There’s not really a way to wrap up a week like this in a few simple words. I know. We just spent at least an hour trying to go through just to say thank you to one another, to lift up each other, to understand what all was accomplished this week.
We come for the kids, and we all hear ahead of time that we will get as much from them as we give to them … but this year it really seems that we also got a great deal from one another.
Rick hit on something tonight about how there are only a few windows in time when he sees his wife’s face light up unceasing with overwhelming joy … and Emmanuel is one of those places. But I think we are all a little bit that way. I know today that there were very few children I said goodbye to, you just can’t. “Hasta luego” is not only easier, but it is also true. Very few people come on this trip only once.
Morgan said that although we live in a broken world, coming here really shows just how much our God loves us, cares for us, and is willing to provide for us.
This is a community that truly lives on faith alone, from the onset. And the mystery of grace that has unfolded on these 1,200 acres in the last 30 years can only be attributed to a result of that faith. We will carry a piece of that back with us, but to be honest, in the hustle and bustle of daily living, it’s easy to lose a little bit at a time. How do we go back to a mortgage or medical bills or bullies at school or the desire for the material that is part of our daily living? How do we go back and not let go?
Because while at Emmanuel, you live in the true grace of God. There is not a want or a need or a complaint. There is a yard right outside of the team house that sees you sitting on the porch from the moment you wake up (and that can be 4:30 a.m.!!) And you are going to hear someone call your name – not because they need something from you; just because they need to say, “I love you.”
There is, I don’t know, two miles of pavement that no matter where you walk you hear someone calling your name as soon as you are in sight of the next yard.
Today, I walked up to the Power Toddler’s yard, and my littlest one that I now sponsor literally came flying through the air in full faith and confidence that if he took off in a full run and leapt from the top stair I would obviously catch him. And I did.
Being at Emmanuel sort of feels like that. We are all in a full run, leaping from the highest step – and there are angels to catch us from our fall. That is beauty of living in constant grace.
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