We defied all preconditioned odds of Barcelona by actually catching up on sleep, instead of sacrificing it. Jesse booked a chic apartment in a quiet, near-coast area of loco Barcelona that Maeg and I schemed to replicate for our future abode. The 3-day journey wound through Gaudi monuments (including famous Park Guell and La Sagrada Familia), a chocolate museum, cathedrals, street performers, parks and the beach. Maeg fulfilled a personal mecca to finally see Gaudi’s work, while I wandered through a country I’d studied since 8th grade, basking in each attempt at “translator.” While paella, sangria, papas bravas and otras tapas satisfied all Espana-cuisine cravings, the Vampire Weekend concert equally quenched the semester-thirst for live music.
Sunday morning began at 3 a.m. with a walk to a bus station, followed by a drive to an airport, a flight to a train station, a train ride to Florence and a walk home 30 minutes before our Renaissance history presentation. Thankfully, we had enough coins in our pockets to steal 30 min. off an “E-Point” airport computer, to Wikipedia information for our noon project. Nothing like a 5 a.m. international cram session.
As our last Narnia-esque adventure came to close, thoughts from two worlds reeled their familiar images through my head. (I now agree with Maegan in crowning 4 a.m. as the peak-processing hour.) But as my mind scurried around just about everyone and everything I’ve encountered in 91 days, I tripped on the unexpectedly weighted question of, “what really matters?”
Psalm 10 possesses a startling line in David’s description of the prideful man, as he says “in all his thoughts there is no room for God.”
Too true did this accusation resonate with my introspective morning, and I found little openness to His filling.
In a kenotic response to surrender the masses of life equations flooding sacred space in our hearts, Maeg and I hope to examine the past few months and grapple with important questions throughout December. Have we allowed Him to truly transform our inmost beings, in full? What will remain, divinely solidified in our inconsistent characters, when the European memories and experiences fall to the wayside? Who has He led in and out of our 4-month journey and for what reasons? Do we truly trust Him with the upcoming unknowns, especially after His manifested faithfulness in this season?
Surely, we can acknowledge evidence of His cultivation of foundational layers for our “nexts.” But with one month left, we’re challenged to finish this race.
Prayer for Maegan and I:
“You have made known to me the path of life;
You will fill me with joy in your presence”
For the Lord truly has remade Himself known to us, both in intimate purposes for our individual souls, and in ultimate purposes for His glory.
Yet as we continue to step forward, pray for a Spirit-empowered ability to keep living IN the questions, and joyfully remember that the Path of Life, the Way, is only in Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment