gathering

i love this time. i love this place.

that's something that i keep saying to myself, especially tonight.

we dialogued about persecution at wellspring today.

in addition to the normal stations that we have set up, ken added one about the topic.

on one of glass windows that practically covers a whole wall, he covered the panes with thin, white paper and asked us to graffiti them.

on the left half of the panes we wrote words or phrases describing persecution...

things we've heard or experienced.

and then we did the same on the right side surrounding the idea of grace.

it was good...therapeutic.

it felt good to write some of the things i've heard or felt.

i felt vulnerable up there writing.

it's hard to be given the freedom to express yourself, because sometimes we have no idea what to do...we're not sure how to let it out.

after wellspring we all went out to dinner.

i marveled at the atmosphere.

across from me sat ken...my mentor and second father.

next to him was dr. furr...my favorite professor from HBU.

i was shocked he was there, but at the same time so ecstatic that he was willing to join us.

he wants to be involved and i'm glad the academic side of my life is represented.

ken has said he's the smartest man he knows.

next to me was josh, a boy from vanderbilt who's writing his dissertation on the emergent church.

he thought we were important enough to come check out.

on the other side of ken was mark the englishman.

further town the table were all the germans from kubic church.

julie the australian was there along with all the visitors from california.

trishia taylor...who i've only heard great things about, was there too.

she's apparently one of the best in her field as far as professional counseling goes.

the couple from the baptist student ministry at U of H sat at the table.

karen, my other mentor and the woman that has helped to organize this was her usual bubbly self as was her best friend, roger.

together karen, ken, and dr. furr make up the trinity of my mentorship...

karen, with the heart and support of a fellow woman in ministry...

ken, showing me the tangible work...teaching me with his hands...

dr. furr, teaching me the knowledge to back all this up...

and mixed in...feeling slightly sheepish and embarrassed at all the attention, was the rest of the wellspring family.

pat, with her bright white hair and aged wisdom sat in the midst of all this and seemed puzzled.

we don't think we're that interesting...but i'm sure all of these amazing people don't think they are either.

tomorrow more will show up.

andrew jones' wife will be here...and if you keep up with the emerging blogosphere...you know who he is.

doug pagitt will be here too...

all of these people...coming together.

and there are still others that weren't there.

others who, simply based on relationships are made important...

significant.

after all, when sitting at the table, no one asked, 'why are you important? why are you so special?'

it was more of...'who do you know, who are you in relationship with?'

we all came because we know someone.

we are made special, and important, and significant because of relationship...

not what we know.

i'm amazed.

i'm overwhelmed almost to the point of tears.

so many people in one place saying..."this is important. whatever it is...whatever it will be...this is important".

and i'm glad too...because i don't have a PhD.

i haven't written any books or started a mega church.

i'm not writing a dissertation.

i'm not nationally known.

i am just a girl that is trying her best to figure all this out.

whatever this....is.

my family is here.

my soul is singing...

amen. amen. amen.