Hasta luego

Why is it that we pray for God to grow people, to move them forward, but when it comes to pass, it is so difficult to bear?

Tonight I am sending a friend off to Green Bay. She was one of the first kids that I actually bonded with (on the same side of the fence) when I did youth ministry. I'll never forget the first time I saw her. I thought...wow. She's loud. She's intense. She's unique. I watched her attempt to put her contacts in for the minute she wanted to go without glasses. That didn't work out so well for her.

I've been a part of some of her darkest moments over the past seven years...and part of her greatest triumphs. I will never forget the pride that I felt when she was one of the student speakers at her graduation from FDU. I will also never forget how she tried to hide that she was dating that boy on that day as well.

I've stormed that gates of hell with her and for her. I've told her the truth more honestly than I've probably told anyone. I've seen her heart break and I've watched her accomplish things that most people many years her senior will never accomplish.

More than anything else, I've seen God's hand on this kid from the first moment that I met her. And now I've got to trust God, that He'll guide her, protect her heart, protect her from herself if necessary.

I know that this is part of what I'll experience when I'm a pastor. I know tha this is part of God's plan for her, because I prayed for God's will over her interview and over job offers. But why does it have to hurt so much?

Well...that is part of being human.