the beginning

It started in a borrowed basement, in a borrowed house, filled with strangers.

Strangers that would be friends.

People filed in, excited voices and young hands, ready to do something earth-shattering.  Little did we know, it would be earth-shattering, but not because of us or anything we could do.

As a shy sophomore, I usually shrank away from everyone else.  But not this time.

I was magnetically drawn to these people; they had something that I wanted.  A spark, a beauty about them.  I found out that they were believers.  And they wanted to love people.  They had this idea of sharing life together- in laughter and heartache and questions without answers.

They had this weird idea that God loved us.  And although I knew it was true, I had a hard time believing it, most days.  I started believing it though- and really living like I believed it- and somewhere down the line, I changed.  And I started sharing this idea that God loves us.  And more people started to come.  And more people started to change.

It started in a borrowed basement, in a borrowed house, filled with strangers.  It started with a handful of dreamers.  It started with the spark of a thought- that God does exist and that He loves us more than we know.

And then it exploded.

And two years later, we meet again- except this time, we've outgrown the basement.  The winds of change have equally carried people away and blown others to us.  But we are the same.

We are living for something bigger than ourselves.

For God and

for love.

Because both are the same.

What started with a mismatched plan and some searching college students, ended with Jesus.  Ended with a movement that keeps on moving- even as I graduate.

With full eyes, I look back at the beginning of the story.  The beginning with an ending that is still being written.  I never would have guessed the way that CRU's community would impact my life- or the way that God would collide with my heart.  I never would have guessed the ways that I'd be changed.

But I was changed.

I have been.

I am.

And oh, friend.  This is only the beginning.