for my IV family

Here nearly at the end, I am overwhelmed by the love of my friends. I am overwhelmed by the love of a God who would take my hand and bring me into life. And by tonight, by the way the line of the horizon glowed red-orange for half an hour, the rest of the sky darkening, smooth like silk, purple then navy then black, I am overwhelmed.

We had large group at the beach tonight and I am convinced there is no better part of living at the beach than being able to go down to the south end of Wrightsville at sunset and think or worship. And I'll tell you, it was freezing, the wind coming off the water like sheet metal. When we go down there we sing and sometimes go on our own and pray and usually we have a time where people come up and talk about what God's been doing in their lives. So we were all hunkered down in the sand and people got up and did that.

It's a strange thing to hear someone stand up and say that their life has been changed, that the Lord has brought them from death into life, that things might have been another way. I say it's strange because, at least for me, it's easy to hear stories like this all the time without ever realizing what it means for something like that to happen. One after another, all these students saying this, that through being involved in the chapter, God has somehow changed them, grown them. When I think of it inverted, when I see my friend and imagine the might have been, it's suddenly a lot bigger, a whole lot more real.

And, the whole dome of heaven stretched above us, it really is real. It really is. And he is good.

I was going at the end after everyone else and even though I missed my cue and the wind was blowing toward me so my voice went the wrong way and then my leg was shaking because I get nervous in front of people, I wanted to say so much. I don't think I'll be able to even half articulate it unless I write it out, but I was supposed to talk about Link and raising support and all I could think was exactly what everyone had been saying. God has provided so much and I wonder what I'd be doing now if not for this group. I can't imagine being where I am, being on the cusp of something like this, except for them, and standing up there, I couldn't hope for anything better than that same group to be the one to send me, to pray for me, to be the home and family that they are. So I said that.

Everyone prayed for me at the end, and I'm telling you, I don't think I've ever felt loved like that. I don't know if any of you guys read this, but if you do, thank you. For tonight, for these last years. It means more than you'd guess.