“Life always occurs in a place.” I read this back in January. And it has stuck with me. I have found myself thinking about this a lot over the past few months. Eugene Peterson wrote this in his book, The Pastor. He goes on to say, “It (life) is never an abstraction, never a generality”.

Life always occurs in a place.

Jesus lived and died in a place.
Adam and Eve rebelled in a place.
Jesus healed and ministered in a real place, to real people.

I was born in a place.
I live my life in a place.
I chase my dreams in a place.
I fulfill my purpose in a place.

My life started in Vermilion.
It is my sacred place.
The place I grew up and was challenged.
The place I learned about love and heartbreak.
Where I learned how to fail and succeed.

Vermilion is where Jesus found a rough & wild teenage girl
in desperate need of rescuing.
It is here I learned how to love and serve people,
to forgive
to appreciate nature –
the wildness of Lake Erie.

Sometimes, we think big cities are more glamorous. I know I did. In college, I dreamt of ministering in New York City. I visited my junior year; convinced that is where I would end up, working in the inner city. Much to my surprise, my first assignment out of college was in the Shenandoah Valley, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. As I drove into the valley, I remember smelling the stench of a turkey farm. And crying my eyes out. This is not what I had envisioned. But those five years transformed me. That sacred place built confidence; in me and in God.

But God brought me back to this place. Vermilion. On the shores of Lake Erie with a river running through it.

And I realize that life is as wild and wonderful in a small town on a Great Lake as it is in a big city.

And I get to live, love, and grow in a place
with people I know
and who know me.
Ordinary people living extraordinary lives.

This is my sacred space.