Making Coupons

I met Jesus my freshman year of high school. After 14 years of tangentially knowing him through my mother's faith and church attendance, I truly came face to face with my Savior. That year for spring break, my parents sent me to my grandparents' house in Charleston to spend some time with my ailing grandfather and lonely grandmother. In their backyard was a swinging bench. In between tennis matches with my "NoMommy" and listening to "Diggy's" stories (we have some weird names in our family - I also have an aunt Cheetah and an aunt Seuss), I spent hours every day that week reading the Bible, listening to worship music, and journaling. It was a time of accelerated spiritual growth where Jesus was teaching me and laying the foundation for the next several years of following Him. It was a precious time of formation and I'll never forget it.

In the 12 years between then and now I've gone through a three dimensional maze of a faith journey: all but abandoning the faith in my junior year of high school, reclaiming that faith in college and sharing it with my then-boyfriend-now-husband, a period of ennui my senior year of college, a frustration with the modern evangelical church, and finally landing myself at St. Paul's, where I've found a deep connection to the liturgy.

Recently, I had somewhat of a reunion with Jesus after some time of feeling distant. At the same time, I was knee deep in a project at work that required me to make test coupons - dozens upon dozens of coupons per day. I know everyone isn't a materials engineer so I'll fill you in on what that entails: mixing material, putting it in the mold, closing the press, and waiting. For multiple hours. To make the situation worse, the press is located in a basement far from my office with no cell reception or internet connection. I couldn't check or respond to emails, make phone calls, or work on reports. I found myself alone in a dark, windowless, rented office with nothing but me, my iPod, a Bible, and a journal.

While I wasn't in beautiful Charleston and it wasn't my spring break, it was familiar and sweet territory for me. God was teaching me, molding me, transforming me in that dreary basement. It was so reminiscent of that time 12 years ago on my grandparents' bench. It was a beautiful couple of weeks.

I know with blogs you're supposed to wrap things up with a pretty bow and have some take away message. And if you've met me, you know that wrapping things in perfect bows is SO not me. So I'll just ask this: what is God trying to teach you now? What is He molding you into? How is He transforming you to be more like Christ? How is He asking you to be the light?

~Stephanie Rice