PAINT A PICTURE.

I think it's finally beginning to make sense. As I spoke with someone last night, words spilled out of my mouth without even thinking. The underlying reality of the year seems to be this...

I came to this place to change. It's as simple as that. I wanted to found myself in Christ more than ever before. I thought I came with few expectations. I was careful of that. But, the truth is, I came with expectations. I came and wanted to step into a program. I wanted a program that would mold me. I wanted a modeled lifestyle that would set a pattern for the future. I wanted leaders that would challenge me. I wanted relationships that would transform me. Very vague expectations, yet expectations none the least.

Void.

They didn't happen.

Empty promises.

And yet (and here's the real kicker), I have gained what I wanted most of all. I have been drawn even more into that ultimate relationship. The truth is that I cannot help but to give God the credit for this transformation. He was the one to change. He was the one to mold. He was the one to challenge.

We must realize that when we give God the time and space in our lives, He will work. And He will fulfill our desires and cries of our hearts. This is an incredible truth!

Today I said goodbye to London.

As I walked across the bridge over the River Thames for what will be the last time during this season in my life, an army quickly moved towards me...an army of a couple hundred naked people on what was supposedly their annual bike trek across the city in protest of oil dependence and high petrol prices. Meanwhile, a busker sat on the side of the pavement letting 'Bittersweet Symphony' ring from his lips. As I continued walking, crowds of what seemed to be every ethnicity passed by. Each person, with their creativity expressed through their clothing, faded together into one whole. Individuality stripped away...seemingly more easily the more extreme. Tourists with their maps looking both lost and excited. Oversized Oxfam photographs screaming with messages to end world poverty. Big Ben continued to stand strong and firm in the distance. The clock ticked away. And the London Eye still slowly rotated just as it did on the day of its first sighting nine months ago...

Oh what a place.