I did what I said I would - I moved to St. Louis. I moved to St. Louis because this is where I know God wants me to be and I want to follow Him no matter what. So about a month ago I packed up my car and left the east coast. Besides the unfortunate car transmission incident on the way through Ohio, my time here has been quite enjoyable. I have a nice house to live in, a comfortable bed to sleep in, space for all my stuff (which I am still increasingly feeling like is too much stuff). I've met great people. In Virginia - and I'm speaking generally here so if you're a Virginian, don't be offended - people are supposed to be southernly hospitable and nice but it often comes off as fake. People here are genuinely nice and not in-your-face about it, which I appreciate so so much. I've pretty much already found a church I'd like to invest in, at least a church that has welcomed me with open arms. It's been wonderful, just as I knew it would because whatever God has in mind for me will always be wonderful.
But I sort of feel like I'm missing it.
I think I'm feeling it more today because it's snowing (AGAIN) and so I am once again cooped up in the house all by myself, just like I have been since last Friday. Roommate #1 is in Europe. Roommate #2 is in Illinois. It's just me and the dogs. And I know I should be digging into the Word and praying and reading some Jesus lit, and I WANT to, but instead I find myself perpetually lying on the couch watching endless hours of "How I Met Your Mother" and "Bones" reruns. Even on days I do a lot of work, run errands, and do my daily Radical tasks, I get to 11pm and feel like I completely missed it. How am I helping others? I go to work and go straight home after because I only have enough money to do the absolute bare essentials right now (and I'm not complaining - just stating a fact. I chose this situation and am happy with my decision.) (Although now I feel convicted because even with my meager stipend, I still make more money than 80% of the world, which is OUTRAGEOUS and makes me really mad and sad.)
I think maybe I just answered my own bad feelings. I asked "how am I helping others?" and while I value helping other people more highly than just about everything else in life, that's not actually what my focus should be. I should be asking "how am I glorifying God and working to grow His Kingdom?"
The thought has been growing in my mind that the next 13 months especially (until the end of my VISTA service year in late February 2010) are working to prepare me for what is coming ahead. Being the planner that I am, I've started making plans concerning my VISTA situation. Most of these deal with finances and learning more about the nonprofit realm. That being said, God's plan for my next 13 months might be totally different than what I have planned. I don't want to take over God's plan and make it my plan, turning something holy and good into something sinful and self-worshiping (I've done this before - hello student affairs plans - and it clearly did not turn out well). I want to keep God's plan as God's plan. If He has other ideas for my life, then He has other ideas and they are always going to be WAAAAAY better than my ideas. He knows how I can glorify Him best in my poverty and baseness. And so I am again trying to let go of my expectations. I am again trying to be ready and open for all He has planned. I guess I should turn off the TV because
I don't want to miss this.
05 February 2011
22 January 2011
Be a Good Neighbor
By now, your New Year's resolution might be wearing off. In an attempt to give you a little more motivation and a resolution revision, here is a list of 50 ways to be a good neighbor. (This is also preempted by my review of David Platt's Radical. Go read it. Internalize it. Let it challenge and change your way of life.)
1. Fast for the 2 billion people who live on less than a dollar a day.
2. Contact your local crisis pregnancy center and invite a pregnant woman to live with your family.
3. Ask your pastor if someone on your church's sick list would like a visit.
4. Join an open AA meeting and befriend someone there.
5. Adopt a child.
6. Mow your neighbor's grass (or shovel their snow).
7. Volunteer to tutor a kid at your local elementary school. (Try to get to know the kid's family.)
8. Grow your own tomatoes - and share them.
9. Ask a small group in your community to meet regularly for intercessory prayer.
10. Build a wheel chair ramp for someone who is homebound.
11. Read the newspaper to someone at your local nursing home.
12. Plant a tree.
13. Look up the closest registered sex offender in your neighborhood and try to befriend him.
14. Throw a birthday party for a prostitute.
15. When you pay your water bill, pay your neighbor's too (they'll let you...really).
16. Invest money in a micro-lending bank.
17. Ask the next person who asks you to spare some change to join you for dinner.
18. Leave a random tip for someone who's cleaning the streets or a public restroom.
19. Write one CEO a month this year. Affirm or critique the ethics of their company (you may need to do a little research first).
