Tuesday, December 9, 2008

awe. wonder. the rescue. encounter.

[this picture is provided compliments of bek] last night: december 8th: was the last encounter in america. i walked into the student center with mixed emotions. saddened, obviously by the thought of grace campus ending in auburn next fall. ecstatic, with the thought of how God has called grace campus to HK and the ways he is going to bless the obedience to that calling. but even in the ending of our weekly gathering on thursday, God has already stirred new beginnings. i don't think i can articulate how my heart felt sitting in the student center last night hearing the story of Jesus with a new wonder and awe; but i do know that i left feeling refreshed, feeling God pulling me into His heart and thankful for the great things that he has done. matt shared with us the story of Jesus from his son's storybook bible. matt read portions all the way through and as i listened i was humbled at the simple words telling the story of our rescue. i pray that the story of our God never becomes too familiar and i never cease to be amazed at how he has so perfectly orchestrated his story so that we would know him and have a relationship with him. He is running towards us with love and mercy and grace and freedom and redemption. may we respond with praise. may our lives reflect the love and grace that we have been shown. may we be overwhelmed by His goodness. may His name never been far from our lips. we are the children of His great rescue. we are the children He sent his humble son for. we are the children of grace, given unmerited favor and love because of our faith in Jesus. i am anxious to see all the ways God continues to begin beautiful new works in his children. thank you grace campus family for loving me out of the overflow of the Father. my life has been changed because of your presence here. last encounter in america: next encounter in HK

1 comment:

rebekah said...

oh mal...i love you. and all the amazing times/conversations we have had. i can't believe encounter is over for good. even though i'm not there anymore, it still feels weird. like if our house just ceased to exist. even though i don't live in it, i expect it to be there. agh.