Remembering Where I Came From
Over the weekend, we moved to Mountain View, a quaint little apartment, in the heart of the Silicon Valley. While packing all of our things for the move, I came across some of the "thank you" cards I received from my departure from Michigan. Many of them had very sincere and touching notes. Most of them were from leaders that I oversaw, and others were former high school students. It brought a flood of memories, all of them good, about the work I have done while there. It's hardly a secret that I left under very tumultuous circumstances. But I've made my peace and I've even managed to visit Ann Arbor back in May of last year. But I've struggled for a very long time, trying to make sense of my journey up to that point.
Sometimes I still wonder why I went through what I did, and seeing how I am no longer in ministry, what the purpose of all those years were. By reading those cards, and all the things that people mentioned, I realize why. Just simply to be there among the people, at that very time, and to do what I was supposed to do... minister.
Since leaving, I've alienated some people, intentionally and unintentionally. I've de-friended a few people on Facebook (mostly because I found the too-frequent updates quite annoying), stopped emailing people, and made google chat conversations more infrequent. Perhaps some people felt offended and others hurt that I didin't value their friendship.
And I apologize for that.
I'm no longer frequently on Facebook, for reasons that are better articulated here (hat tip to Steph for the find). You can find me on this blog, or via email, david*at*iamdz.com. I'd much rather talk through email or by phone, so please feel free to reach me and I'd love to re-connect.
