Subscribe to the NetworkRecognizing Awkwardness
Well, last night my family and I came down to Simi Valley, CA. It’s the first time we spent any time here since we moved to Portland, OR. I was on staff at Cornerstone for almost 9 years which makes Simi feel like home.
Coming back “home” is a little weird. I’ve experienced so much over the last 8 months of being gone, yet I walk through the halls at Cornerstone and the same people are in the same offices, most doing the same things. I go to the “spots” around the city and there are some of the same employees, same regulars, and I run into a lot of familiar faces.
But the weird thing is that despite all the familiarity, I feel a bit disconnected from everyone. Seeing someone in the hallway for a short time, there’s just no way I could catch them up on all my experiences over the months. I even have a sense of arrogance that flows through my mind – as if I’ve experienced so much and they haven’t. At times I don’t even know what to say to people because I don’t even know where to start. There’s so much in my ministry now, I wonder how people could even relate. How do I articulate my last 8 months in a hallway – or even over an hour and a cup of coffee? The reality is I can’t.
These feelings of coming “home” have reminded me of those college-age people who come home from their life away. They’ve experienced so much, and probably feel disconnected in the same way. When we see them in the church lobby and ask how things are going at school – what are they to say? They’re probably thinking there’s no way they could articulate everything. They probably don’t know where to even start. They may even have feelings of disconnection, wondering how in the world we could even relate to them.
I guess today has reminded me of the awkwardness college-age people feel when coming home. I’ve discussed this topic a bit over the last month or so, but I think there’s a lesson for us all here: it’s so easy to get disconnected from what the people in our ministry go through.
We ought to be praying for God to keep us in tune with where our students are. Maybe even ask Him to put us in circumstances that allow us to feel the emotions, pressures, etc. that they experience. If we lose sight of these things, we lose our ministry.
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