remembering ...

being reminded of the entrepreneurial endeavors that i undertook one summer 13 years ago.

pulling out an old journal from when i first moved to nashville 6 years ago.

getting an unexpected call from a friend i haven’t talked to in a long while, and reminiscing about when we met 9 years ago.

thinking about the possibility of catching up with friends from all over the country, much like we did 4 years ago.

nothing like a little walk down memory lane on a quiet sunday evening.

how have i changed? how have i stayed the same? has anything changed that needed to stay the same, and has anything stayed the same that needed to be changed? what have i let slip away, and what have i willingly (and necessarily) let go?

a lesson in focusing on what is important today, and not worrying about the rest.

a visionary. a teacher. a writer. creative. passionate. love the Lord, and my friends, and music.

i know i am not the same person that i was when i came here. i am so thankful for the grace and mercy and forgiveness that has made such a transformation possible.

looking back can be such a powerful tool. i have always related to the israelites and their chronic forgetfulness. i would be interested to count the number of times that their story of deliverance is recounted. and still they forgot. their forgetfulness causes them to wander in the desert for 40 extra years. then they get a second chance. they come to the jordan and are again faced with the opportunity to cross over. this time they choose to remember, and believe, all that God has done for them. then joshua has one man from each of the 12 tribes pick up a stone from the center of the river and set them up as a memorial of their crossing. that way, in the future when their children asked them what the stones meant, they could tell them about what God had done.

we, too, need stones of remembrance. how quickly we can forget all that God has said and done. and when we forget, we wander. but if we have stones - tangible representations of God in our lives along the way - it gives us the courage to keep going, to cross over when presented with a new and exciting, yet scary, opportunity.

where have you been? where are you now? what are your stones of remembrance? what is God asking you to step out into?

only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. teach them to your children and to their children after them. (deuteronomy 4:9)