Theological Horizons

by Lane Mathis

Long before the child was born,

prayers were prayed for a faith-formed life.

But, who, holding a newborn, really pictures that

day you drive off…leaving that child-now-teen

at her first day of college?

Enter bountiful    Bonhoeffer House,

a home away from home,

a home for the heart

a home for deepest questions

a lived out theology within the context of

family and strangers,

mingled amid strands of grace.

Laughter. Tears. Nan. Will. Henry. Gerbils. Dogs. Karen. Charles. Flowers. Fireplaces. Comfy chairs. Almost-as-good-as-Mom’s-hugs. Kitchen table conversations. Cool house. Tea. Good food. Good friends.

A good place to be real.

I watch on tiptoe…

adults who love her

almost as much as I do,

adults who befriend her, who

invite her to ponder possibilities

with the Wild Man from Nazareth.

I dance as a thousand prayers

are answered: teenage girl

Transformed to young woman of

heart-sure faith.

And I breath sighs of joy,

multitudes of thanks,

O Father,

for a place that takes the

fog of culture and burns Light,

bringing forth fog-free faith life.

As a parent, as a Christ-follower,

Theological Horizons

sharpens my prayers

widens my vision of intercession,

points me to the throne of grace

for the hearts of the current college generation,

challenges me with readings and interactions, and

pushes me into a deeper faith-formed life.

Now it is she who encourages me…

just as the Spirit-heartedness

of Bonhoeffer House

has stretched her

into the shape of grace.

What more could a parent want than to see her child become a woman of joyful relational faith in Christ? And what better place to see it happen than at the L’Abri-like setting of Bonhoeffer House?

My only regret? That I’m not a college student with Bonhoeffer House as my home away from home.