Caught Up and Called Out

RAMP 2010 is officially over and all staff teams have headed west for the summer. A friend and I were chatting tonight about life along the way. I started a discussion with her and I am still processing it days later. I want to write it down because I want to remember it and LIVE it long after this “revelation” is gone…
It was a rainy night and we were following a crazy driving co-worker to eat dinner together before heading out the next day. Somehow, we began discussing the many staff members and friends we know who were going to be arriving that evening and the next into communities where they felt “at home.” We talked about how, although we only spend 9 or 10 weeks in a certain community during this summer program, we often leave feeling more connected to this community and its members than we do to our own hometown or current city of residence. This thought might baffle most but to me, it makes perfect sense.
It might only be ten short weeks of life but those weeks are full of real life. We enter into a community and we are immediately interested in its heartbeat. We want to BE with people and LEARN their names, what they love, and how they are hurting. We do not only desire to learn, we are passionate about coming alongside the community wherever it will be most beneficial for them. Simply put, if this entry and existence is done well each summer-it goes way beyond mere presence in or “help” to a community. It is no small wonder to me that people leave these places feeling more at home than they ever have before-they have been forced to be in real, honest community. When there is a problem, it has to be solved immediately. When there is tension, honest conversations have to happen so that it can be sorted out. When something incredible happens, we get to rejoice in that together.
Before spending countless hours asking honest questions and getting honest answers I thought about community very differently. These days, it is clear to me that I desire to live in community that fosters growth, encouragement, and honesty. Why do we have to have a program in place to show us how to love people? When a community is missing the point, I wonder how much community truly exists. I’m no expert on this issue but I sure do think about it a lot. In any case, after this short conversation my mind has been filled with these thoughts:
I desire to LIVE honestly and intentionally for the rest of my life. I understand that this will look different as I am in different spaces but I think authenticity applies anywhere. I want to enter and exist effectively in every place that I live from this point on. Our God has shown me a different way and it is my hope to commit to His way-whatever that looks like in any place I land.