a short story
In the rectangular state of Pennsylvania, on the east side, right next to New Jersey, there is a town by the name of Langhorne. It is a busy town, with busy roads and busy stores. In this town of Langhorne, a little north of Philadelphia, there is a school, nestled among some trees right near the train station. It is a little hidden, covered by trees and houses, and if you drive up the drive way of the school all of the sudden you are at a University. A busy little university, where there are students walking around with arms full of books heading to the library to study, athletes heading to the gym or the soccer fields to practice or play a game. There are students sitting on the grass, enjoying the sunshine, life, and energy of the campus. There are movie nights, late night Wawa runs, half-price appetizers at Applebees, you will probably be able to find at least one group of students playing Rook or Dutch Blitz, ping-pong or foosball. It is in this same little school, where students gather in small groups passionately debating things like Calvinism, Dispensationalism, and free will, some groups of students gather together excited about a ministry they want to start, or new ideas of how to reach the community around them. Here students, all ages, sit in groups of 10, 20, 30, 40 in rooms where professors speak, and they hurriedly take notes before they forget those words of wisdom that were just imparted into their ready brains, in these rooms also where many more questions are raised, and answered. Where students sometimes sit and remember how they got here, and think about where they are going, where they sometimes may have an off day and may accidentally close their eyes for just one... moment... and then... they JOLT back into awareness and before their next class grap some coffee to keep awake.
It is a place where ideas become a wildfire sometimes unstoppable, and the student body takes AcTiOn by taking missions trips to Slidell Louisiana, the DR, to France, Bolivia, Greece and many other places. Where students raise money for various different causes, and where they dream of a different reality in which God is always glorified.
A place that students become frustrated, with their own sin and they struggles that they each individually face, but never alone.
And in this frustration, it is also a place where they grow, and are enCOURAGEd and are loved. Loved by God, and loved by their school.
And in this place, of community, of growth, of learning, of life, and OF GOD, there is a little girl... who is not so little anymore.
A little girl who is in her Senior year at Philadelphia Biblical University, but not her last year as she is in her third week of Grad classes.
A little girl who, yes, still dreams of butterflies and prefers picking daisies to doing the dishes.
A little girl who is supposed to be grown up, although she doesn't really feel it yet. And she is excited, so excited, about all of the possibilities. She still dreams, and dreams big... and will keep dreaming.
and she loves her God, and is loving His people and hoping to learn to love them better.
and this little girl is hearing His heartbeat "people, people, people" as was once taught to her... and she is excited, and excited that her classes are teaching her better, how to love the "people. people, people".
Who will go to them? and who will He send? and she wants to raise her hand... but still feels very small...
