So long, Chicago

With eager excitement, half a dozen teens wandered around Old Town, taking in the newness of Chicago. The bustle, the quirkiness, the vastness. We climbed up Hancock Tower for an evening reception and took in a wide, unintelligible expanse of buildings and streets and rivers. It was enchanting, and a not a little intimidating, for our first week in the city.

And almost 7 years later, we climb the Sears Tower (checking off a box on our Chicago Bucket List) to see the city from above once more, knowing we are saying goodbye. I see a much different city now. The vast faceless mass of humanity is gone. In its stead are people we love, places I know, memories that are etched in my soul of what Chicago is and what it's given to us. I also see things that had gone unnoticed before, but I can explain and understand how they fit – even before we Wikipedia them on the way home.

It shows us where God has brought us, what he's shaped us into as we make this move.

We can just make out where the Green Line terminates, blocks from Living Hope Church in Woodlawn. And we see Ogden stretching out toward Lawndale and LCC, where Janel spent a summer. It jogs our minds of the tremendous lessons God has taught us about his kingdom and what Christian hope is. We remember the many fledgling attempts to participate in ministries on the South Side, like making pasta for the homeless in Nichols Park with our small groups, or the many long hours we tutored kids at schools with the Neighborhood Schools Program – wondering and praying and hoping that God would use our efforts for long term gains.

We've seen the value and difficulty of long term relationships, as God has shown us His kingdom being built all over the city, and He’s involved us in His work to build opportunities and connections for Living Hope to flourish. Through the faithfulness of our church family, we witnessed growing trust and mutual respect with the community – so central to any ministry – as more people come and say, "This is good. This is God's work." Chicago has an obsession with neighborhoods, people living side by side, growing together, and shaping a unique character and flavor of “Chicago-ness”. This has really seeped into my understanding of what Christian community is, through local churches meaningfully involved in their communities. Community like this isn’t easy. God has stretched us in a lot of hard ways, as we've ridden the ups and downs with our Intervarsity community, feeling the joy of seeing God open news eyes to his grace and experiencing the struggle of conflict dividing us. It's always hard to know what God is doing, but he taught us a lot about faithfulness, the limits of our abilities, and our reliance on His Body over and over again.

From the Tower, I can spy the masts atop Ratner, just a few blocks from that crazy apartment I shared with my brother and some friends for two years. We’ve had so many friends that fought with us, laughed with us, cried with us, and yet somehow we learned how to live it out – from hiking the AT to settling things with the Ragnarok. I'm reminded of the incredible gifts of both Janel's family and my own, some of whom lived in and around the city for our entire time. Amidst the cookouts, and camping trips, and new babies being born, it has been a tremendous time of love and really becoming friends above and beyond kinship. In all friendships, there’s a sense of incompleteness, like we’re building a road and we don’t know where it leads, but we hope its a road that brings us closer together. And who knows? It might bring us back this way. But for now, we are grateful for the way our friends have shaped us in adulthood.

Since college, it is these same friends and family that God’s used to teach me how amazing His provision is at times. I didn't know a thing about computers leaving college, so He prompted a friend at church to invite me to building an iPhone game (despite me knowing zero about computer programming). And my sister introduced me to my current team, and I’m really grateful for the opportunity to work with so many good friends there. A truly amazing team that has taught me so much about Chicago and the tech industry and that has pushed me to excel. I was stretched, but I learned a new way of seeing and approaching the world.

I have grown up in Chicago. As a kid, I was terrified of the future and the fear of failing at whatever it is. But God has taught me to know my limits and my strengths. From enduring the bitter winds of Chicago’s winters, to weeping over the loss of loved ones, He's broken me. But the joy and vision of His kingdom have made it worth it. He gave me the crazy love of my wife, who just won't let me forget who I am. He showed me the excitement of learning how to describe social phenomena – collective effervescence as a theory – and the far surpassing joy of living it out in surging multiethnic worship sessions led by friends in InterVarsity or at Living Hope. God has shown me His creation and my place within it.

Chicago, thanks for more than memories. God has filled both of our hearts with so many desires and values and hopes and visions through this amazing city. It's sad to say goodbye. But He calls us on to a new city and new people to meet.

See ya later.