no "i"

my little team reminds me:
God saves
He is my only judge
i am to be consecrated to Him
there is victory in Him.

josh - the first time i ever heard josh's voice, he was telling me he didn't need to send in a res deposit. the next time was in front of his apartment door at brentview towers when we came to invite him for dinner. he's grown a lot in the last year - i'm sure he'd be the first to say so. josh makes me hopeful and optimistic about the future. he also breaks down a lot of my assumptions about pastor's kids. i'll never forget the day we looked through the yearbook, searching for a second male RA, and concluded that josh was the man for the job. i'm so glad we did. i love him so.

danielle - the first day after i moved into res, danielle and i talked in the hall outside her room. she told me about st. fx and trinity-western, what she was looking for in a church, and why she was at rocky. i thought she was neat. i thought, "i can do this res thing." danielle encourages me to watch my words and actions, to be aware of how i affect others, and intentional about making that impact positive. i love her so.

lysa - after being placed in the same small group as lysa, the first thing i learned was that she was swiss. she talked about her babysitting jobs and trying to juggle things. i thought she was so pretty. lysa prays a lot, especially when the rest of the staff is dealing with something difficult. often, while a few of us are addressing a group, lysa will pray. i need to be more like that. i love her so.

i'll never forget the day lysa and danielle ran through the front door of rocky, asked if they could talk to me, then sat me down, shared their hearts, and told me they wanted to be RAs. i'm so glad they did. i love them so.

steve - first week of class, the guy beside me in synoptics made a joke to someone else. i laughed and said, "sorry . . . that was funny." he looked confused. then he said, "i like your shirt." i said, "thanks." i soon changed seats. and that was my first encounter with steve. fortunately, we've had considerably better talks since. steve challenges me to learn from everything, to engage all of myself in worship, to be thoughtful. i'll never forget the first time steve defined what he thought residence was about . . . it was on basis of his heart and perspective that we hired him back. i'm so glad we did. i love him so.

i love my team. even when it's not easy. maybe, especially when it's not easy.