Home (noun) - 

◦ The place where one lives 

◦ The place in which one can undress (emotionally) comfortably. 

Whenever someone asked me what I was most excited about for my time in this college, my answer was always the same. 

“The community,” I’d say.  

Now, when someone would ask what I was most nervous about, my answer surprised them. 

“Also the community.” 

God has slowly but surely been calling me into community for the last 4 years of my life. Youth With a Mission, Global U, and now Excel. I’ve been around the block a few times when it comes to entering into a new community. 

So why was I so nervous about entering into this one? 

Because I knew that the work God had been doing in my heart concerning vulnerability in community was coming to a head with the Excel community. I knew that I’d be making home in this place with these people for the next year and a half at minimum.  

That’s a lot of time to be seen, to be known, and to be loved. The prospect was a little terrifying to someone who’s spent a long time hiding  her heart from other people. 

And let me tell you, it has been a sweet wrestle since beginning the school year. I’m walking through one of the toughest seasons, all while being called into authenticity and vulnerability in the face of my peers. But you know what? I wouldn’t trade it for the world. 

There are leaders and mentors in this community that continuously pour into me, as I get to pour myself out at the feet of my peers in all my messy,  imperfect glory. I get to help create a space that is safe for people to be real  and honest with where they're at. I get to let people see that it’s okay to not  have it all together, all of the time - even while I’m still learning that  myself. 

This is what community is. 

We get to bear with one another, enduring with each other through all of our mess, all for the sake of love. We get to hold up one another’s arms  when we get weary, and call out the gold in each other when our view of  ourselves has grown dull and gray.  

We get to make home with one another.