twenty-three

The best place to begin seems to be with the simplest of statements. They say “write what you know.” This shouldn’t be something forced or contrived. Neither should I begin again with hopes of pushing some sort of agenda or portraying some state of “enlightenment” now that I’ve gotten a bit more time and experience under my belt. Nope.

So, I’ll start here: I’ve still got a lot of questions. Good questions. Questions about why I am working in ministry. Questions about what I am supposed to do to serve students every day. Questions about how I’m supposed to live out my own faith in the midst of leading others. And plenty more.

They’re honest questions that come from honest moments of seeing faith lived out in mine and others’ lives (Honest, being the key word, doesn’t always mind “tastes good” or “feels nice”. Sometimes, it means “uncomfortable”, “hard to swallow”, and maybe even “true”). One of the coolest things about the work I get to participate in at the INN each day is simply being someone who listens and watches people work out what they believe about God. I get to meet with students who are struggling with where they’ll go after school’s over. Or new students, excited and eager to know what the whole college experience will be like and, for some, asking things like “where will God be in all of this?”

I asked that question myself as I began my time at Western Washington University, about 8 years ago. One of the biggest fears and insecurities I faced as I left home for school was wondering whether or not I would be the only person looking for God in Bellingham. Not like I had this unreasonable expectation that no one believed or followed Christ, but rather, a question of whether I would actually find anyone I could share in my own journey with. I wondered if I would have anyone to talk to. Anyone to experience the good and bad of faith with.

I see the same look in many of the faces of people I meet on Tuesday nights or around our offices or at programs throughout the week. I see a desire to know and be known by other people. And I think it’s not simply in the way we all desire to have friends and find connections with other people. I think there’s a real thirst to know and experience life with people who you can ask the tough questions with. To be known on that level with a community of like and unlike minded people. To not be surrounded by peers and classmates and yet be alone in what is the ongoing journey of faith.

And so, as I continue confront questions of faith and direction, I am comforted to know those people who come along in my life to offer dialog and support. And as I look at the questions I’m asking, I’m also comforted to know that I work with others who ask similar questions and who are similarly passionate in providing a space for students, who like me, 8 years ago, needed a place to air them out.

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