20. Start tithing (giving 10%) of all your income directly to the poor.
21. Connect with a group of migrant workers or farmers who grown your food and visit their farm. Maybe even pick some veggies with them. Ask what they get paid.
22. Give your winter coat away to someone who is colder than you and go to a thrift store to get a new one.
23. Write only paper letters (by hand) for a month. Try writing someone who needs encouragement or who you should say "I'm sorry" to.
24. Go TV free for a year. Or turn your TV into a pot where flowers grow.
25. Laugh at advertisements, especially ones that teach you that you can buy happiness.
26. Organize a prayer vigil for peace outside a weapons manufacturer such as Lockheed Martin. Read the Sermon on the Mount out loud. For extra credit, do it every week for a year.
27. Go down a line of parked cars and pay for the meters that are expired. Leave a little note of niceness.
28. Write to one social justice organizer or leader each month just to encourage them.
29. Go through a local thrift store and drop $1 bills in random pockets of the clothing being sold.
30. Experiment with creation - care by going fuel free for a week - ride a bike, carpool, or walk.
31. Try only reading books written by females or people of color for a year.
32. Go to an elderly home and get a list of folks who don't get any visitors. Visit them each week and tell stories, read the bible together, or play board games.
33. Track to its source one item of food you eat regularly. Then, each time you eat that food, pray for those folks who helped make it possible for you to eat it.
34. Create a Jubilee fund in your church congregation, matching dollar for dollar every dollar you spend internally with a dollar externally. If you have a building fund, create a fund to match it to give away and buy mosquito nets or dig wells for folks dying in poverty.
35. Become a pen-pal with someone in prison.
36. Give your car away to a stranger.
37. Convert your car to run off waste vegetable oil.
38. Try recycling your water from the washer or sink to flush your toilet. Remember the 1.2 billion folks who don't have clean water.
39. Wash your clothes by hand, or dry them by hanging to remember those without electricity or running water. Remember the 1.6 billion people who do not have electricity.
40. Buy only used clothes for a year.
41. Cover up all brand names, or at least the ones that do not reflect the upside-down economics of God's Kingdom. Commit to only being branded by the cross.
42. Learn to sew or start making your own clothes to remember the invisible faces behind what we wear. Take your kids to pick cotton so they can see what that is like (and then read James).
43. Eat only a bowl of rice a day for a week to remember those who do that for most of their life (take a multivitamin). Remember the 30,000 people who die each day of poverty and malnutrition.
44. Begin creating a scholarship fund so that for every one of your own children you send to college you can create a scholarship for an at-risk youth. Get to know their family and learn from each other.
45. Visit a worship service where you will be a minority. Invite someone to dinner at your house or have dinner with someone there if they invite you.
46. Help you church congregation create a Peacemaker Scholarship and give it away to a young person trying to avoid the economic draft, who would like to go to college but sees no other way than the military.
47. Eat with someone who does not look like you. Learn from them.
48. Confess something you have done wrong to someone and ask them to pray for you.
49. Serve in a homeless shelter. For extra credit, go back and eat or sleep in the shelter and allow yourself to be served.
50. Join a Yokefellows ministry at a prison close to you. Remember than Jesus said he would meet you there (Matthew 25).
List shared from http://www.craiggross.com/post/171657321/goodneighbor.
1. Fast for the 2 billion people who live on less than a dollar a day.
2. Contact your local crisis pregnancy center and invite a pregnant woman to live with your family.
3. Ask your pastor if someone on your church's sick list would like a visit.
4. Join an open AA meeting and befriend someone there.
5. Adopt a child.
6. Mow your neighbor's grass (or shovel their snow).
7. Volunteer to tutor a kid at your local elementary school. (Try to get to know the kid's family.)
8. Grow your own tomatoes - and share them.
9. Ask a small group in your community to meet regularly for intercessory prayer.
10. Build a wheel chair ramp for someone who is homebound.
11. Read the newspaper to someone at your local nursing home.
12. Plant a tree.
13. Look up the closest registered sex offender in your neighborhood and try to befriend him.
14. Throw a birthday party for a prostitute.
15. When you pay your water bill, pay your neighbor's too (they'll let you...really).
16. Invest money in a micro-lending bank.
17. Ask the next person who asks you to spare some change to join you for dinner.
18. Leave a random tip for someone who's cleaning the streets or a public restroom.
19. Write one CEO a month this year. Affirm or critique the ethics of their company (you may need to do a little research first).
