I got back last night from a 2 day faculty retreat. We do this at the beginning of each semester to prepare ourselves for the students' return. Our theme this year was "Finding God in All Things". The first day, we made a pilgrimage through the streets of downtown Houston and we did service in some homeless shelters. Our goal was to journal all the ways we saw God at work.

During one of our reflection breaks, we broke off to be alone in our journaling. We were to find some place peaceful. I wandered over to a playground because I heard children laughing. The laughter and voices of children always comforts me. As I was journaling, I was thinking about where I saw God. I saw Him in the faces of the children, in the homeless, in the other volunteers at the homeless shelters. Then I heard a voice say, "Ma'am, do you want to come slide with me"? I ignored it at first, but I heard it again. The voice was not from a child; it was an adult voice. I looked up and saw one of my colleagues, Kevin. He had just gone down the slide and asked me to climb the playground equipment with him and slide down. At first, I declined. I told him I hadn't climbed up playground equipment in years and wasn't sure if my butt would even slide down anymore. He said, "Awwww, come on, please"? So, I put on my backpack and climbed the playground and went down the slide.

I slid down the slide very quickly. It was a tall, kind of steep slide and it was so much fun! What I didn't expect to happen was that I'd feel a wave of my childhood experiences come over me when I reached the bottom. I immediately thought of my sister, Sue, who is confined to a bed in a nursing home. Sue, who used to chase me around the playground and slide with me. Sue, who now barely recognizes me and can't even sit up on her own. I wasn't filled with sadness, though. I was filled with joy at the memories.

I was looking for God in new places, when all I had to do was look at someone I work with every day. Kevin made me realize that I don't really have to go on a pilgrimage to find God. He's always right there. God used Kevin to comfort me, and I only wish I could tell my sister about this experience.