Moving

This seems to have been the theme of my life over the last few weeks. Not only did my roommate and I move out the apartment we’ve been sharing for two years, but many of my friends here at FSU are either moving away or from one apartment to another, and the University Career Center—where I have been working as a student assistant for the last two years—is moving to a new building on campus. Earlier this summer, I even helped one of my campus pastors move twice over the course of just a few weeks.

At work, I have been sifting through files, consolidating, throwing out, and packing into boxes. Similarly, I have been consolidating the possessions I have accumulated over the last two years, getting rid of clothes I don’t wear anymore, throwing out old folders full of homework I hadn’t bothered to get rid of, and trying to fit everything I own into as little space as I can. On this point, I am rather proud of myself. I can actually fit the entirety of my worldly possessions, stacked neatly, into about a three foot by three foot space (give or take). This is very convenient since I have been staying on a friend’s couch/floor, for about a week, along with two other guys in a similar situation. Two things I’ve have resulted from this the process

First, I have had a heightened organizational mindset. I didn’t think I was the least bit stressed until a couple of days ago when randomly, as I was running late to class, I felt my eyes begin to water and my throat to burn. I was able to choke it down long enough to get through class but afterwards, I had to find a vacant hallway on campus to let it out. At first I was even sure why I was crying but I realized the lack of sleep and privacy that has come with my current living situation was getting to me.

Second, God has been teaching me a lesson about love. While I have been attending Every Nation Campus Ministries for nearly as long as I have been at FSU, I have only begun to seriously dedicate myself to the ministry for the last couple of semesters. Sitting in a room praying for one of my friends who will soon be moving away from Tallahassee, I was struck by a sense of compassion for her. The realization that what happens to her is of deep personal concern to me. The crazy thing is that I don’t even feel like I’ve gotten to know her that well. I believe that God was showing me just a taste of the way he feels for her. And further, the way he feels for all of us. What we do, what happens to us, our pain, our joy—all of this has weight in the heart of God, the creator of all the universe. How wild is that? [Psalm 8]

I have been thinking about this ever since. With so many people coming and going and moving from place to place, it is not an easy thing to think about. My faithful roommate for the last three years will no longer be rooming with me. Friends in the ministry who I feel I am just beginning to get to know have graduated and are moving away. But, more than ever before, I feel as though I am part of a family here in Tallahassee.

And so, I say to those leaving, I love you deeply. I care about where you go in life. I take it personally. Thank you for being who you are and who God is making you. To those who are remaining, praise God for the coming year. Let’s dig deep together into whatever God has for us, and grow closer together as brothers and sisters—so close it hurts.

Amen?