Spring (into Summer)
Solitude is not a private, therapeutic place. It is a place of conversion- the place where the old self dies and the new self is born. The emergence of the new man and the new woman occurs. Solitude is the furnace of our transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusion of the false self. Solitude is the place of the great struggle and the great encounter; the struggle against the compulsions of the false self and the encounter with the loving God who offers himself as the substance of the new self.
-The Way of the Heart; Henri Nouwen.
I seem to be running into a writer’s block similar to that I’d get in college- it wasn’t that there wasn’t anything to say, I just don’t know how to put any of it into words. I spent many nights sitting in front of blank documents staring back at me begging for me to just start typing so I could get to bed at a decent hour. While my sleep schedule has greatly improved since my Wheaton days, my writer’s block has not. We’ll see how this goes.
My time on the Camino feels like it happened in another lifetime. It’s only been a month, but after my return I put my head down and jumped right back into the to-do list I started before I left for Spain. The Camino caused me to slow down even more than my pace of life in Albania- Spanish culture played a part in it, but when the only to-do to check off in a day is a 20 kilometer walk, life slows down yet again. I think back to August, my first week back in Albania, recovering from what felt like moving at hyper speed in the US. It wasn’t so much a physical rush as much as it was mental- a rush to self improve, to climb higher, to do more. I’ve learned slowing down has meant taking my time doing less things. If I walked my 20 kilometers too fast, I’d have the rest of the day to just sit in some small village and read. Fun, but also a little boring. It was nice to know I wasn’t trying to get anywhere for any particular reason, that I could just take my time and saunter at a pace I was comfortable with. I had time to read Scripture on the trail, pray out loud, observe my thoughts, shout nonsense into an empty forest and listen to the nonsense echo back at me. Small joys. My time on the Camino left me with a deep fondness for the Way of St James- the historical and spiritual significance of the road, all of the men and women who walk it, but mostly just the opportunity it gave me to be in unfettered solitude with the knowledge that God had orchestrated all of this for me to just spend some time with Him. I’m sure I’ll be back.
Spring break brought some new life to GDQ’s students. It’s surprising what a week of rest can do to revive kids who were beginning to drag their feet in the hallways. The 7th grade World History class continues to blow my mind with their knowledge of world events and engagement in the subject. We spent a few weeks learning about Church History and the Protestant Reformation and with their level of comprehension I felt comfortable bringing in an expert on all things Protestantism (my dad) to teach on Luther’s 5 Solas and a whole class debate on if the Protestant Reformation was justified. As we’ve moved into the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment I’ve seen these boys wrestle with how their faith in Jesus responds to the first historical movements towards a modernizing world. We’ve had lengthy conversations on the importance of faith and how faith motivates people to respond to their environment in different ways. I continue to pray that God puts His words on my mouth and these boys walk away from this year carrying a little more knowledge on the great significance of who they believe Jesus Christ to be.
I had the opportunity to speak at two of our middle school Elevate gatherings since Spring Break and decided to focus it on John 10:27- “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me”. I focussed on two things:
What does it mean for Christ to know us and for us to know him? (With an emphasis on how we listen to God, what prevents us from hearing His voice, how we encounter a living God through His Living Word)
What should our response be to knowing Christ? (A discussion on faith in obedience to what God asks of us).
These were two topics that came up for me a few times on the Camino. These are questions I asked myself not very long ago, and I think they’re questions a lot of young believers have but are hesitant to ask because of how simplistic the answers really are. The Scripture I read over and over again on the Camino was Isaiah 43, a beautiful call from God to Israel reminding His people of the fantastic, unconditional, borderline obsessive love He has for them. It was a passage I wanted to share with the middle school.
I wouldn’t be here without your continued prayer and support of this call to GDQ, and am often encouraged when thinking of your faith in God supporting this season of ministry. God’s kindness has been so evident the last 9 months, and these short snippets really don’t scratch the surface of how God is at work. I’ve decided to set up a Calendly, a scheduling tool that would allow us to connect by you scheduling a 45 minute block for us to chat over Google Meet (or Zoom, or FaceTime, whichever method you prefer). If you’d like to hear about opportunities to serve at GDQ, more about my work, or just a little catch-up, I’d love to connect.
I’d appreciate prayers for my students as they wrap up this semester in the next month- there’s a lot happening before June 8th, and we’re all beginning to feel the pressure of wrapping up. I also ask that you’d be in prayer for my plans post-June; I sense that God might not have me returning to the US this year, and I’m probing whether that means continuing at GDQ in a different capacity or something else. More to come on that.
Peace to you,
Aaron
