Shifting Gears

Over the past several days, the fact that the semester is nearing an end has really become a reality to me.  This means that seniors will be graduating and moving on to the next phase of life; some students will just not be back next year for various reasons.  I'll be traveling again.  There will be another period of adjustment.  I don't remember the end of the semester being such a difficult time in college before.  I more remember it being a relief when the semester ended.

I look forward to seeing my parents, my dear friends from home, my church family, and my extended family.  I really do miss the people back home.  And I also recognize that my brain feels like a waterlogged sponge.  I could use the break.  I've learned so much and grown so much while I've been here.  When I came out here, I had every intention of keeping you all updated on what was going on in my life.  Very quickly, though, I realized that I was not going to be able to do that.  To truly update you, I would have to take you all with me every minute of every day.  I can't possibly convey everything I have been learning.

And to even try would be a daunting task.  It has been an amazing time.

I have made so many great friends.  I have learned so many great truths.  I have found my heart transformed in ways that I cannot begin to describe.  And to some extent some of those things would be too personal to try to describe.  That in and of itself is a poor excuse of an explanation.  It implies that I would share with select people what has changed in my heart.  But that is not accurate.  And not for a lack of willingness to share.  They have been deep, life transformations that you would have to know me almost as well as I know myself to be able to understand.

I can tell you for sure that I am more deeply in love with Jesus than I ever have been before in my life.  I'm nervous about being back in the real world again.  I've enjoyed being refreshed.  And I look forward to coming back in the fall to see what new things God has for me to learn.

I look forward to reconnecting with people this summer.  And I do look forward to shifting gears, even if the thought of it scares me a little.