Dream State

The world looks so different now. As if internship were a dream I had that I am now waking from, a big sleepy, a big groggy. And yet, I am changed. Not in the sense that you had a dream where something bad happened and awoke and couldn't shake it for the day... but a knowledge that I have changed. Things deep within me have been rewired. I see the world differently from when I was last here.

And here, for those who can't follow my travels (I understand, I barely can), is Chicago. Back at seminary again for a final year of academics. I return to find several faculty and staff gone and new ones arrived. I come back to two different classes of students. I come back to slightly different courtyards, hallways, stairwells, and offices. Small things have shifted that allow me to realize I've been gone a year.

I'm a True Blood fan. This you should know well. On the first episode of this season, the main character, Sookie Stackhouse, comes back home after being in fairy land (yeah, it's bizarre, don't ask) only to discover that she's been gone over a year. Her home looks different, babies have been born, her ex is king, and her brother is now a cop. Sometimes, the only way to know you've been gone is to see the changes in others.

So here, beyond the walls and objects that mark time, my friends have grown into pastor, preachers, ministers, and stronger people of faith. Listening to them speak about the places they were on internship and the people they met and ministered to and with reminds me that I too have my stories. And though that have a dream like sheen to them, my heart assures me I spent a year in Billings, Montana doing ministry.

To quote Talladega Nights, "That just happened!!!"

I'll work on believing it now.