Rule of Life

It’s hard to believe that the eleven months of NEP have nearly past. One week and a few days from now, Tuesday the 31st, will be the last day of this program that has literally been a night and day commitment since September 2nd of last year. We have already experienced some of the “lasts” of this experience: Patrick had his last day of work with his kids at Preston Taylor Ministries yesterday, we spent the last night together as just the four of us last night and had our last community meal, Janet lit the Christ candle to start our vocational discernment time for the final time last weekend at our end of the year retreat, extinguishing it after we commissioned one another to carry Christ’s light into the world. I said “goodbye, Jesus” after she blew out the candle, and I was promptly told that I didn’t get the point of what we’d just done.

What will be happening for me in the next several weeks? This week will be my last full week of volunteering at work. Patrick will be gone this week on a mission trip with the Jr. High youth group to the Heifer Ranch in Arkansas, so it will be just me and the girls here at the house. Tomorrow, I’ll be substitute organist in church. I was called about that this afternoon, due to a family emerg

ency for our regular organist. I got a subpoena in the mail today to testify in court on Thursday morning, so I will be doing that. Other than that, I’ll be enjoying my final days sitting in my place on the couch, spending time bantering with Tara and laughing at and with Chasie.

Over the last three days of the program, we will be having a reception in our driveway after church and we’ll let interested church members come over to see the place where we’ve been living. That evening, everyone involved in NEP this year—we, our mentors, church staff, NEP committee members and friends—will gather at Susan’s house for a celebratory dinner together. Patrick’s girlfriend Sarah will be coming into town on Monday evening to help him get ready to leave, and Tara’s family will arrive to help her finish the arrangements for the new condo that she and Chasie will be moving into. And on Tuesday night, it will end. Wed

nesday will bring Patrick’s departure. I’ll probably be the last one to start packing, as usual, and I’ll be taking things to the new apartment that my brother Brian and I will be living in.

Speaking of apartment that Brian and I will be living in—I think we might have one! On Wednesday, I paid the deposit for a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment off West End near Vanderbilt. It is adjacent to Centennial Park, and a look around the corner puts you face to face with Nashville’s replica of The Parthenon.

I plan to drive home to Terre Haute on the 1st or the 2nd. I’ll spend a week there, and then I’ll drive back to Nashville probably on the 8th. On August 9, I’ll be flying with Tara to New Mexico, where we will attend the National Young Adult Volunteers re-entry event at Ghost Ranch. We’ll fly back here on the 12th, and re-entry will become a reality. I will st

art my full-time, paid (wahoo!) employment at the Campus for Human Development on Wednesday, August 15.

That’s what I’ll be doing over the next few weeks. What is probably most important is what goes on within during the final days of this transforming experience. How will I choose to respond to the things I have seen and done since coming to Nashville? How will life be different than it was before?

At our end of the year retreat last weekend at Penuel Ridge, our spiritual director, Janet, shared the practice of developing a rule of life with us. During a three hour period of silent reflection, we were to think about what things might go into our rule of life, which is a basic framework for an individual’s spiritual development. These can become the basis of a life that is connected to God: study, quiet, prayer, service, worship. These are the things that can sustain us for the long haul. Living in a program is easy, compared to living a rule of life in a world that so often makes spiritual living a challenge.