What a week. What a whirlwind.

We spent the week getting to know the students and the staff… it seemed like absolute chaos, but then one of the students said it was great, because it was a great team building exercise and we were all a part of making the machine work. I have never seen students just see a task or need and take care of it the way these guys do.

This was one of the hardest weeks I’ve had in leadership, and yet the most fulfilling. The buck stops with Sean and I. We have an awesome staff that is 100% behind us, AND awesome mentors over us who are helping us hone our skills. It’s been a VERY long time since we had either of these – and now we have both at the same time! What a blessing!

One of the hardest things for me was letting go of one of the students. On Day 2 she told me she did not want to stay. Everything within me wanted to say, “No! You have to stay! God has so much for you. Don’t throw it away.” But this was not the right place or the right time for her. God filled my heart with His love for her – He kept bringing songs and scriptures to my mind that revealed His love. But they all ended in the need to let go. I’ve second guessed myself a few times. But I know she’s safer in the Arms of Her Heavenly Father than in my plan for her life.

Sean and I had a day of Rest with our kids on Saturday. Bliss. Then on Sunday we attended Faith Church in Brooksville and I’m still chewing on the sermon from Acts 5: Joy vs Happiness. It’s rare that I sit in church and am so engaged and challenged by the sermon. I can see why Sean’s parents have chosen this church as their home. One of the key things he said is that Worldy Happiness and True Joy are in Mortal Combat with each other. They are often mutually exclusive: when we seek happiness (temporary) we do so at the expensive of True Joy (eternal); whereas when we seek True lasting joy, we find that the things that the world says will make us happy are not as important as we think they are. No brainer, right? I think it has to do with the context and they way this Man of God puts it.