This building doesn't exist yet, but next week is the ground breaking ceremony for it. It will likely be a couple of years before it looks anything like this, but this is the projection of what is to come. It's funny how the timing of it has all happened. Tim and I have talked about this building for a long time. It's been the topic of conversation in our household far too many times to count. Between just Tim and I, with high schoolers, with friends, with people who attend Mission Hills, with people who used to attend Mission Hills, and with people who have never been to Mission Hills.
Tim has said for years that he would never see the inside of the new building. I'll modify that statement just slightly. He'll never see the inside of that building as an employee. He knew all along that although we had prayerfully submitted to the leadership's decision to make this building happen, and although Tim actually got to do some consulting on what the youth would need and should have in this building, and although we have actually in small ways contributed to the funding of this building, we will never actually get to be a part of it.
Next week is the ground breaking. All families from the church are supposed to bring their shovels to be a part of the ceremony and celebration.
We will not be there. Next week will be the first week in over seven years, the first week since our very first Sunday in Colorado, that we are not a part of the Mission Hills body. Everyone will be there, celebrating together, and we will already be a part of Mission Hills history. A part of the past. Part of the old building. We "built on the legacy" at one point in time, but our legacy at Mission Hills is now a part of the past. it's done.
I've said a few times over the last few months that it's a bit like losing a limb. It's with you for so long, that you take it for granted and don't even think about what life would be like without it. Until it's gone. And then you have to learn how to function in a whole new way. You have to start all over again and create a whole new kind of "normal." We know that that will happen for us, but for right now, it's still a little painful.
As I write this, Tim is cleaning out an office that no longer belongs to him. I wish that I could be with him to help him with the emotions that he is surely packing into those boxes, right along with all his books. I am sure that a tear or two is slipping into those boxes, along with his books, files, pictures, mementos, and memories.
Please don't misread me. We know this is for the best. We know that God has big plans for us. We know that He is preparing a new legacy for us. We know that He has held us in his hands throughout this whole process. We know that we have been sustained by the prayers of faithful friends when we were unsure how to pray on our own. We know that God loves us and desires to give good gifts to His children. We know that this was inevitable. We believe that where ever we land next will be a better fit for us.
But just for the moment, we are looking back, saying our good-byes, and all the while wondering where we will go to church next Sunday.
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