Where has the summer gone?

It’s hard to believe that in two weeks I’ll be back home in NC. I’m jumping on an Air Canada flight back to Raleigh on August 10. My summer in Toronto is quickly drawing to close. Who knew that nine weeks could go by so fast?

As I start to look back on the weeks of June and July and reflect on the coming two weeks ahead, it strikes me how much I’ve changed over the course of the summer. I’ve done so much in Toronto with different ministry sites in and around the city; I’ve met so many people from across North America who came to serve with CSM and who call the streets of Toronto home; I’ve encountered God where I least expect to find God; I’ve come a little further along in my journey of discovering my calling in life; and I’ve gained a new set of life-long friends in the people I’ve shared a home with for the past 2 months.

My city directors have really encouraged me to start thinking about the “re-entry” process that I will most definitely find myself going through once I arrive back in NC. Because of the many different experiences I’ve had while in the inner-city, I am going home a changed person. My views of poverty, welfare, stereotypes, prejudice, and people have changed. My opinion on how ministry should be done has probably changed. The way I see my own life has definitely changed. Even just the experience of living in Canada has changed me – I now see the importance of “going green” as a lifestyle change, I appreciate other cultures and beliefs more intensely, and I see more clearly how the United States is viewed outside of its borders. There’s no getting around the fact that I have changed in the past two months…but the communities that I’m going back to most likely have not changed. And, that’s going to be the most difficult part of adapting to life back home.

Even though Toronto has molded me into a more mature person in my faith and social awareness, it is important for me and for my friends and family to remember that I’m still the same Jason that left seven weeks ago. I haven’t lost my southern accent, I still like pig pickin’s, I can’t wait to drive my truck, and I’m REALLY looking forward to being back at Campbell. I’ve missed home and my school communities so much over the summer, and I’ve been proud to exclaim that I’m a southerner from the states living in Canada!

But, the re-entry is going to be a challenge. Poverty in NC looks a lot different than the poverty and despair that surrounds me here in the downtown core of Toronto. I need to start thinking of practical ways to apply the lessons I’ve learned here in Canada to my communities back in Harrells, Buies Creek, and Raleigh. I need to not forget the stories I’ve heard and the people I’ve served here in Toronto, but I need to be prepared to hear new stories and serve new people back in NC. And, I need to realize that not everyone is going to understand what it was that I did in Canada. While I can certainly try to explain all I want to, I have to accept the fact that many people will never truly understand my ministry this summer. And, that’s okay.

I do however want to thank everyone who has been faithfully reading my blog posts over the past months. It’s been really encouraging and inspiring to know that people back home care about the work I’m doing and the way God is moving in and through me to affect change for the people who need God the most in the city. While you may or may not understand what my actual job was this summer, I’m glad that you’ve been along the ride that God has taken me on personally and spiritually. I can’t wait to see all of you again in August!