The Present is for Exploding Sodas and Eating

That's what Sara put on the inside of my goodbye-card. It seems like it should be one of those oddly profound kind of statements. :) We had another Super Sunday today, and after lunch it was also prayer time for VBS (which starts tomorrow!) and a goodbye for me.

I cried, I admit. I have grown to love all these people so much. This ministry is all about relationships, which is why I believe it is so wonderful - but also why it is so hard. Everything in Army life is transient; you meet new people all the time and it seems as soon as you manage to build that close relationship, someone leaves - whether because of a deployment, PCSing, ERDing, or, like me, just going home. I really am excited to go home and to start school and start working. But I am going to miss this place so, so very much. All my friends here are so wonderful.

Lisa made me a BEAUTIFUL cake. Sherry gave me a journal, and people signed it and wrote in it. I got a picture from our trip to the Maginot Line that everyone signed. (the people who signed it are not the people in the picture! haha) Sara and Erika made me the sweetest cards :) and gave me mentos! (They know me well.) Kristen even got me my faaaavoritest potatoe chips from the commissary. Everyone prayed for me, wished me well, hugged me goodbye.

I wondered when I came over here if this was the right thing to do with my summer. Throughout the months I've wondered if I've done any good, if I've had any impact on those around me, if I've really done something to further the kingdom of Christ on earth. Today I realized the answer - yes. I have built relationships with people, and in some way touched their hearts, and they have touched mine. I have grown this summer, both personally and in my walk with and understanding of God, and what it is to follow Him. I have learned more than I am able to articulate - and some things I have learned I may not even know yet. But I have grown, and changed, and loved.

As Sara put in my card,
"Goodbyes are not forever,
Goodbyes are not the end.
They only say I miss you
until we meet again."







okay....so, I just now got what she meant by the statement..."the present" didn't mean the present, as in the right now, but as in the mentos....it makes a lot more sense now. I was thinking more symbolically, you know? Like, eat, drink, and be merry - only more fun and laughter with exploding sodas and eating....oh well. I feel awfully silly now.