I don't burn bridges
Never do
But I should stop trying to rebuild them
I should just let those bridges get abandoned,
the ones that are no longer traveled on,
and stop waiting by the riverside
I should walk away and find newer bridges to build,
ones that span between wonderful towns
I should maintain those bridges,
so that the people who commute on them,
have nothing to fear from the raging streams,
that sweep below them
But, when I walk away,
from the lonely bridge ends,
I shall leave a sign,
on the other side of the riverbank
What it will say is,
I will always care for you,
and will always be there when you need me
Come find me,
on this side of the riverbank
Your Friend

I wrote this quite a while ago, my senior year of college (wow...5 years ago). I've already forgotten why or to whom I specifically wrote it for, but I remembered it was also for all of those who passed through ACF in their time in college. It was for those who stayed for all 4 years or only attended a handful of times. It was for those who left feeling loved and secure, or those who left feeling betrayed or alienated. Unfortunately for me, I was the latter, having been told the night before graduation that I didn't really belong. That fellowship was not for me.

But I know that was a lie. Fellowship, the body of Christ, the communion of the saints, the royal priesthood, was for any and all who love because they realized the depth of love God had for them, and the price Christ paid on the Cross. We as the body, as flawed and failed as we are, have the strength of God that holds us together. Yes, we may hurt and abandon and fail each other (as I have done to more than just one person), there is always the hope in Christ that can bring us back together again. That is the beauty of brotherhood and sisterhood.

No matter how much I've been hurt or betrayed in the past, I will keep on lovin' and keep on forgivin' because that's what Christ did for me. There is no suffering I will endure that will go beyond what Christ endured on the Cross for me. To me, when Jesus said the greatest love was to die for one's friends, I don't always take it as a physical death. To me it means dying to our self, to put my friends over myself. To serve and love and cherish and care for them above my own needs. Unconditional love. Time and time I may be hurt by them, whether it is by evil or just the hedgehog's dilemma, I will forgive them time and time again.

Lord give me the strength to hold others up.