A Month of Gratitude, Day 9
December 17, 2008
Today is my last day at North Point Ministries. I spent the day packing up the last of my things and clearing out my office. It has been an amazing seven years, and I am so incredibly grateful for all that God has done in and through me in this place. I am a different person than when I first attended, and I am a different leader because of the time I’ve spent working in this organization. There is a lot that I will miss about this place, and there is so much that I’m grateful for. But the thing I will miss most, and the thing I’m most grateful for, are the relationships I’ve developed with the people of this community.
I am thankful for all the good friends I’ve gotten to know through the years working in the Group Life division. They are more than co-workers. They are friends. They are family. We’ve shared late nights at GroupLinks and leader trainings. We’ve shared early mornings at leader and staff retreats.
I have so many fun memories of these friends. We worked really hard together, but we had so much fun together too. Whether it was a Group Life retreat, re:Group, Spring Training, or the Labor Day retreat, I always enjoyed spending time with these people. We would stay up too late, get a little goofy, and of course all the guys turned into middle schoolers at that point!
It has been such a joy to serve with these friends. I think there is no greater joy or privilege than to be part of working for a local church. It can be extremely difficult. We deal in issues of life, death, and eternity. We see the darkest parts of humanity and the depth of man’s brokenness. But every time we see a life changed by the Gospel, none of that seems to matter.
The relationships started at work, but we were friends who chose to spend time together outside work. We vacationed together, shared weekends with our families, and ate countless meals together.
Over the years we shared the joys of life together. When Kate and I decided to get married in Colorado, we weren’t surprised to have twenty friends from North Point come out. We had more North Point family than either of our actual families! Friends celebrated with us at the birth of both our boys. They brought meals, they shared clothes, and they gave us lots of advice. We also shared tears together. None more than when we lost our good friend Michael to his battle with cancer.
It is these relationships that make leaving so bittersweet for me. We are so excited for what God has in store for us in Denver, but I don’t think I really even know what I’ve lost yet in leaving this community. I do know that I can’t imagine living my life in any other way, and I know that the best way to honor these relationships is to do all that I can to create a place like this in Denver.
There are only two things that I know that last forever – the Word of God and relationships. While it is comforting to know that many of the relationships I have developed here will continue through the rest of my life, it is even more exciting to imagine what it will be like to spend eternity with these people I love so much.
I am so grateful to God for each one fo them.
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After our mole-like existence at IBM, I expect a “Day of Gratitude, Day 10″ that just says “I had a window”.