Long Goodbyes

Later this morning one of the girls who has been at the project will be leaving to go home and then off to field hockey training. It kind of sucks because I would venture to say that she and I have gotten to know each other the best out of anyone I know in the house.

That isn't the real reason why I am writing this note (sorry, Sarah). But thinking about it, I just said goodbye to Tim and Ryan who are moving on from W & J's campus. I know that they won't be far away living in Pittsburgh, but that is a lot different than having them right on campus.

I guess to delve further into why I am writing this is because I have a hard time saying goodbye without letting it affect me too much. I would love to keep things the same, as they are right now, with all of us living together in this house. But I know this is selfish of me. Look at all the great things that will be accomplished by those who are living in this house right now. I mean, Sarah has a great opportunity to reach out to her new field hockey team. Ryan will be leading a community house back at Kent next year. Lindsay will be able to reach out to her sorority sisters. The list goes on and on. Yet I have such a hard time saying goodbye and good luck!

Recently I have had some serious thoughts about being a campus minister. One of the most crucial elements of being a campus minsiter though is being able to say goodbye to your students and release them into the world, where they will be able to do great things. If I can't do this, then am I really cut out to be a campus minister? Can I do any job so that I wouldn't have to deal with this? I am pretty sure that there isn't a job out there that lets you do this, so I think that I need just to pray about it and let God decide.

O, how I long that I could stay in this community forever though (okay, maybe not forever, but for a longer period of time)! It has been the biggest blessing of my life thus far, and I think that it will be hard to pass this one up. I just beg that noone asks me to talk about my time here until about January or February when I will see the folks again. I think that it would be just too hard on me right now to have to talk about the friends I have met here shortly after leaving.