All in this together

I don't really even have words. This journey of DTS as we knew it has ended. We laughed together. Cried together. Loved together. Talked together. Worked out problems together. Walked down to the lake together. Braved the elements together. Went overseas together. Experienced God's love together. Experienced healing together. Got in trouble for being too loud together. It was all together. 

I've come to realize something profound in these last couple of months: There is something beautiful about togetherness. Something beautiful about unity, oneness; being a family. I can't explain it. But it is how life is supposed to be. We were never meant to live lives of solitude. We were meant to be together. Together, we can do so much more than we can alone. Together we create a strong force. Together we experience life. And that is what we were created for. 

A couple of nights ago, though tears, I told my school that for the first time in my life, I really understood what the body of Christ looked like. So often the body of Christ does not look how it should. Over the past five months I have realized that the body of Christ is a place of acceptance and love. Its a place of honesty and vulnerability. Its a place of forgiveness and truth spoken in love. It is made up of imperfect people, who mess up regularly, who need forgiveness, who cannot do it on their own. It is a place of peace. Of rest. Of adventure and challenge. It is diverse. It includes individuals with many unique, but equally important gifts. It is made of people who love God. It is a place of beauty.

We are saying good bye to our time together, here at this base. But we are not saying good bye for good. The body is united through states and countries; over seas and mountains. Through storms and sunshine. We are one in the body. Nothing can change that. We are a family. Brothers and sisters. And even though we are apart, we are still together. This is what I love about the body. 

I love you, family.