Last Full Day with the Fam

This morning we all got up and and took the El to the Holy Covenant UMC in Chicago. My pastor had suggested this church as her husband has been the pastor there when they lived in the area. The church was very welcoming and I even met the director of the praise ensemble I will be in at Garrett.

Today was one of those times that you knew God had put you in a place for a reason. The sermon at Holy Covenant was about intimacy in all types of relationships. The pastor giving the sermon was a single, heterosexual woman who laughed about how she was the one to preach on the verse in Ecclesiastes which talks about how "two are better than one." She spoke about the importance of building relationships and how God is with you to help you do that. She highlighted the fact that God made us to be people who need to be in relationships and community so we should not worry about being alone. This was extremely helpful to me as I have just moved halfway across the country and I do not know many people.

After the service, I met a couple of Garrett students who attended worship at Holy Covenant. They made me feel so welcomed and gave me tips for seminary. One of them included: "if you don't feel like you are a completely different person after the first semester, then you're not really getting anything out of seminary...Be prepared for your entire world to change beyond just moving to a new place." This seemed a little intense, but I'm prepared to be transformed in the love of Christ.

After church, we had lunch at Penny's Noodles (delicious pad thai) and then took the El to Wrigleyville. We walked around for awhile and then grabbed dinner at Las Palmas Mexican restaurant.

That basically concludes my last full day with my family before they leave tomorrow. On one hand, it will be nice to finally be on my own and get more settled into my apartment, but on the other hand I think I will miss them more than I realize (maybe after a few months haha).