Hello everyone, a few of you might be surprised to see me blog this, especially since I thought I would be incognito, but due to the miracle of pirated wireless internet, I am blogging to you now live from beautiful Arlington Texas.
On the way down here, all I could think of was what an ordeal packing and unpacking is, picking up your stuff, getting comfortable, and for all intents and purposes, making a mess only to repeat the same thing down the road. I think I can blame moving a lot and always having that expectation that the present is temporary as one of the things that has made me lazy, sedentary and not generally enthused about the possibility of adventure and the unknown.
I am sure that we can all make correlations between our faith being either a great adventure or a rather intimidating unknown. I really tried to keep up a positive attitude about the whole thing, but I still find myself in a cloud of doubts and selfish desires. There are many things that have gone right, and many small things that have gone very wrong, but the big picture remains that this move to
Those things were easy for me to forget when we got here though. The tasks that we have to do to accomplish our goals are arduous Last night were unable to get a car unhitched properly and as a result our front yard looks like people went mudding in it. All our furniture is still a little disorganized, and as per usual I am living out of minimal closet space and sleeping on the floor. But, I know the house will look beautiful when it is done, I know that we shall be up to our armpits in entertaining and meeting new people, and I know that somehow, we wont regret lugging ALL THOSE BOOKS with us. These things that I inherently know, I’ve experienced before as well. They are like signs along the way.
Coming down here, I saw some interesting signs. Stereotypically of course, as we dtrove diagonally downwards from
So I was wondering on the last leg, “Is this fate?” Only a fate that we have put ourselves in a position to receive. Fate is a result of faith, the hope in things unseen. I myself want to be constantly reminded of the bigger picture. I view this summer as a way to get a better relationship with my family, especially my father and siblings. Its amazing, it took me several minutes of the spirit prodding me to ask him as we drove in silence, what to say in the case of a particular friend who lost her faith in God when she lost her fear of death. My humiliation in that case(insofar as being humbled) was important. If I cannot seek instruction out of pride or not wanting to hear a lecture (the only free thing we can still get from our parents) . Sometimes we think we are doing rather well, that we have everything that God wants to teach us in mind, only to look really ridiculous to him when we tell Him we don’t want to listen because we already know what He knows we do not.
To that extent, following the directions, following the signs can be a pain, but they will get you where you need to go. Sorry for all the travel analogies and whatnot, tis the season. But before I sign off, I would like to suggest something. If you have either a journey or struggle that God is taking you through this summer, would you mind blogging about or letting someone in on it? We can learn so much from each other, which is partially the reason for this blog in the first place. But it doesn’t all have to be fluffly spiritual talk, we can share and live real life with each other too. This summer God is continuing to move us from point A to B, talk about the stops and starts in between!
4 comments:
Wonderful Obinna! I was going to post something during my lunch break but found myself on the bank of a beautiful lake down the road from my work place instead. Holy Spirit indeed. Traveling and moving has never been that big of a pain to me, I guess that's because the US government always paid for movers for us what with dad being in the Navy and all (your tax dollars at work, thank you so much!). You spoke of sharing a journey and I, too, am traveling this summer. I have already taken a 5 driving trip from Lawrenceburg to upstate New York to South Carolina to Lewisburg. On this trip I had the opportunity to talk to a man of God, whom I had never had the pleasure to talk with before. For the first time in my life I am at a place where I can receive from older men the wisdom they have to offer. Always before I would talk and talk and talk and talk and blah blah blah and I did not know how to listen. Now that I have cultivated the beginnings of the skill of listening to others while in conversation I can actually grow and not just appear to grow. I was actually able to listen to your dad speak about Jephthah and be blessed by his wonderful, on the spot, rousing exegesis. I listened to Brianne's dad expound upon the generational differences in the church and how to bridge the gap. I have listened while having dinner at a middle aged couple's house I go to church with and learned from their experiences dealing with people who have grown up in church all their lives. This journey of listening has me constantly laying my life down and realizing that the spotlight does not always have to be on me, that I do not need to control the direction of the conversation. This journey is extremely hard because it forces me to crucify my flesh and consider others better than myself, but it is well worth it. My next physical journey is to Japan this Sunday, where I will be for two and a half weeks or so. Please pray for me and the people I will come in contact with that God would move mightily. Amen
Amen and amen Nick! Haha, the Spirit has a habit of moving you to photogenic natural environs. I feel that Japan is going to be a wonderfu experience, and I know you are resourceful enought to begin an BWOC church right on your ship if you cannot find a church to attend.
The same way you feel about guiding conversations I feel about this blog, its really annoying to me when I realize my desire to control every aspect of the medium down to how much and when people contribute - kinda maddening the extent to which I go OCD on the things that are extremeties of a ministry or symptoms of a problem. I'm not saying this site is not important, I am saying that I should be less concerned about it and more concerned about all these people that I've found out used to be involved in our campus ministry or just a faith in Christ period. I am beginning to see more and more people that God can use me to reach and I am greatful that I will be here next year to help try and help them. I am reminded by a qoute by a certain Cardinal talking about how he wanted Christ to give him a specific calling for Him, but to let himself as an individual not be the focus. I hope that along our respective journeys, God continues to bring us closer to that state, and His glory.
Found this on a forum: Jake Breaking is a break on the engine that cuases a rapid drop in the RPM's. Trucker's who do it generally do it to piss people off, either buy doing it under underpasses or things like that because the noise if deafening (in some towns it is actually illegal to use your jake break). The purpose of it was implemented for "runaway" trucks. In higher altitudes, when there are extreme declines, icy roads and such, trucks can easily become "runaways".
gotcha, I wont mess with Arkadelphia
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