Gains and losses

A friend wrote a note a couple months ago. It had no title. The note consisted of a picture and the statement, "Sometimes something really good has to end."

Gains and losses, just one of the many tensions our lives and faith is built on. I have gained so much this semester, and at the same time, I have lost as well.

I have gained relationships with greater depth. I have gained new friends. I have gained new opportunities in leadership and ministry. I have gained new knowledge and wisdom. I have gained. This is without question.

I have lost. I have lost the confident feeling of a home church to return to. I have lost the confident feeling of close friends to return to back home. I have lost consistent connections. I have lost the ability to be home for more than three weeks (at least for now), and I have now been told that I, along with all the men on our floor, will be losing our RA.

In this life, we must remember to hold everything in an open palm. Nothing is ours, and Greg (our RA) is God's son before he is our shepherd, friend, mentor, brother... I have been learning a lot this semester from a man named Dr. Sauer. He is my professor the my Hebrews class. He and his wife were told this week that she has breast cancer, and the day he was told he comes to class and speaks on 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Everything in an open palm. God is sovereign; He is all knowing; He is all powerful, and He has our deepest good at heart. It is a wonderful thing that God is more interested in our holiness than our happiness. It is all part of the great reversal - last-first, first-last, weak-strong, strong-weak. I may have lost, or it may feel like I have lost, but they are all gains: "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4).

I am full of joy. It is amazing that we can be sad, grieving, and yet be filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Emotion does not affect our salvation. Emotion does not affect our distance from God. It is wonderful to know there is a constant that is steadfast in the storms of life, whether they come from without or within.

I am moving through the application process to do my internship with Josiah Venture in The Czech Republic. I have taught in the youth group I serve in, and I currently lead a small group. I am a part of The Calling, which is the new men's ministry on campus. I am on the promotions team for Moody Campus Radio and host a show Monday nights. I play intramural sports with the men on my floor, and I love it. I am going to Erwin McManus speak today. My sister is coming in this weekend. The JV vision night is next Thursday. Tim flies in next weekend, and Thanksgiving at Kyle's is just around the corner. I have so much to be grateful for, and this is just the surface.

Life happens to us all. Friends are called to fight wars. Friends lose loved ones. Friends have family who become deathly ill. Life happens, and yet we are told to thank and praise God in all circumstances. Our speaker in chapel spent three days going through Psalm 73, and he ended with this, "Always remember that the nearness of God is your good." No matter where you are, no matter what is happening, no matter what you are doing or not doing...close your eyes, and remember that the nearness of God is your good." I will remember. I will close my eyes and remind myself of this. I will seek God's face. He is our refuge. He is our strength.

Friends may move geographically, but one of the many gifts of God is that we are unified by the Spirit, and that means we are never alone. We can always be coverd in the prayers of the saints no matter where we are. You or I may be gone physically, but we can say that we are still present in Spirit because it is the Spirit that unifies all believers into the Church, the body of Christ, with Jesus as its head, and this is wonderful.