The Beginning and the End

I had the privilege of going on a couple college tours with our great friend Sarah Delk yesterday. We went to Wake Forest and Elon University. While on the tours, I couldn't help but think back on the college tour trip that I took the spring break of my junior year of high school. My parents had graciously made arrangements to travel with me for the week to check out some of the schools I was interested in attending. When you grow up in a large family, it is rare to get both of your parents to yourself for any length of time.It was one of the few trips that I took with just the two of them, and I felt very special and loved that they both came. The schools we toured were Appalachian State, Montreat, Mars Hill, and Covenant. Clay and I had just started dating a few months before this trip, and he had been living in Virginia for that time. He drove down and met us for the Montreat and Covenant visits. That trip ended being a very special crossroads for me. On the one hand, it would be the last trip that I would take with my parents as their child. It was a celebration of the family we had been all those years. On the other hand, it was the start of the new life I would have. Covenant was the last stop on our trip, and I immediately knew that is where God had wanted me. Clay kissed me for the first time while we were visiting Covenant. We would get married while attending there.


I wish that there could be a special trip every time there is a close of one chapter and the start of a new one in our lives. A time set apart for reflecting, enjoying, and preparing. As I reflected on this idea,my heart immediately moved to my Savior. How do I view this time I have on earth? I think it should be treated similarly to my trip with my parents. It is a trip filled with joy, preparation, communion, and anticipation. I live in the joy of the relationship I share with my Lord. This is a joyful celebration of where He has brought me, but it is also a time of preparation for where He wants to continue to use me for His glory. It is from having fellowship and communion with Him and other believers that He directs my path and works His plan. The anticipation is always my favorite part. There is nothing like it. The night before going to Disney World, the moment before you walk down the aisle, the planning of baby names....all of these are minor tremors in what will be the most anticipated, exciting time in all of creation when Christ returns and makes all things new! My prayer is that I will take time to use the time on earth that God has given me for these purposes, and that just like at the end of the college trip with my parents- I will be certain of where I have been, excited about where I am being led, and loved all along the way.