20. Start tithing (giving 10%) of all your income directly to the poor.
21. Connect with a group of migrant workers or farmers who grown your food and visit their farm. Maybe even pick some veggies with them. Ask what they get paid.
22. Give your winter coat away to someone who is colder than you and go to a thrift store to get a new one.
23. Write only paper letters (by hand) for a month. Try writing someone who needs encouragement or who you should say "I'm sorry" to.
24. Go TV free for a year. Or turn your TV into a pot where flowers grow.
25. Laugh at advertisements, especially ones that teach you that you can buy happiness.
26. Organize a prayer vigil for peace outside a weapons manufacturer such as Lockheed Martin. Read the Sermon on the Mount out loud. For extra credit, do it every week for a year.
27. Go down a line of parked cars and pay for the meters that are expired. Leave a little note of niceness.
28. Write to one social justice organizer or leader each month just to encourage them.
29. Go through a local thrift store and drop $1 bills in random pockets of the clothing being sold.
30. Experiment with creation - care by going fuel free for a week - ride a bike, carpool, or walk.
31. Try only reading books written by females or people of color for a year.
32. Go to an elderly home and get a list of folks who don't get any visitors. Visit them each week and tell stories, read the bible together, or play board games.
33. Track to its source one item of food you eat regularly. Then, each time you eat that food, pray for those folks who helped make it possible for you to eat it.
34. Create a Jubilee fund in your church congregation, matching dollar for dollar every dollar you spend internally with a dollar externally. If you have a building fund, create a fund to match it to give away and buy mosquito nets or dig wells for folks dying in poverty.
35. Become a pen-pal with someone in prison.
36. Give your car away to a stranger.
37. Convert your car to run off waste vegetable oil.
38. Try recycling your water from the washer or sink to flush your toilet. Remember the 1.2 billion folks who don't have clean water.
39. Wash your clothes by hand, or dry them by hanging to remember those without electricity or running water. Remember the 1.6 billion people who do not have electricity.
40. Buy only used clothes for a year.
41. Cover up all brand names, or at least the ones that do not reflect the upside-down economics of God's Kingdom. Commit to only being branded by the cross.
42. Learn to sew or start making your own clothes to remember the invisible faces behind what we wear. Take your kids to pick cotton so they can see what that is like (and then read James).
43. Eat only a bowl of rice a day for a week to remember those who do that for most of their life (take a multivitamin). Remember the 30,000 people who die each day of poverty and malnutrition.
44. Begin creating a scholarship fund so that for every one of your own children you send to college you can create a scholarship for an at-risk youth. Get to know their family and learn from each other.
45. Visit a worship service where you will be a minority. Invite someone to dinner at your house or have dinner with someone there if they invite you.
46. Help you church congregation create a Peacemaker Scholarship and give it away to a young person trying to avoid the economic draft, who would like to go to college but sees no other way than the military.
47. Eat with someone who does not look like you. Learn from them.
48. Confess something you have done wrong to someone and ask them to pray for you.
49. Serve in a homeless shelter. For extra credit, go back and eat or sleep in the shelter and allow yourself to be served.
50. Join a Yokefellows ministry at a prison close to you. Remember than Jesus said he would meet you there (Matthew 25).
List shared from http://www.craiggross.com/post/171657321/goodneighbor.
18 January 2011
An Anecdote about Getting to Missouri
Three days after returning from my most recent trip to Haiti (which was INCREDIBLE, more on that in later blog posts), I loaded up my car with my junk (once again) and drove drove drove across I-76 and I-70 to Missouri. It's about a 14 hour drive.
