Philadelphia

thus endeth the longest week. bright and early monday morning i was picked up by my dear friends and shuttled to the airport for a 3(ish)-day conference in Philadelphia. i signed up for this conference even though it was in the middle of the quarter and i missed two classes and had two papers due this week. i signed up for this conference because i knew it was going to be challenging and good, but i wasn't sure how. sure enough, God is good. i could feel a crescendo rolling up within me for about a week leading up to the conference and i had a sense that the things i was studying were starting to coalesce into a spiritual preparation. i was blessed to have attended this conference with some of my best friends, some relatively new friends, and some friends who i met for the first time on monday morning. the sense that i got from all of these people, though, was that we were ready. we were ready to hear what God had for us during these days, and we were excited to be there to experience it together. i wont go into specifics of what was said and what was taught on...mostly because i am still processing at this point. but i will say this: i was struck by the simultaneously occurring and deeply indwelling feelings of joy and grief that i experienced. but then again, maybe i shouldn't be struck by this. after all, this tension of joy and grief has been the lens through which i have experienced life for much of my adulthood. grief + joy destruction + hope inextricable, one eternally enriching the experience of the other.