Last night I had the incredible joy of getting to stay up late with some dear friends of mine on my last official night in Athens, and I realized that four years ago I was yearning for the kind of community that I am now so deeply immersed in.  What a difference a few years makes! We stayed up past 2am working on a stupidly hard puzzle and laughing at anything that remotely resembled humor. The whole time I just wanted to press pause and bottle up the laughter and joy and love in that little room.  But how encouraging that God blessed me with community in such a short time.  I'm sure there is precious, loving community in store for me in the sunshine state, and I am thrilled and excited to discover what exactly that'll look like, how I'll learn from them, the ways I'll know Jesus better because of them.  But who wants to leave community when it feels so safe? Being loved and knowing it is a blessing in life that I hope I never take for granted.  I know today I am overflowing with gratefulness for the people who've helped shape me here. 

"Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time... " Ecclesiastes 3:11