Just like a blink of an eye and February’s gone! Wow, what a whirlwind of a month. This month was filled with winter rains, warm smiles, and Sunday mornings wrapped in a blanket next to the fire. When entering a fellows year, it can be so easy to have these high expectations that every day is chalked full of the extraordinary. It can be so easy to believe that every day has to be better than the one before it like you are on a roller-coaster that only goes up. However, as we know all too well, life contains both the extraordinary and the ordinary, and we have to learn to see Christ in both. So, listed below are a few little things, the “simple things” that have allowed me to see God in the ordinary.
Tommy Rychener
Have you ever had a conversation with someone and the second that conversation ends, you feel like your soul is recharged? That’s how I feel every time I talk to Tommy. He is kind, attentive, hilarious, empathetic, and radiates the Holy Spirit every single day. Each fellow in our class is paired with a fellow from the previous class to “live life with” during our fellows year. I could not have been blessed with someone more loving and caring than Tommy. After every conversation I have with him, I feel as though I am seen, known, and heard. He’s one of those guys that you just feel closer to The Lord by being around him.
Last weekend, we met at this tiny Hispanic bodega in North Raleigh. There, sitting at this tiny table, he gave me maybe the best advice I’ve ever gotten. He told me to be “speak gently to myself.” Wow. Mind blown right? Sitting here today, I’m realizing that I’ve never done that before, but I am so freaking excited to start.
The Alexander Family
Throughout my fellows year, I have gotten the unbelievable opportunity to help lead a middle school boys' small group. These boys are goofy, wild, hilarious, and so hungry for The Lord. During my time leading them I’ve had the ability to connect on a really meaningful level with some of the kids. One of the kids, Jack Alexander, has already made an incredible impact on me. You might be asking yourself, as one does, how does an 8th-grade boy have such an impact on a 23-year-old youth leader. Well, throughout loving and getting to know Jack, I have gotten to know his family as well.
The amazing thing about Apostles is that the community embraces you just as Christ would. The Alexanders are no exception. One of the most powerful, joyous conversations I’ve ever had with someone, was when Sarah Alexander (Jack’s Mom) and I sat in rocking chairs and talked about my desire for teaching. No one, and I mean no one, had ever taken the time to sit with me and talk about my dreams. It was unbelievable.
After our little chat, I went inside their house, a house filled with so much laughter and love, and watched the US soccer game with Daniel, David, and Jack. For me, that night and those small things, sparked a revival in my heart that sped me right towards The Lord.
Nursery
If you haven’t picked up on it already, I love kids. I truly believe they are the purest examples of joy and love. So, while I am volunteering with the youth group on Sunday Nights, I have also spent the first Sunday morning of every month with the little munchkins in the nursery. Let me be the first to tell you, these kids are WILDIN. My little man Carter is off the chain. But there is something so healing about being surrounded by the tiny laughter of babies and infants. Each and every little giggle brings the biggest smile to my face. It also has been awesome to work alongside my girl Morgan (2021 fellow) and get to know her better too. Shoutout to all those crazy kiddos and their unbelievable parents.
Stacey Cochran
So, if you’ve talked to me at all in the last few months you would hear how my job has not been at all what I expected it to be. Even though it has been one of the most difficult parts of my fellows year, it has also been one of the ways I have seen The Lord the most. Once a week, I get to work with my girl Stacey Cochran. Stacey is our amazing accountant who works at the desk directly behind mine. She will be the first to tell you how different we are, she’s got three kids in college and does not like people (lol) and I am 23 and love being around others. Yet, she has been my biggest cheerleader, a constant source of laughter, and just a really solid friend in the workplace. Every week she cheers my dreams on and gives me the confidence to believe in myself again. It is the people like her that will make me miss working at my job after fellows’ ends.
Warm Winter Days
As soon as winter in Raleigh hit I knew that cold weather was not at all for me. I love being outside, lying in the grass, staring up at the stars. What I don’t love is waking up every morning and scraping ice off my Rav 4 and wearing 5 layers of clothes like I’m going for a hike in Alaska. That’s just not my vibe. But, I loved those warm February days where I could walk out of my house barefoot, where I could look out and see the kids playing in the streets. It is in those moments, that I really feel connected to my Abba Father.
-Luke Harvin