"Heaven is a place on earth"

I wanted to write about my crazily wonderful beginning-of-the-week adventure before I forgot details...so here goes!

Sometime on Friday or Saturday I noticed yet another Facebook event...this one being a get-together in Pilsen, KS, mostly for Prayer & Action participants but also for TECies (people who have been on Teens Encounter Christ) and other friends.  It crossed my mind that I might go, but it was definitely an unsure deal...I have $700+ worth of textbooks to pay off, so spending money on gas and other small expenditures is a need-only basis.  However, I also realized it would be the only and last time I would see several friends this summer before the school year hits and we don't see one another for another year.  Friendships outweigh the price of gas.  Therefore, Monday afternoon I drove 3 hours to middle of nowhere Kansas.  The trip itself was great, especially between Emporia and Pilsen.  Rolling hills and grazing land for cattle, long stretches of empty road...my soul already began to expand and breath again.  I made it to Pilsen in an impressive 2 hours and 45 minutes and rested by the Marian grotto for a while before it became too hot for me and I waited inside the church another half hour before the first handful of people arrived.  I sat toward the front and soaked in the quiet.  My dear friend Tony, who I had been informing of my semi-surprise visit, was one of the first to come in and hugged and greeted me.  About then is when tears began to well up in my eyes.  Pretty soon more and more people streamed into the church and I saw more of my dear friends.  Father brought out Jesus.  Music started.  And I kid you not, I cried the. entire. time. of Adoration.

I really can't say why I cried so much.  I wasn't particularly sad.  In fact, I was overjoyed.  The best I can say is that all the emotions of the summer so far...the homesickness, the frustration, the confusion, the bottled-up-ness...suddenly colliding with pure joy of being surrounded by friends adoring my Lord was overwhelming.  Whatever it was, the tears flowed for the better part of an hour.  I actually welcomed the opportunity to let Jesus break into my heart after being so pent up for so long.

Anywho, so Adoration was definitely an amazing experience for me.  And afterwards we celebrated with each other the only way Kansas farm-kids and wanna-be-farm-kids know how...we ventured a few miles to the family farm of one of the girls, built up a bonfire, turned up the country music, pulled up some trailers, and two-stepped.  And ate 6 pies (split between 70ish people...not that everyone partook...but the point is that nobody expected 70 people.  At all.  Yay Holy Spirit!).  Truthfully, it was the most I've felt "at home" all summer!  People reuniting, affirming one another, building up the kingdom of God in the humblest of ways.  Kansas kids just know how to do things right.  And I didn't leave for Kansas City till 10:45pm.  What can I say, I just didn't really quite want to leave.

Everything about the night made me think of Heaven.  Not that I'm one for putting imagery to Heaven...normally I choose to stay away from that sort of thing.  But if Heaven had a sense to me, it would be everything about Monday night...friends greeting friends, community, all directed towards the altar, all together for one purpose.  It really was a taste of Heaven for me.

And now I have a taste of Heaven to propel me through the rest of the summer.  Whatever new joys, sorrows, or difficulties I will encounter, I know that He is the pinnacle of it all.  He is the reason behind everything.