Hour six (roughly 2pm): central Ohio. My mom and I are cruising down the road, listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on audio book (I think we were at the part where Harry, Hermione, and Ron almost get caught by the Deatheaters when they apparate into Hogsmeade - a pretty intense part! Although most of the book is pretty intense...). All of a sudden it feels like my car pops out of gear and revs real loud. Mind you, we're going 70mp and while there's not a lot of traffic, there are some other cars around. I try to get my little Hyundai back into 5th but it is just. not. working. I pull off to the side of the road and call AAA. I'm sort of freaking out at this point because I have no idea what's wrong with my car and there are trucks rushing by on the highway and the falling snow slowly, slowly covers my car so that I can't see anything.
Fast forward to my car being towed 40 miles to the nearest place that is open on a Saturday afternoon (apparently all of Ohio shuts down every weekend). My transmission is busted. No autoparts stores will be open until Monday, and then it will be several days after that before my car is ready to go. All my jenk is in my car - what do we do? Tell the auto shop to leave my car outside when they lock up for the day because we'll be back to empty out the car.
Since it's the weekend in Ohio, no rental car places are open except at airports, so my mom and I take an hour long taxi ride to the Columbus airport, get a rental car, and drive back to Zanesville. Pulling up to the now-closed auto shop, it appears they have locked my car in the garage. If you know me at all, this next part will come as no surprise. I start banging on the garage door really, really loud. Then I start banging on the shop door. If anyone is still there, they are sure as heck going to let us in.
It turns out someone was there. Hooray! We load up the rental car and I end up taking every single little thing out of my car just in case we don't go back for it. Mom and I are pretty tired at this point (it's about 10pm and we left at 7am), so we drive a little farther and then get a hotel, driving the rest of the way to St. Louis in the morning. My mom's plane from STL back to Philly was Monday afternoon, so we had to get her to Missouri by then.
So my car was stuck in central Ohio. Eight hours from St. Louis. Six hours from my parent's house. Not near anything with which I am familiar. But fixing a transmission is cheaper than getting a new car, so we get it fixed and all the while are brainstorming ways to get my Hyundai from Zanesville to St. Louis.
In the end, I took an overnight greyhound bus. In Europe, doing things like this is exotic and romantic. When I took the midnight train from Madrid to Paris, it was exciting because I was going from Madrid to Paris. Oooooo. This was decidedly not romantic. Or exotic. At all. However, this trip did provide me with excellent people-watching opportunities as well as a chance to practice my ability to sleep on a bus while sharing a pair of seats with a stranger.
After 10 hours on the greyhound, I got to Zanesville, retrieved my car (which I endearingly call Little Red Riding Hood), and drove back to St. Louis (all the while praying that LRRH will last me at least three more years, please God!). It was all very adventuresome and not anything I want to repeat. Ever.
So, yeah. I'm now a brand-new St. Louisan!
Hour six (roughly 2pm): central Ohio. My mom and I are cruising down the road, listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on audio book (I think we were at the part where Harry, Hermione, and Ron almost get caught by the Deatheaters when they apparate into Hogsmeade - a pretty intense part! Although most of the book is pretty intense...). All of a sudden it feels like my car pops out of gear and revs real loud. Mind you, we're going 70mp and while there's not a lot of traffic, there are some other cars around. I try to get my little Hyundai back into 5th but it is just. not. working. I pull off to the side of the road and call AAA. I'm sort of freaking out at this point because I have no idea what's wrong with my car and there are trucks rushing by on the highway and the falling snow slowly, slowly covers my car so that I can't see anything.
Fast forward to my car being towed 40 miles to the nearest place that is open on a Saturday afternoon (apparently all of Ohio shuts down every weekend). My transmission is busted. No autoparts stores will be open until Monday, and then it will be several days after that before my car is ready to go. All my jenk is in my car - what do we do? Tell the auto shop to leave my car outside when they lock up for the day because we'll be back to empty out the car.
