Koinonia is the Greek word for “Fellowship.”
Have you ever asked someone a question knowing that you might not receive an answer anytime soon? Expecting that you would have to remain in diligent pursuit of that answer until that answer was given? Have you ever had to put what you wanted to do on wait in order to do what you needed to do?
I think I can make it more simple for you…
Have you ever had the guts to really let Christ have control over your life,
Because I did and it is a choice I will never regret!
During one of my last nights as a student at h.e.a.r.t., I sat on the rustic, wooden porch of Koinonia, the dining hall. I gazed at the starry sky and stupendous summer moon through the chilly air and I asked God if He would ever return me to this place. This place that had taught me, fed me, and refreshed me beyond recognition. Even despite the way I packaged my request to God, I found that my words of curiosity had led me to a long waiting, for what seemed a life-time or more into that night for an answer. And with a literal gust of wind He gave me a beautiful answer…
“Yes, in time you will.”
I was so surprised it gave me goosebumps for head-to-toe!
But even though I had an answer I still did not know when this time was or what I would actually be returning for. So thus began my long and monotonous journey of quiet prayer and humble trust in the Lord to bring me back to the village of H.E.A.R.T. For about 7 months I was a die-hard prayer warrior; everyday asking the Lord, “Lord is this still something YOU desire me to desire?” As more time passed, eight months, nine months, ten months, doubt started to fill my head. Slowly and surely it crept and crawled through the door, wrapping its emptying arm around me. I no longer knew if this was the plan, but God came just as He came to me on the old wooden porch, on the cold and chilly night, so many months ago. He said,
“Is H.E.A.R.T. a place where My Kingdom is being built?”
Yes.
And do you desire to build My Kingdom?
I responded with, “yes”.
I went to bed and in the morning I got a call on the phone confirming my position as the animal intern.
H.E.A.R.T. is not something I can fully describe in a blog post, or something one could ever try describing fully in words. But H.E.A.R.T. for me is a multidimensional experience that happens on the inside and outside of the people, brave enough to make the trek to the heart of Florida. H.E.A.R.T. is an experience so refreshing you could not fit all it inside the Grand Canyon! This was my experience, and not everyone’s will be the same. H.E.A.R.T. can be whatever you want it to be and you can grow as much as you allow God to grow you.
Post by Drake Olsen
Drake completed the three week May term in 2013 and is a current student at Grace Bible College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He returned to h.e.a.r.t in the fall of 2014 to serve as an intern.