May 3, 2001 4:01 pm

I'm done. All done with Rice work. ALL DONE. I graduate in just over a week. I'm done. NOTHING left to do for Rice. It's been a good four years. I really appreciate my roommates, starting with Jacob, Chris, and then Jacob again, and then finally Lenny, although I've barely seen him this semester :) And definitely, Scotty and Ricky for the last three years.

I'm not sure what I'm feeling right now besides happiness that it's just about all over. I need to pack up and stuff, but for all intents and purposes, this is over. Done with. No more. :)

Just thoughts.

May 6, 2001 11:07 pm

Today may have been my last night at Ecclesia for a long time. :( Sadness. I also picked up Robbie Seay's CD, Thoughts of You, just so I'll have something to remember. I might go next week, but I'm not sure. It depends on how things work out with family being in town and all of that.

Tomorrow night, though, I am going to Clint's home group to share with them, and pray with them. :) So I'm not quite totally cut off from them.

I really appreciate what Ecclesia has been for me. It all started with Rick Bennett, a great friend and mentor of sorts. It wasn't quite an official mentoring relationship, but that's definitely what I got out of it. He really pushed me to think beyond socially and politically conservative values, and go to the Biblical values that Christ exhibited, and calls us to. Some of the things line up, but God calls us to be so much more than just Republicans.

Their emphasis on community and being a part of the community in which the church is located really refreshed my view of what the Church is, and what sort of joy and rejuvenation it should be providing for the community. As the bearers of the Gift of Life, we are called to bring this Life to the dead, starting with our Jerusalems, then to Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth.

I'm not sure how much a role Ecclesia played in me understanding grace more, but I'm sure they had to, since I spent so much time with Rick, and talking to Todd and others involved in that church. I know it was through them that I began to flesh out a bit more of what I understood about God's people being just a gross and in need of grace and my inherent nastiness and sinful self, that I began to appreciate the power of grace, and how grace still affects life after my conversion experience, so many years ago. Grace is not a one-time deal that you get and then it's over. Grace covers the entire span of my life, my Christian walk and journey. Not that I'm not saved, but that grace is something that is sort of like a water that flows down the path of my life, covering all that I do. It all starts with it changing me to see God for who He is, and how much He loves me.

Just thoughts.