Stories

November holds a special place in my heart, as it is the month of my birthday. However, last year, my birthday was not a day of joy but rather one steeped in tension and anxiety. I found myself mediating a heated debate among church members seeking disaffiliation in my former church. On a day meant to celebrate my existence and blessings, I felt my very purpose in life being questioned. Feeling discouraged, on the brink of despair, and lacking the strength to walk this calling path, my eyes caught a phrase inscribed on a birthday candle gifted by my cousin:

Everyone I encounter these days is overwhelmed – by schedules and events and commitments. By expectations and responsibilities and the demands of ministry. By relationships and parenting and caregiving for aging parents. Overwhelm is the thread running through the lives of family and friends, church members, colleagues, and even strangers I run into out and about in the city.

This summer, in our neck of the woods in Chapel Hill, we have been journeying together through the “humble beginnings” of God’s people as recounted in Genesis. A few weeks ago, we came to the story of Jacob’s vision of the ascending ladder filled with angels traveling back and forth into paradise.