Middle of Nowhere, Zimbabwe

One of my very precious students was writing a paper exactly one year ago. It was a piece on where you go and hang out and what you do. He chose to write his about a very large local grocery store. In this particular essay, the chosen venue was mentioned several times and spelled, " h-a-b." When asked to read this aloud, he replied in a very heavy Georgian accent, ache-A-Bay.
Awesome. What else can you say?

So where were we? Oh yes... in a classic pink Cadillac Seville on our way to Ohio.

So I was asking some questions, but lets back this train up, and start with the beginning of the school year. For some very strange reason, I started praying this very silly prayer: Lord, give me benign opportunities to wait on you.

Disclaimer: Prayer is a wonderful thing. You should try it. And asking God for things he is prompting you to ask for is also a great thing. But asking for things to wait for, and for him to give you patience is just plain dumb. Really dumb.

So of course the Lord provides. Duh!

At first I was like, ok, this is not a big deal. But then, HOLD the PHONE! it got ROUGH. I was NOT content with my job, my housing situation, my stage of life. All of sudden the flying carpet was yanked out from under me.

P.S. I was no longer praying for opportunities. I was too busy getting my bearings.

And because that wasn't disconcerting enough, nothing satisfied. I felt like I was Dumbo-dropped in the middle of Zimbabwe. I didn't know how to deal with my new situation. I wanted to cling to something familiar. And there was nothing. And in case you didn't know, they DO NOT speak English in Zimbabwe. It was awful.

And I tried and tried to find something, anything to cling to and remind me of Los Estados Unidos, and nothing helped. So after I wore myself out, I finally started running towards the Lord and reading the Word.

And thats when the questions started coming, "What has value?"
And , " what WILL satisfy?"

And I did not get answers for a while. I kept reading and memorizing. I even thought about moving away to Dallas. I know, random. But hey, I had to try something in my own power.

And graciously, the Lord wouldn't let me....

And of course, in the midst of all of this my job got 8-and-a-half-times harder. I was super-busy running to 4 schools a day.

But, by the Lord's grace, I blindly jumped feet first off the giant cliff of intellectual suicide. Giving up everything I knew, and trusting that getting less sleep, and actually obeying the Lord would eventually pay off in some way.

And of course, eventually it did. Not in the way I was hoping, but of course, so much better.

And I'll tell you more about that next time...Currently my roommates are jump-roping with invisible jump ropes to a Jillian Micael's Shred Video. Its hilarious.

1980s seagull hair and What Really Matters

One of my roommates, in this case, Jessica, texted me today asking how she should cut her hair.

Words were not needed, clearly she had only one choice: the seagull up-do from the 80s. Sad to say, she did not agree, and instead got a super cute bob.

In other news, I am starting to understand the purpose of this blog. All year I have been "praying" about what to do for the 2010/2011 school year. Around these parts life revolves around the school year. Everything is seasonal. When you go to Starbucks is dependent upon the University system. How long it takes you to travel from point A to point B depends entirely upon school being in session or not. I prefer their summer and winter vacations when the town belongs entirely to "old" people.

I digress.

My job, and thus elementary school, is rapidly coming to a close, and for this I am extremely thankful. All year I have been asking the Lord where I am supposed to go. Surely, God has some super special job he wants me to do for Him? Right??
And I have been straining and petitioning and searching for this elusive purpose all year.
And ONLY because God is gracious, He did not give me an answer like "Cincinnati, Ohio."
No, because that would have been very convenient. Thats what I was looking for.

Quit your job, leave your church, and go an a grand theological adventure involving Chacos and Cincinatti, Ohio.

No such luck.

Instead he took me on a journey with MANY bumps and curves to discover that the praying in and of itself was the purpose. Rather, getting to know the Lord and learning to communicate and articulate was the point.
And if praying is the journey, mine is a beat-up 1956 Cadillac. It seems that most people arrive in sleek limo. Not me.

Anyways, back to the point. Some of the questions I have been asking and facing are:

What REALLY matters?

What is my purpose?

What IS the desire of my heart?

And these questions evolved over the year. So next time (which might be tomorrow) I'm going to share with you how I reached a bunch of dead ends, and got caught up in some seemingly pointless cul-de-sacs. And I still haven't heard about which "city" I'm supposed to go to, and I would LOVE to stop at the nearest gas station and buy some Twizzlers Pull-and-Peels, but the journey is endless.

Until next time.....