I came into PSL skeptical. Coming in already having a job at home meant I had my “next step” and wouldn’t be connecting to any of AIM’s year two programs.
For those of you unfamiliar with the race terminology, PSL (or Project Searchlight) is a time where your squad and the squads you launched with come back to Adventures in Missions’ (AIM) campus. It’s a reunion of sorts with the people you spent the past 11 months with, set approximately a month after getting home. It’s also a time to figure out what transitioning back from the race might look like for us. A time of training, worship, reconnecting, learning, and healing.
The race takes a toll on each of us. For some it’s the struggle of understanding how God can be good and there be so much bad in the world. For others it may be struggles in community, whether on the race or coming back to home. The race shapes you through feedback, constantly being challenged, seeing the world in new ways, seeing God in new ways, and going through a multitude of experiences in just 11 months.
We didn’t have enough time to process it all during final debrief. Some of what you will need to process you may not even know until you’re home. I have an amazing community at home and they’ve been really good at asking questions, listening to my rambles, and welcoming me back. Even so, it’s been good to be back with the people that were there the past 11 months. The people that know the small struggles of forgetting we can flush our toilet paper or that we don’t need to grab a water bottle to brush our teeth but also know how we saw God move in great ways and did life completely differently from the “American Dream.”
It’s been good to process, not only with them but with AIM staff and volunteers. One of my favorite things about PSL has been our coaching groups. We get together each night with a coach who has chosen to process with us. This relationship has helped me to connect the pieces of my experience with being back and figuring out what it means to bring Kingdom home.
And Kingdom is here too. Our race may be over but we are a generation of starters. We’ve had the chance to listen to powerful speakers and hear what they’re doing around the world. There are chances to partner internationally, but there’s also a sense of being part of the good in the world wherever we land. Building community in our hometown or in a completely new place. Finding people to love whether they share our nationally or have never set foot on our country’s soil.
I came home from the race tired but I’m leaving PSL ready.
