Old school, new school

It has now been close to three weeks that I've been in New Zealand. On Friday I had a chance to go into Christchurch with Dave and Ben to meet up with Laura. (All three of whom were staff on my DTS six years ago). It was a fun trip into the city but more than that for me it was meaningful on the drive home as I talked with the boys about what they saw as their successes and failures as a leader. We talked about my successes and failures as a student underneath them and also as a leader last year. And while I'm still not comfortable in my own skin enough that talking about mistakes is FUN, it's significant. One of my goals this year is to become a master of perspective, continually seeking a different one in order to learn the most from a situation. Sitting as a former student with some of my leaders, talking about what they saw as their mistakes was a very insightful perspective for me. Once I got home and was writing  I realized for me what a beneficial perspective it will be. I get to do this thing again, I get to learn from not only my own mistakes but from theirs as well. I get to celebrate and try to replicate their successes and mine. While at times it made me feel pretty old, (to keep referring to six years ago when it still feels like yesterday) I feel really blessed to have been able to have those conversations with those guys.

We've also welcomed in the two new schools, the Around the World in 80 Days DTS and the Father's Love Crossroads DTS. During the welcoming ceremony (which I had been a part of on my DTS) those who had been previously welcomed unto the land and the leaders sat on one side of the yard and the new students sat on the other. I'm sitting there, realizing which side I'm on. I'm not the new one anymore. I am a part of something here, I'm welcome here. Later in the night a leader here came up to me and said he believed God wanted me to know that I'm here for a reason. That there is a significant purpose for me being here in this season. That while people may be trying to define what I'm doing or my time and roles here to close my ears to those things. That God has a bigger work to do in my life than the work I feel I need to be doing here. To trust that I am here for a purpose. Clearly, the significant moments of this weekend just keep on coming.

Saturday night a friend and I ended up on the mountain looking at the stars and chatting. Talking about all things YWAM, the struggles, the joys, our goals. Sometimes there are really obvious things we all miss, family, normal jobs, comfort zones. But than sometimes you find yourself sitting under a million individually created twinkling stars completely aware that the One who created them, spent even more time and attention creating you, orchestrating life as it has been to get you to that point. Not knowing what it is, but knowing that it is, I am here for a reason.