Goodbye Orlando

Just writing that title seems so surreal! Eleven years in a place is a pretty significant chunk. Especially since it's where my real adult life began. Here I finally stopped sitting in classrooms after 24 years, dug into ministry full time, met and married a wonderful wife, and started a family. Each of those things are significant on their own. Add to it the many friends and the closest friends who have come and gone over the years here... It's quite amazing how much God has poured out loving mercies to me. His loving presence and grace has always been there, whether I've been bitter, angry, unaware, or simply living in survival mode, or fully engaged with Him.

The truck is packed. I'm exhausted but thankful, especially to three close friends who helped load up today. It's been a week of "lasts"--last meals at favorite restaurants, last days of school or daycare, last meetings with friends, and currently enjoying my last java chip from my favorite Starbucks. What I've sensed as I've experienced these "lasts" is that I've left my mark on the people here, and they've left their mark on me.

From the meat market manager, to the county ditch-digger, to the professors, to the men with whom I've walked and talked around campfires and living rooms, to the hundreds of men, women, and children at the various churches where I've served--most significantly Grace: All have been a part of how God is writing the story of my life. And I know that the chapter that starts tomorrow is a new CHAPTER, a continuation of the book. All that has come before is very important to what comes now.

To change metaphors, tomorrow beings a new journey with many firsts. Thankfully Jesus will already be where we're going, while also being here where we've been.