Since it's the weekend in Ohio, no rental car places are open except at airports, so my mom and I take an hour long taxi ride to the Columbus airport, get a rental car, and drive back to Zanesville. Pulling up to the now-closed auto shop, it appears they have locked my car in the garage. If you know me at all, this next part will come as no surprise. I start banging on the garage door really, really loud. Then I start banging on the shop door. If anyone is still there, they are sure as heck going to let us in.
It turns out someone was there. Hooray! We load up the rental car and I end up taking every single little thing out of my car just in case we don't go back for it. Mom and I are pretty tired at this point (it's about 10pm and we left at 7am), so we drive a little farther and then get a hotel, driving the rest of the way to St. Louis in the morning. My mom's plane from STL back to Philly was Monday afternoon, so we had to get her to Missouri by then.
So my car was stuck in central Ohio. Eight hours from St. Louis. Six hours from my parent's house. Not near anything with which I am familiar. But fixing a transmission is cheaper than getting a new car, so we get it fixed and all the while are brainstorming ways to get my Hyundai from Zanesville to St. Louis.
In the end, I took an overnight greyhound bus. In Europe, doing things like this is exotic and romantic. When I took the midnight train from Madrid to Paris, it was exciting because I was going from Madrid to Paris. Oooooo. This was decidedly not romantic. Or exotic. At all. However, this trip did provide me with excellent people-watching opportunities as well as a chance to practice my ability to sleep on a bus while sharing a pair of seats with a stranger.
After 10 hours on the greyhound, I got to Zanesville, retrieved my car (which I endearingly call Little Red Riding Hood), and drove back to St. Louis (all the while praying that LRRH will last me at least three more years, please God!). It was all very adventuresome and not anything I want to repeat. Ever.
So, yeah. I'm now a brand-new St. Louisan!
07 January 2011
Happy New Year!
If I'm coming in a little late on all the New Years well-wishing, it's because I was in Haiti for the past week and the internet at RENMEN Foundation (www.renmenhaiti.org or check out the Facebook page) was spotty to the point that I didn't even try to do anything web-related except send a message my friend Tiffany who left for the World Race on Tuesday (http://tiffanyhandley.theworldrace.org/).
New Years: a time for reflection and resolve to do things differently in the New Year. I've never been big on New Year's resolutions myself although I admire people who make them. I am someone who likes to have a good time on New Year's Eve. During most of my post-high school life, my New Year's Eves have been spent in Norfolk with my sister and/or brother. House parties at Graydon, leaving just before midnight to go see my boyfriend-of-the-time to give him a kiss when the ball drops, great dinners out with friends. New Year's Eve 2009 was fun. We were at the club dancing it out but we all missed the countdown because the TV connection went out. The staff got it to work and we all got champagne and counted down and then confetti got everywhere, even in our glasses so we couldn't toast with our bubbly. Good times, good times.
This New Year's Eve, NYE 2010, was different and somewhat unexpected. Half of Team Uncaged ended up returning to RENMEN for the holidays. As there had been a huge, all-night party on the 30th, the 31st was pretty quiet. We, however, were of course going to stay up until midnight. We grabbed some snacks, an iPod & speakers, and headed to the roof where we had slept in June. We stood there in the dark and counted down, quietly saying "Happy New Year!" since there were sleeping children right on the other side of the wall. I turned on "Auld Lang Syne" and we each ate a peanut M&M and toasted with our long Nibs ( a gift from Canada via Melly). It seemed that none of our Haiti brothers and sisters were up to celebrate but then at 1am, they all gathered in the courtyard to do prayers. It's been chilly at night so they were all wrapped up in sheets for warmth, giving their gathering an ethereal feel. The kids' beautiful voices rose into the night, welcoming the New Year by praising God. Many kisses and wishes of "bon annee" followed prayer when we all headed for bed.
I think it was the best New Year's Eve I have ever had.
PS: In all of June and this trip, the only time I have ever gotten up early enough to take part in morning prayers was on January 4, my birthday. After prayers were over, my Haiti family sang me "Happy Birthday." Could there be a better start to your 25th year than 50 orphans singing to you? I submit that there cannot. It was so incredible, I cried.
