Crew Commune

I want to live in a commune with "the crew," my tight knit group of friends from MACU.

I've desired this for some time.  During the recent visit of three of the crew members, Rob, Matt, and Kaylin, I had a commune moment.  I was doing the dishes and Rob was leisurely strumming his guitar while everyone else chilled and chatted in the living room.  I got lost in the moment and imagined us making meals together, caring for our homes, sitting on the front porch sipping coffee, doing life together as we grew old.

Of course this would never work.

There is graduation and internships.
There is Papua New Guinea and Mexico and Iraq.
There are churches who need these men to preach and lead.
There are communities who need these women to teach and influence.
There are families to start.

Maybe in Heaven their mansions will be next to my shack and we'll live together forever, worshipping the God we all love.  And I'll have the greatest joy as I look out from my porch swing at the streets lined with those they reached during our time apart.

I miss you still.

Two months after moving, I continue to miss my MACU friends.  I really enjoy being in Georgia and am making friends fast, but there is nothing like a college campus.

Living on campus, people are always around.  If we wanted to be with people, we simply walked across the field.  We thoroughly enjoy having people over and at MACU our apartment was hang-out central.  Once we had 30 some people over throughout the entire night, 20 at one time.  I don't miss having to restock my fridge all the time, but I do miss the campus atmosphere.

I miss the banquets, play practices, evening services, quality chapels, open dorms, basketball games,... There always seemed to be something going on.

Students would often drop by my office throughout the day seeking advice, a listening ear, or just to chat.  I enjoyed listening to their thoughts and miss the random conversations.

Wandering the halls of the women's dorm, I never knew what would happen.  Would I stumble into a hot mess of drama that needed a mediator?  Would a student need encouragement to get off the phone and get on her homework?  Would I find myself with a group of girls giggling ourselves silly?  Would a random group of us block the entire hallway as we sat on the floor talking about everything and yet nothing at all?  I miss the MACU ladies.

I miss eating lunch in the Dining Hall, hearing people laughing, singing "drunken" birthday wishes, and witnessing the future of the church interacting with some of the greatest minds I know.

I miss the professors.  I miss Dr. Fields' quirky personality and vast knowledge.  I miss McKinney's genuineness, accurate empathy, and unconditional positive regard.  I miss Dr. Bob's heart for the students.  I miss Amanda's encouragement and ability to brighten any day.  And Larsen was just getting comfortable with me!

I especially miss the crew, the handful of students with whom Corey and I spent the majority of our free time.  The few who even when I needed to get away from people I still wanted around.  I miss how all our individual personalities meshed together and interacted; we all had our own oddities that kept things interesting.  Fitting everyone into our small living room was always a feat.  Deciding what we were going to do was practically impossible, but lent itself to adventures we couldn't have planned.  Home-made boats, exercise ball battles, Nerf gun wars, wrestling matches, walks on east campus and around town, putting together a puzzle, board games, weird crafts, standing in the kitchen discussing theology and life and generally sharing in it together.  The crew became my second family and I miss them dearly.

As much as I continue to miss the MACU community, I am glad to be here in Georgia.  I know God has called Corey and I here and I am confident that He has a plan for those still in North Carolina.  I'm glad we were all together for a time and look forward to getting together again to talk about how God is working through each of us.