Daily Peek: Until the end.
Earlier today, the science building at my alma mater was demolished while a crowd watched from a nearby parking lot. I happened to drive by when it began and saw that the crowd was pretty large; a lot of people had interest in seeing the first iron ball hit the side of the building.
About five hours later, I came back by the building and saw that the demolition was still happening, one painstaking blow at a time. The crowd was gone by then, except for one man sitting in a chair he had placed on the lawn outside the building. I was parked close enough to recognize him as a professor who has taught thousands of classes in that building during the years he has worked as a science professor at the university. He sat there, alone, just watching the building come down one brick at a time, never taking his eyes off the crumbling structure in front of him. He didn’t have to stay all day to watch it, but he wanted to; maybe he felt like he should be there until the very end.
I haven’t blogged much about my feelings as Starlite’s final days get closer and closer, mainly because it’s kind of hard to describe what it feels like to someone who hasn’t been in it for the last seven years. But as I stood watching that man today, I instantly felt like he would understand what this season feels like. In my own little way, I’ve got a chair pulled up as I’m watching each little part of it end. No one has forced me to stay until the end, but there’s no way I wouldn’t. I was there when it was being built and I’ll be there as it comes down, no matter how difficult it is to watch.
That professor wasn’t watching the building come down today because he had some kind of attachment to the glass panes that made the windows or the concrete pillars that supported the roof.
He was watching because those were the hallways he walked through, the classrooms in which he taught, the office in which he invested a good portion of his life.
He was there because he wanted someone to recognize that it wasn’t just a pile of rubble.
Posted: May 27th, 2009 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 10
Comments
Comment from Paige
Time: May 27, 2009, 9:26 pm
I love the way you describe everything. I feel like i am right there beside you watching and feeling everything that you are. I have been following your blog for sometime now and I hope that i can follow it even more in the future. This post makes me think of the things that I have “stayed for” and the things that I should have “stayed for”.
Comment from Erika
Time: May 27, 2009, 10:59 pm
What an awesome comparison! Beautiful post! Your writing never fails to encourage me.
Comment from Charity
Time: May 27, 2009, 11:39 pm
I just wanted to drop a note to you and let you know that you impress me so much. I stumbled onto your blog from babybangs many months ago and have loved tagging along your journey. When I first found you I told my husband all about ministry, which is doubly impressive… Then as I read on you reminded me of my sweet sister who is 21 now, at Boyce in Louisville, getting a BA in women’s ministry, knows without a doubt she’s called to ministry…not sure how, where, or how… living the single life.
Know this, you will be prayed for and over in the next several months. My husband and i moved 9 months ago to a new church where he is the ‘head cheese’… just kidding! adn that transition was tough! We had invested 8 years of ministry sweat, blood and tears into lives of people that we loved and to walk away, even without a doubt that it was the right walk was TOUGH! THere are still days… today was one of them that I lose it for a moment or two and wish to give in to the deep gut-wrenching cries for the past… All that to say… I get change… I can’t fully grasp your situation… but I get change and I’ll be praying for you.
I look forward to reading more of your adventure and what God has around the bend…
Comment from Mocha with Linda
Time: May 27, 2009, 11:53 pm
What you say and how you say it never fails to touch me.
You are a gifted young lady. In writing and in living. God has great plans for you that He has hidden around the bend in the road.
Comment from trs
Time: May 28, 2009, 12:27 am
You have a poetic soul. You are beautiful inside and out and several feet around you!!!
Comment from Rebecca
Time: May 28, 2009, 8:22 am
Just made me think of God working on us until our day of completion…
Comment from Becca
Time: May 28, 2009, 10:16 am
This is such a great description – I feel like I know exactly how you feel right now . . .
thanks for sharing!
Comment from Anna Hoad
Time: May 28, 2009, 3:10 pm
wow AB I love this post I am sad to see both the science buliding and starlite come to an end but neither will ever be forgotten! I love you and i miss you!!!
Comment from Kelly @ Love Well
Time: May 29, 2009, 11:30 pm
I’m totally in love with this post. What a perfect description, AB. Praying for you, as always. May God protect your heart from the splinters that are flying right now.
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Comment from Leslie Lauren
Time: May 27, 2009, 9:09 pm
I don’t think anyone could ever say that Starlite is or was a pile of rubble, but I love the metaphor <3 <3 <3