New Years: a time for reflection and resolve to do things differently in the New Year. I've never been big on New Year's resolutions myself although I admire people who make them. I am someone who likes to have a good time on New Year's Eve. During most of my post-high school life, my New Year's Eves have been spent in Norfolk with my sister and/or brother. House parties at Graydon, leaving just before midnight to go see my boyfriend-of-the-time to give him a kiss when the ball drops, great dinners out with friends. New Year's Eve 2009 was fun. We were at the club dancing it out but we all missed the countdown because the TV connection went out. The staff got it to work and we all got champagne and counted down and then confetti got everywhere, even in our glasses so we couldn't toast with our bubbly. Good times, good times.
This New Year's Eve, NYE 2010, was different and somewhat unexpected. Half of Team Uncaged ended up returning to RENMEN for the holidays. As there had been a huge, all-night party on the 30th, the 31st was pretty quiet. We, however, were of course going to stay up until midnight. We grabbed some snacks, an iPod & speakers, and headed to the roof where we had slept in June. We stood there in the dark and counted down, quietly saying "Happy New Year!" since there were sleeping children right on the other side of the wall. I turned on "Auld Lang Syne" and we each ate a peanut M&M and toasted with our long Nibs ( a gift from Canada via Melly). It seemed that none of our Haiti brothers and sisters were up to celebrate but then at 1am, they all gathered in the courtyard to do prayers. It's been chilly at night so they were all wrapped up in sheets for warmth, giving their gathering an ethereal feel. The kids' beautiful voices rose into the night, welcoming the New Year by praising God. Many kisses and wishes of "bon annee" followed prayer when we all headed for bed.
I think it was the best New Year's Eve I have ever had.
PS: In all of June and this trip, the only time I have ever gotten up early enough to take part in morning prayers was on January 4, my birthday. After prayers were over, my Haiti family sang me "Happy Birthday." Could there be a better start to your 25th year than 50 orphans singing to you? I submit that there cannot. It was so incredible, I cried.
08 December 2010
The One with the End of an Era
In exactly one month, I will drive a third of the way across the country to my new hometown:
St. Louis, Missouri.
A lot has to happen before then: a wedding, a Christmas, a trip to Haiti, and a 25th birthday. But this post is not about the inundated nature in which my life currently exists.
This post is about the end of an era.
I have lived in the Commonwealth of Virginia for six and a half years. Since July 2004, I've called this state my home. Ashland, Richmond, Charlottesville, and Norfolk - names I won't soon forget. We've had some good times. We've had some great times and some bad times. I've loved here and I've lost here and all those cliche things.
But it really is time to go.
On January 8, I'll pull up to a house in South City and unload my belongings. Two giant dogs, a cat, and a couple of new roomies will be there to greet me. I'll hang up my clothes, find a grocery store, and continue on with my journey. I hope to learn a little something new, get to know some wonderful people, and to have grand adventures. I hope to stay for a while.
So farewell, Virginia! I wish you the best.
PS: If you're ever near STL, be sure to holla! You know Anheuser-Busch is there, right?
22 November 2010
for Shannon Acosta
Well, 26 days.
The ceremony and reception sites are booked. The RSVPs are in. The dress has arrived. It's almost game time.
After running through the probable setup and time line with the event coordinator at the country club, I can say with full confidence that this is going to be one kickin' wedding! With so much already accomplished in anticipation of the big day, we are left to iron out remaining details. What exactly should the centerpieces look like? Who will attend the program table? Which limo company should we go with? When should the bridal party arrive at the church in preparation for photos? Just how many gallons of white wine sangria should there be (many, please!)?
It's all very exciting.
It's the event that I stayed in Virginia for, that I lived in Norfolk one last time for. The day that I'm so glad I could be around all fall to help my siister plan.
The day. Down to the details.
Down to the moment one has in the periphery of one's mind during a lifetime: the moment one's sister gets married. But this time it's MY sister! MY dear sister who has had the chance to be there on so many of her friends' special days. It's HER turn to wear the beautiful white dress and look like a frickin princess (because she is very pretty even when she's not decked out). MY sister! And I get to stand there and try and hold back my buckets of tears while she looks so gorgeous and gets married to an excellent addition to the family (favorite new brother Marty!) because it is all just so very happy!
