Are You Thirsty? Come to the Water

As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

-Psalm 42:1-2, NRSV My Academy Story I had worked at The Upper Room for fifteen years before I attended The Academy for Spiritual Formation. I "knew" about The Academy because I worked at The Upper Room. I watched my colleagues, one by one, attend the Two-Year Academy at Camp Sumatanga, Alabama. When I saw The Academy brochure, it didn't speak to me. Reading the prospectus just brought back memories of Divinity school: Trying to stay awake as I trudged through text books. The pressure of reading and exams and sitting through lectures. It was my friend, Jerry Haas, who finally lured me into The Academy for Spiritual Formation. He invited me to attend the Five-Day Academy in Arizona. It was at Picture Rocks Retreat Center -- I had never been to Arizona, so the location hooked me. Additionally, I was excited to meet Flora Slosson Wuellner, one of the faculty presenters. And my friend and colleague, Elise Eslinger, was to be the worship leader. I attended that five-day experience and fell in love with The Academy for Spiritual Formation. It was nothing like Divinity school. It was nothing like anything I had ever experienced. A few months later, I joined the Two-Year Academy in California in its second week. And the experience nurtured, shaped, and changed me. I discovered a thirst I didn't even know I had -- a thirst for community, for silence, for a daily rhythm of prayer. I discovered a thirst for the Holy One. I count myself fortunate that I was enticed into The Academy experience. You are invited, always, to join in the Academy journey. Check out upcoming opportunities.