The wonderful thing about God is that he knows exactly what we need, not what we think we need. This is evident in my gracious host family, the Murchisons. Prior to moving to Charlotte, I was so excited to meet them, and I felt so hopeful about this family that I would be living with for the next 9 months. A little intro to my host family: Fred and Katy (parents), Ivy (14) and Ella (12). Rounding it out with 2 pets, we have their dog, Lolli (She and I are pals) and their cat, Raven. (We are… still warming up to each other).
Imagine being asked to solve a physics equation. That’s likely what learning how to round numbers feels like for a third grader.
Every Monday, the Charlotte Fellows serve at Brookstone School’s after school program, and I’ve paired up with the third grade class. In all honesty, sometimes I struggle articulating why we round up or down when I’m helping third graders with their homework. Most of the time, I’m trying to get them to lower their voices or focus on their homework. However, the hecticness doesn’t mean sweet moments don’t happen.
Already in just six short weeks, it seems I have learned more about myself and what it means to be a man of God than I did in four years of college. It’s not that college was a waste of time, it’s just that the unique blend of community, discipleship, service, and time for personal reflection provided through the Fellows has been the ultimate answered prayer for me.
To start a journey, one must first be willing to leave. To leave the comfort and safety of home and risk the unknown of what is beyond. To leave friends and family, and move to a new city and into a house of strangers. To leave college, a place of independence and fun, to be replaced by a job and learning what “adulting” really means.
As college began to dwindle to a close and I embarked on senior year marked by “lasts'' and overflowing with “final this” and “final that,” I began to reluctantly anticipate graduation and the loss that would undoubtedly coincide with it. As my friends and I walked through our many “lasts” of college, I began to pinpoint why I was feeling such a severe sense of loss; it was a loss of community.
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