The Beginning

So, it's only taken me about 4 hours (and counting...) to figure out how this whole blog thing works. Now, no one will ever accuse me of being a technology wiz and this whole online journal thing only furthers the point. I started this blog to document my time spent down in Central America on a long-term mission work experience. I've also set up this blog in the hopes that it will be a good way of staying in touch with family and friends back in the States and around the world through entries, pictures, updates, etc. It will be my story, the only way I know how to tell it...through my eyes. I'll be leaving December 31st to spend six months in Nicaragua working with Project Chacocente. You can check out the site here: www.outofthedump.org. I stumbled upon Chacocente through my church (Hurlbut UMC) which became involved in Chacocente a few years ago and members of our congregation make annual trips down there to volunteer. I decided to take a semester off and volunteer, too. And a year later... here I am.

On a more season-related note, my pastor gave a sermon today on the birth of Christ. It's a story I've heard thousands of times. The King of Kings born in a hay-filled manger in the presence of animals and awe-filled shepherds. But as I listened, for maybe the 1,001 time, it occured to me how truly miraculous the Christmas story is. It's like hearing a joke that you've heard a thousand times, and then you hear it one more time and you suddenly remember why you liked it in the first place. I mean, as if the birth of the Son of God in a stuffy and crowded manger isn't phenomenal enough, you have the story of Joseph and Mary. Joseph, the faithful and probably slight confused husband. And Mary, the faithful follower, the child-bearing virgin, the mother of the Son of God, probably a little confused and a little annoyed, riding on the back of a donkey, pregnant and uncomfortable and being told time after time "Sorry, there's no room here." When the angel told her she was bearing the Son of God and to not be afraid, she just nodded and trusted in God's plan. She never complained. She just did it. And in the long, difficult, ridicule-ridden, and probably uncomfortable months following, she never questioned God's authority. She just let God lead and followed faithfully. She just said, "Okay." She left it up to God, and I can't help but think maybe there's a lesson in this for all of us. I know there is for me and it's never been so relevant because now God is calling me to step forward, onto paths unknown, and all he's asking from me is to just trust Him. To just say "Okay." To Fear Not. It's harder than it sounds, but I know it'll be okay. I'm not sure what's going to happen tomorrow, or in the days and weeks to come, but God has already taken care of it. And for me, that's enough.

Okay, okay. I'll get off my high horse now. I don't need to tell you the story. You've heard it a thousand different times, too. But my prayer for you, in this crazy, chaotic, and noise-filled season, is that you find the miracle in the story. The peace among the noise. The gift that we have been given, yet again, in the birth of Christ. I know times have been a little harder lately, with the state of the economy and the fast-paced world we live in, but it's in times like these, when faith is a little harder to keep, that we must remember to Fear Not. I hope this Christmas season find you relaxed, surrounded by loved ones, and blessed. I know that's what I am.

Now, I believe I've been procrastinating long enough. I've even put off procrastinating, which just goes to show you how lazy I am. I have about eight loads of laundry to do and a whole lot of packing left. I also get to hear my mom ask, for maybe the 23rd time this week, "Now, are you sure you have everything?"

I'm sitting here at my computer, listening to something clank around in the dryer and watching the snow fall silently and gracefully out of the winter. It's cold outside. And windy, too. And it's hard to imagine that in a little more than a week I will be wearing shorts and a t-shirt in 80 degree weather. My world is about to flip upside down, in ways both exciting and scary, and I can't wait. But for now, I think I'll just go downstairs, help mom make some cookies, listen to Amy Grant, and watch the snow fall.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

"And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28: 20