Like Sands Through the Hourglass...

A year.
Two years.
Fours years.

The older I get, the faster the days seem to slip away, time seems to simply disappear.

In one of the ridiculously rare instances of my spring break during which I was not remarkably and appallingly lazy, I found myself a sincere desire to take a little adventure down memory lane. It had been quite some time since I had done so in this particular manner, and I was intrigued by the notion of what I might find in a place I hadn't stepped foot in since I had first begun my expedition into the chaotic enigma that can be college life. In a room where God found me, or maybe more accurately I finally realized He had for so long been frantically trying to draw my attention and focus in any and every way possible, jumping up and down, waving His arms like a madman. A Man mad with Love, that is. Ok so maybe not exactly but still you get the picture and I'm just rambling...

It was in this place that I finally, truly, let the Love of Jesus bind itself around my heart and mind, and I in turn embraced the desire to cling desperately to His heart. My old youth group. And I was amazed at what I found.

It didn't quite look the same as when I had left. The setup of the room itself was different, for one. There seemed to be fewer people, and ever fewer familiar faces. Those that I did recognize had obviously grown in the years since I'd been in their shoes.

And then like diving into the part of the pool that is way too shallow for intelligently attempting such a thing, my head slammed into a thought and I had to stop for a moment.

Over the past almost two years now since I began college I have experience things I never could have seen coming, learned things and been changed in ways that I'm still trying to wrap my head around. I am nowhere near the same person I was even a year ago, let alone when I graduated from Dayton Christian High School and especially my sophomore year of high school when God monumentally rocked my world. And neither were those that I was seeing for the first time in what seemed like ages, for each and every one of them had barreled and brawled through the tumult that is this life by means I can't begin to know and had been affected in ways I could never comprehend in just growing two years older. Crazy.

You try thinking through it sometime. I guarantee you'll be at least a little surprised at what you realize.

As I continued to be enthralled by this reflection, the band began to play. And it was then that everything fell into place. It was times such as these that I remember most vividly, most fondly about my old youth group. Even since, I have yet to find a place where worship is quite like it is in that room, and though unquestionably the Spirit of God has followed me through every step of the last two years, there's just something about that room. It is undeniable that He shows up. And even though those in the band were older than when I had last seen them, the members different than those I had known, He still showed up. And it was awesome.

I don't remember every song we sang, but there are two that still play through my mind. One was "How Great is Our God," and we just sang through the chorus over and over and over.

Awesome.

The other went like this...

Your love is pure, Your love is precious
Your love is all I need
Your love surrounds me, Your love astounds me
Your love is everything

I run to You when my heart is weak
I cling to You, You're all I seek
It's my heart's desire to be close to You
Here in Your arms I find my strength

You're everything I want, everything I hope in
Everything my heart cries out for
You're everything I want, everything I hope in
Everything my heart cries out for

And we just sang through these verses over and over and over.

And it was awesome.

It never ceases to amaze me how it is in the simplest of words, the simplest of phrases, the most basic of thoughts that we can find the greatest power. The greatest hope. And these words as we sang them over and over and over had both raging through them.

And through all the reminiscing, the remembering, the reflecting, I was reminded of this most incredible and awe inspiring thought, that though over the last year, two years, four years I have been changed, shaped, transformed physically, mentally, and spiritually in ways I can't begin to recall as has everyone around me in some form or fashion, He hasn't.

He's still the same Jesus that I began to fall in love with my sophomore year of high school, the exact same as He is now in my sophomore year of college.

It was then that I began to glimpse just how awesome His Love is, just how wide, how deep, how endless, how unfathomable it is, though then I just thought it was merely one little area of this thing called Christianity.

And now here I sit knowing that really, it is absolutely everything. And it always was.

And it is here we can take comfort and find hope in the fact that even if the world or just our world goes to Hell in a handbasket, despite however we may change, however our minds may form, however our hearts may mold, wherever and whenever life takes us, He will always be great.

How great is our God
Sing with me how great is our God
And all will see how great, how great
Is our God.

It all comes back to Love. And Love never fails. Love never fades. Love is never finished.
And our Love reigns totally, unparalleled, unstoppable, unquestionable, awesome, mighty, and great for all eternity, never to change, never to leave.
Always to Love.

You're everything I want, everything I hope in
Everything my heart cries out for

Dive Deep.