Walking Into The Next Season

July came and went in the blink of an eye and here we are already halfway through August. What's happened since then? The Kingdom Bible Course finished up and people have started to head home. Saying so many constant goodbyes is one of my least favorite parts of YWAM but I'm super grateful for all the friendships made! August is a month off for the base, aside from the BorderWalk, which I'll go into a little later. Time off has been spent with a few days at the beach, lots of movie nights and just general relaxing.

I finished reading The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen and it's probably one of my favorite recent reads. It's Nouwen's thoughts on Rembrandt's painting of the Prodigal Son. He separates the book into three parts, each one focusing on one of the principal characters of the story: the younger son, the elder son, and the father. He writes about how early on in life he recognized himself in the younger son who needs to repent and turn back towards Christ. For Nouwen it was easy to view himself as the 'wretched sinner' who returned to the welcome embrace of the father. As he studies the painting and the parable throughout his life he comes to relate more to the elder son who keeps himself at a distance. The elder son sees himself as the 'perfect, longsuffering' son whose anger keeps him from entering into the celebration of his brother's return. Nouwen says that coming to terms with the parts of him that resemble the elder son was not only much harder to recognize but also a more painful knock to his pride. I have to say that reading what he had to say about the elder son in all of us was pretty impactful. Here's one particular paragraph that made me go "Oof."

"...I find myself questioning why others do not give themselves as I do. Just when I think I am capable of overcoming my temptations, I feel envy toward those who gave in to theirs. It seems that wherever my virtuous self is, there also is a resentful complainer. Here, I am faced with my own poverty. I am totally unable to root out my resentments. They are so deeply anchored in the soil of my inner self that pulling them out seems like self-destruction. How to weed out these resentments without uprooting the virtues as well? Can the elder son in me come home....be found as the younger son was found?"

He finishes the book by going deeper into what a friend once challenged him with. Saying that whether he relates more to the elder or younger son at any given time his calling, and ours as Christians, is to become more and more like the father. The father in the parable not only runs to meet his disgraced son with joyous celebration but also steps out to invite the elder son into that joy. He embraces the son who wished him harm and allows all to see how he welcomes the prodigal home. He also tells his eldest to come into the celebration, counters any doubts and jealousy by saying 'all that I have as been yours all along'. He doesn't forget one son in favor of the other but opens his arms wide enough to embrace both. I'd HIGHLY recommend you ordering a copy of the book and reading it yourself as it offers so much more wisdom in its pages!

Not only does August offer lots of time to read, there's also the BorderWalk happening on the weekends. BorderWalk is a peace pilgrimage and prayer walk that YWAM Ireland does every year. Typically it would be a three week trek to the towns along the border of Northern Ireland and the Republic. As the group walks to each town they pray for peace and healing in the hearts of people of this island. This year it looks a little different, thanks COVID, and instead of a three week walk that would have us staying in different towns as one big group we are separated into two teams of six that each take on a small part of the route each day of the weekend. After we arrive in the next town we all drive home and sleep in our own beds. So far I've walked from Rostrevor to Newry and Newry to Crossmaglen with the other group walking from Rostrevor to Newry and then Crossmaglen to Keady. The BorderWalk is in its eighth year and has a beautiful history behind it, if you want to know more or follow along with us as we walk you can check out the instagram page @borderwalk20_

That's me, I'd love to hear from ya'll about what's going in your lives!