Escape LA
Right now, I don't know anything. It is my plan to go to Manaus, Brazil, in the Amazon, for 6 months working and serving with First Presbyterian Church of Manaus. They have a Riverboat outreach where they take teams of foreigners, mostly North Americans, up one of the two rivers to visit fishing villages. They bring medical care and aid of any kind. I went for a week last year and got to do day camps for kids of all ages. It was amazing. So now I'm headed back down for a much longer stint.
Initially I thought I would leave in April and as January and then February creeped rather quickly across my calendar, i became very nervous. I'm going through my church here in LA, Bel Air Presbyterian, and the process, rightly so, is not quick. So I dont know when I leave now. Maybe May or June. I don't know exactly what I will do down there. I don't know where or with whom I will live. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with all my stuff. I'll sell or give away most of it. What about my bed? My car? I was having extreme anxiety about a lot of these questions. I think any sane person would and should. But right now, I'm just -- what? Waiting. Waiting for the next things to do.
I'm fully aware this a crazy thing to do. Give up your job, apartment, carefully constructed social circle, most of your wordly goods, and go live with people you don't know in a culture you don't know and not know what you'll be doing. It's crazy to not generate income or career advancement for six months. And not only that, it's possible that I'll lose whatever I've built up in those areas. Yet I feel that if I turned away form doing this, part of me would die inside. I haven't felt that way since I moved from Nashville to Los Angeles with $600 to my name and no job, no connections, nothing waiting for me. But that time I had my sister. I have no illusions that any success I enjoy right now stands with at least one leg on her partnership.
So I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm doing it with gusto. I have a great many things to deal with and many I will deal with badly. But in the mean time, I keep getting little signs of encouragement from God. And even the stupid ones I'll share here. Excited!!
Like today for instance. Had coffee with someone to talk about going to Brazil and when I was leaving, I saw this:
Copy that.
Initially I thought I would leave in April and as January and then February creeped rather quickly across my calendar, i became very nervous. I'm going through my church here in LA, Bel Air Presbyterian, and the process, rightly so, is not quick. So I dont know when I leave now. Maybe May or June. I don't know exactly what I will do down there. I don't know where or with whom I will live. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with all my stuff. I'll sell or give away most of it. What about my bed? My car? I was having extreme anxiety about a lot of these questions. I think any sane person would and should. But right now, I'm just -- what? Waiting. Waiting for the next things to do.
I'm fully aware this a crazy thing to do. Give up your job, apartment, carefully constructed social circle, most of your wordly goods, and go live with people you don't know in a culture you don't know and not know what you'll be doing. It's crazy to not generate income or career advancement for six months. And not only that, it's possible that I'll lose whatever I've built up in those areas. Yet I feel that if I turned away form doing this, part of me would die inside. I haven't felt that way since I moved from Nashville to Los Angeles with $600 to my name and no job, no connections, nothing waiting for me. But that time I had my sister. I have no illusions that any success I enjoy right now stands with at least one leg on her partnership.
So I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm doing it with gusto. I have a great many things to deal with and many I will deal with badly. But in the mean time, I keep getting little signs of encouragement from God. And even the stupid ones I'll share here. Excited!!
Like today for instance. Had coffee with someone to talk about going to Brazil and when I was leaving, I saw this:
Copy that.
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