kəˈmyo͞onədē/
noun
1. a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
2. a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.
there is so much power in community.
that may be one of the best lessons i have learned since starting college.
in high school my home church in kansas city went through a period of not having leadership in the youth group.
we went through a time where adults really weren't present in the lives of the young students.
thankfully, the summer before my senior year, God brought a youth pastor and his then fiancé into the picture and started to build up what was lacking for so long.
because of the period where leaders were lacking, i wasn't able to see what community looked like in a group of students my own age.
i was blind to the importance that comes with living life with one another and working together with the same goal in mind.
then i came to college.
i went many weeks without being plugged in to a ministry in bolivar due to going home to kansas city every weekend.
then someone invited me to the well.
no. not to go get water.
(this ain't jack and jill.)
freshwater church in bolivar has a college student program every wednesday night called the well led by pastor dave becker.
it is where i first saw a glimpse into community.
i can't pinpoint when i first went to the well, but once i started something about being there just felt right.
i went through weeks of praying and asking if it was where i was meant to be in order to grow.
the loud YES came one friday night.
one friday night when a group of about 30 students gathered in the home of dave and laurel becker.
one friday night a bonfire was lit in the backyard.
one friday night when the loudest game of catchphrase in the history of the world went down.
one friday night when i realized that this home was filled with students who, because of the hearts of two adults, could come and rest and find true fellowship with one another.
dave and laurel becker.
my word.
those two.
i wish i could properly put into the words all that they, as individuals and as a couple, have done in my life.
they are selfless.
they are obedient.
they are honest.
they are caring.
they are straight up.
they are giving.
they are hilarious.
they show love.
they show humility.
they show grace.
they show patience.
they show Christ.
oh boy do they show Christ.
that one friday night opened my eyes to see all that God is doing in and through them.
and since that friday night i have seen even more accounts of how they are using their lives to do His will.
it is beautiful.
and through that beauty, i have found true community.
whether it be on a sunday morning,
or at the well,
or at spades night,
or over a cup of coffee at the beckers' kitchen table,
i continue to be shown what it means to be in community with your brothers and sisters in Christ.
which reminds me.
spades night.
y'all. spades night changed my life.
every thursday night students gather to drink coffee, watch movies, play spades, eat laurel's legendary cookies, play with the becker kids, get into discussions over whether 1,000 pound duck-sized horses or 1,000 horse-sized ducks would be easier to beat in a fight, eat homemade salsa, and just share life with each other.
i'm not kidding when i say it has changed my life.
it is another way that the becker family has opened up their home and lived out the idea that everything Christ gives us is to be used for the good of the Kingdom.
i don't know that i will ever be able to repay the beckers for what they've done in my life.
i don't know if i will ever be able to say thank you enough times.
but i am so very thankful.
i am thankful for the years as a high school student that i spent without any leadership.
it made me cherish what i now have so much more.
college students: find this.
i'm telling you.
it is so important to have people to lean on.
it is so important to have people to learn from.
community is so much more than its dictionary definition.
it is real.
it is there.
it is so needed.
and once you find it, you'll never want to let it go.
//and let us not neglect
our meeting together, like
some people do, but
encourage one another,
especially now that the
day of His return
is drawing near//
hebrews 10:25
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