and worn out from the journey. Even so, we felt the hand of grace upon our lives and marriage while having amazing adventures and making new friends.
These new friends and adventures were the unanticipated part of the Nashville journey. They stretched me and reshaped my world view in some major ways. I spent the last 15 years working full time in churches. The church work universe is a bizarre other-world removed slightly from the reality "normal" lives. I knew this intellectually, but experiencing life outside the walls of the church was mind blowing.
And while I made many amazing new discoveries, the one that has transformed me the most is the level of suffering I encountered. More specifically, the level of suffering people had experienced at the hands of the church (note the lower case "c"). Whether the suffering was a simple slight, overly exaggerated, merely perceived, or an outright heartbreaking injustice is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that I keep meeting children of God who hurt deeply and feel alienated from God's life giving grace.
This hurt has transformed the way I think of my future now that school is done. As Lindsey and I wait for the next steps of our journey to unfold, I at least know I that want to reach out and address the pain I have discovered. I want create trip points through worship and the arts for people to literally fall into God's love and healing.
