Hilltop Experiences: Love is an Ocean

As I sat here this afternoon after a long morning of cleaning Barbecue Grills at RHUMC, I heard a song that caughts my ear and really made me think. The song is titled "Ocean Wide" by The Afters. After hearing it once, I put it on repeat and listened to it several times. Surprisingly, it very accurately mirrors the current situation at RHUMC. As most of you know, Jared has been gone since Easter, and it has been pretty rough on everyone. The entire Youth Group is trying to get through this together.

The song starts off by saying: "Look outside, it's already light and stars ran away with the night." This really describes our Youth Group right now. Even though something that I would consider to be pretty terrible has happened, we're already beginning to see the other side. We're not really able to find a good reason for losing Jared, but we do realize that we're going to get through this, and we're going to be stronger because of it.

It also says: "Things were said, words that we'll try to forget, it's so hard to admit. I know we've made mistakes. I see through all the tears, and that's what got us here." The mistakes that have been made in this entire process are pretty obvious. The way that the church handled this situation ,whether it was the right decision or not, was completely innappropriate. A lot of people have been seriously hurt by the actions taken in the past two weeks, and there are a few people that have lost a lot of credibility and respect in the eyes of the congregation. Though many tears have been shed in all of this, those tears have shown us something.

"If love is an ocean wide, we'll swim in the tears we cry. They'll see us through to the other side. We're gonna make it. When love is a raging sea, you can hold onto me. We'll find a way tonight. Love is an ocean wide." The tears that we've all cried together have truly brought us closer. The love that has been shown by all of the youth, the parents, and the members of RHUMC could truly fill an ocean. The love that we have is going to get us through this. As we hold onto each other, we'll end up coming out of this stronger than we were before. We're gonna make it.

That's the bottom line. We're gonna make it. Richmond Hill United Methodist Church has experienced something that no house of God should ever have to go through. Even though we've all been so deeply hurt by this, we realize that things are going to get better. This church is bigger than all of us, and no matter what Satan throws at us, we're going to make it through. Evil has limits, but love is infinate; you can never run out. The love that we show toward one another in this situation is going to be the thing that saves us. The most important people to show love toward in this moment are our youth, our parents, our leadership team, our staff, and our beloved former Youth Leader. We have to pull this church back together. Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." That is our cry. We can do this, we're gonna make it. Love is an ocean..........