One thing that is certain in life is that nothing is certain.
Since I last put my thoughts here, I have graduated with a Master of Divinity. My seminary journey was nothing like I expected and everything I had hoped for; over in a blink and desperately long. I made new friends I am certain will be lifelong, and I have come to know myself and my God better in the process. It is an ending and a beginning...
I look back with gratitude for two intense years of study, pastoral internship, pastoral care training, and an amazing network of people. Without those people in my life, the past twenty-four months would have been impossible. Within those twenty-four months I have personally gone through through: serious health issues for myself, an unplanned move across town, a hospitalization for my spouse, hospitalizations for my brother and other relatives, deaths of relatives. Collectively with the rest of the world: this ongoing global pandemic, racial unrest, and the latest crises in the news.
I look forward with some trepidation, wondering what I can offer to other human beings as they face the endings and beginnings of life. All I come up with is to be a decent human being, and share what has sustained me in the most difficult of times.
I wrote these words after reading the day's headlines:
When is God close?
When answers elude
When fears paralyze
When doubts crush
When skies smoke
When illness looms
When people betray
When grief haunts
When is God close?
When sun shines
When seas roar
When birds soar
When hills rise
When dreams sing
When freedom rings
When love surrounds
May you know today that God is close, no matter what your when.
~Lou O.
