Tuesday, June 30, 2009

I value community...



This is a picture of a group of friends and I sharing a meal together. This is more than a picture of a group of friends though. This is a photograph of community. This is a group of friends who are connected on some level. Some through religion and some through other interests and passions. Each of whom's presence would have been missed had they not been there. I think there is something inside all of us that desires community. Maybe the word community is too christianized for some people... Don't stop reading if that's you! I think we all desire to get that call from a member of a group wondering where we were and letting us know that we were missed...

I have personally been lucky enough to experience this type of community twice in my fairly short life. The first was as a part of Morgantown Multisport. When I started becoming involved in this community the members were super active and I got calls on multiple occasions wondering where I was and if I was okay.

My second experience with true community was a part of the Nuru International Grassroots Movement. I got involved with this organization because I felt like I needed to do something to give back. What I didn't know, when I started becoming more involved, was that the issue of extreme poverty was going to grip my heart and not let go. I didn't realize that I was going to volunteer to give ALL of my strengths and talents to this cause. I didn't realize that I was coming into a group of people that love because they were first loved and give because it's the right thing to do. I respect these people as much as anyone on Earth and look forward to ending extreme poverty with them in our life times!

That's what is on my heart today:) Take it or leave it, but be sure to keep your laces tied!

D

Friday, June 12, 2009

To Raise up a Society

Recently I've been spending some time thinking and journaling about how to most effectively pursue my passions. I have also been trying to narrow the focus of what I consider a passion. What I've come up with is not really that surprising, but I feel like it is super useful toward focusing my mind and being able to chase it with everything I have.

As per my last entry, I had been thinking about the "what ifs" in life and wondering how much easier life could be if I could just not care and feel connected to all those who are suffering around the world. I feel like it would be easier financially, but what good is money if you're miserable? I think it has been well documented, throughout history, that money doesn't equal happiness. So I'm finding joy in the simplicity of my life right now. I have applied for jobs and haven't heard back from any of them, but I have a peace inside me that is telling me that everything will be okay. I'm going to sell a few things and try to make some cash to live on for a while. If I get a call back for a job that would be great, but God will provide as long as I am pursuing the things He has laid on my heart. I have absolutely no doubt in that statement!

Anyway, the reason I started this post was to declare my focus for this season of my life. The broad goal is to help raise up a nation of compassionate children who know and care about global issues. The reason for my focus on this is because I feel that the only way to end the suffering of so many around the world, is to start with the children of today and teach them how to live. How to live as one world. How to live without focus on success, but on quality of life for everyone! I don't know exactly how I'm going to accomplish this, but I do know that this is what I'm here for and why I am where I am, and why I've done what I've done!

Keep your laces tied,
D

Monday, June 8, 2009

The color blue...

As I sat on the deck outside my parents house reading with a glass of wine in hand, and I began to question my callings in life. I felt, in that moment, that it would be nice to be normal. To have a job, a house, a wife, kids... I almost felt bad for letting the thoughts slip into my stream of consciousness. It was the first time in almost two years that something like that had crossed my mind. I don't know what it was. I just started thinking, "what if?" What if God hadn't been working inside of me for years, subtly letting me know that it wasn't necessary to settle for the status quo? What if I could forgo my passion for the poor, get a nice cushy accounting job, and buy a nice house with a deck and lawn furniture? What if I wasn't suppose to live a different kind of life?

I don't know the answers to these questions. I'm not even going to hypothesize as to why, at this moment in my life, I'm even asking them. I do not know the answers, but I do know why I ask. I ask because that is what I do. I ask. I question everything. I always have. Questioning is healthy. Only truth withstands questioning. I suppose questioning God's plan is part of that too.

I've known I was called to something different than most people for a while now. I still don't know quite what that calling is... I happy to be different. I'm happy to be monetarily poor if that's what it means for me to follow Christ. I know that being poor is not the only way. I know that there will be plenty of accountants in heaven, but I can't reconcile that with my desire to help people. I can't let it go! There is no other reason for me to feel directly connected to starving peoples around the world other than that their creator is loving through me! I want to pursue closeness with Him so that the passion I feel for the "least of these" might only grow stronger!

Anyway, I guess that's all I have for tonight. I'm gonna get some rest I think. Perhaps I'll do some journaling... Oh and if you're wondering about the title of this post, there is no meaning to it... I was just going to call it blue because I'm fond of the color but I thought "The color blue..." was much more mystical:-)

D

Monday, June 1, 2009

A New Day

This past week has been crazy. Things have happened that I am not yet, and I don't know if I'll ever, be ready to blog about in it's entirety. I do want to talk about how amazing my family is.

We lived through a modern day tragedy as a family. I don't mean financial trouble or small injuries, I mean full on tragedy resulting in a lost life. A life that hadn't experienced everything it should have experienced, a life that should have been a life much longer, and a life that left behind many memories with everyone that was lucky enough to cross it's path.

In the middle of this tragedy, I witnessed many characteristics in my family that I don't even have close to enough time to discuss. I would like to talk about one and it is the way everyone banded together to deal with it all as one fluid body. We laughed together and we cried together, we ate together and we complained about eating too much together, we wondered why together and we prayed to God to give us the peace to not have to understand together. We did EVERYTHING together! It was beautiful the way that everyone turned their own agenda over to God and to the service of the others.

I took some time away over the last couple of days to spend some time connecting with God and to visit a friend. It has been great to clear my mind and collect my thoughts. It was so great to be able to reflect a little bit. I have soooo much more reflection that needs to take place. I still haven't fully reflected on my experience at TOMS, let alone the experiences of the last week. God's perfect plan is in motion and all that's happened has been a part of that plan. We can't see how it all fits in now and maybe we never will, but I have faith that ALL things (good and bad) work together for the GOOD.

Much love,
D