7.30.2014

My Small Town of Shelbyville

There is something about the town of Shelbyville that has simply captured my heart. These people, this time, the place....as unglamorous as my summer is here, I still love having this deep sense of feeling here, the feeling of a place like home. It's so great to have this to come back to, even though WKU is for sure my home right now. All of this is such a far cry from everything else I've ever experienced, with moving being such a part of my life before God decided to really shake up my world.

So, this whole post is a tribute to my town that I call home, and my church that I love so deeply.

 





 








 


When asked to tell about your experience working at Christ Community, where do I even begin (how do you describe anything associated with CCC anyway?)? I can tell you this though: being an intern at Christ Community means a lot to me—it’s a new way for me to serve the church that I love and an exploratory way to look at what ministry could be as a future calling/career path.


Like many things at CCC, my job as an intern began unstructured and about as clear as mud. This lack of super defined tasks and schedule was really a challenge for list-making, two-weeks-ahead planning me. Not to mention that I went out of the country to Honduras for a week in the middle of my first month working.


And I thought this summer was going to be easy.

God had different plans. From all of these challenges, God has made a new norm for me out of the storm—He’s drawn me out onto the water into a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. I can’t thank Him enough for the challenges He’s helped me through.

As the weeks of working continued on, I began to learn even more about time management, handling money and scheduling (which I have to say, I’m still not any good at). I also had the opportunity to learn more about Shelbyville—from being able to go into Sixth and Main and work, talking about mission trips to a lady in the UPS store, and going in the coolest paint store I’ve ever been in (I went in there only a few time and already this one guy knows what I’m back for before I say anything--that’s Shelbyville for you).

Ever since I moved here, God has been working on my heart full-time. From having a many difficulties with the move here, God has taken my heart and transformed it into one that loves and sees the beauty of Shelbyville—just like what He sees. CCC has helped me see just how much God LOVES the church, how it really is His bride, and how we are to take care of her and grow her until He returns.  

With school about to start back, my consistent time here is starting to reach the last stretch of its journey. I will miss going to church, hanging out with the youth, seeing you all, driving on Main Street, and even going to the Walmart.  However, I am called back to WKU for this year to go and support another church while I’m there, lead people in prayer and simply be a light to the other students I meet, especially the freshman. I can already feel that God is preparing events and times and moments and places to show His glory and move with prayer like never before on WKU’s campus.

Thank you so much CCC, for your investment in me and my spiritual growth—you all are life-changers, it’s as simple as that.
 
“Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. MORE than that, I regard EVERYTHING as loss compared to the surpassing value of KNOWING Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may GAIN Christ and be FOUND in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes through the law, but one that comes through faith in CHRIST, the righteousness from God based on FAITH. I want to KNOW Christ and the POWER of his resurrection and the SHARING of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
Philippians 3:7

 
 
 

2 comments:

  1. Shelbyville is the best. And where is this paint store?

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's the one yellow building down by operation care!

    ReplyDelete