So I'll do my maid of honor duties and make a toast and dance the night away and get Shannon to eat something so she doesn't pass out and make sure nothing gets in the way of my sister having a perfect wedding experience because that's what she deserves - a simply fabulous party which everyone is attending because of her (and Marty).
26 days. A handful of details. One great night.
And after it's over, I just have to find myself a hubby so Shannon and I can take our boys and travel the world as a foursome!
07 November 2010
Long Walks and Busted Plans
I'm currently in San Diego, soaking in the sun through the windows of my friends' apartment in Kensington. My time here has been lovely although I was not prepared for the 90 degree heat in early November (It is much colder than that where I come from and it's supposed to be in the high 60s the rest of my time here - fingers crossed!).
Who lives in San Diego? Melly (http://e52walkinlove.blogspot.com/) and Tiffany (http://tiffanyhandley.theworldrace.org/), two of my teammates from Haiti. I have wanted to visit ever since returning from Port-au-Prince and so one day about two months ago I purchased a ticket for Nov 3-10. It was a risky move - I was still in a state of applying for jobs out of state and didn't actually know where I would be in November. Buying a ticket out of Norfolk meant I was committed to being in Norfolk at the time of my flight and thus pretty much not getting a job anywhere else.
I was in the same rut that I was in prior to Haiti - applying for any and every job I seemed qualified for. And just like this past spring, nothing worked out. My plan for my life - to work in ResLife/Student Affairs/have a "real job"...Busted.
Have you had that experience? When you have had a plan for your whole life and then you get to a certain point and there is a fathomless abyss in front of you? You can do anything. Literally anything. Except what you planned on doing.
You can sit and be sad because your life is not going the way you planned and you don't know what to do. And I think sometimes we need moments of wallowing and crying out and fighting with God. But in my life, things not going according to plan has meant that I can work at an awesome coffeehouse (borjocofee.com) with a fun and helpful boss and have incredible relationships with coworkers and regulars. I can help plan my sister's wedding while living in the same city as her. I can take fabulous holidays to California, rife with long walks and talks about anything and everything, unfettered and honest talks because I completely trust these people. I can move to St. Louis simply because that is where God wants me to be and so I will follow Him.
In my life, things not going according to my plan meant that things could go according to His plan. And His plan is so.much.better. than my plan.
Who lives in San Diego? Melly (http://e52walkinlove.blogspot.com/) and Tiffany (http://tiffanyhandley.theworldrace.org/), two of my teammates from Haiti. I have wanted to visit ever since returning from Port-au-Prince and so one day about two months ago I purchased a ticket for Nov 3-10. It was a risky move - I was still in a state of applying for jobs out of state and didn't actually know where I would be in November. Buying a ticket out of Norfolk meant I was committed to being in Norfolk at the time of my flight and thus pretty much not getting a job anywhere else.
I was in the same rut that I was in prior to Haiti - applying for any and every job I seemed qualified for. And just like this past spring, nothing worked out. My plan for my life - to work in ResLife/Student Affairs/have a "real job"...Busted.
Have you had that experience? When you have had a plan for your whole life and then you get to a certain point and there is a fathomless abyss in front of you? You can do anything. Literally anything. Except what you planned on doing.
You can sit and be sad because your life is not going the way you planned and you don't know what to do. And I think sometimes we need moments of wallowing and crying out and fighting with God. But in my life, things not going according to plan has meant that I can work at an awesome coffeehouse (borjocofee.com) with a fun and helpful boss and have incredible relationships with coworkers and regulars. I can help plan my sister's wedding while living in the same city as her. I can take fabulous holidays to California, rife with long walks and talks about anything and everything, unfettered and honest talks because I completely trust these people. I can move to St. Louis simply because that is where God wants me to be and so I will follow Him.
In my life, things not going according to my plan meant that things could go according to His plan. And His plan is so.much.better. than my plan.
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