2,073 mile journey

In roughly fourteen days I will be moving my life to Pasadena California to begin my studies at Fuller Theological Seminary. (Two weeks people!!) As I prepare for this cross-country move I have found the majority of my conversations revolving around Fuller, and how I've found my way there. "What made you choose Fuller?" "Why California??" "California?...I thought you were moving up north?" "What do you hope to learn out there?" "Are you excited?" That's the easiest one to answer- YES!

As I step forward (with great excitement, hopeful anticipation, eagerness, and a healthy dose of fear of the unknown),  I am thankful for a moment to pause and reflect on how I got to this place, and what I hope these next three years to be.

(While visiting Fuller a few months ago, I jotted down notes throughout the weekend. I returned to the notebook recently and found these words (among others) that reflect my experience.)

There is a phrase that has never sat well with me, a phrase I often hear yet have never been able to identify with, "Called to seminary." I don't think there is anything inherently "wrong" with this idea...but personally I have never felt "called to seminary." (Perhaps some might feel I should not be there if I don't directly feel called to this place, but I would disagree). I am called to take part in God's redemptive kingdom work on this earth, I am called to the ministry of Jesus Christ, I am called to love my neighbor. This calling is taking me to seminary, to gain what I feel to be necessary knowledge and tools to continue this ministry in my life. Seminary being a part of the process, not the calling itself.   While visiting Fuller someone spoke directly to this idea during a time of Q&A. They said, "We are not simply called to seminary- we have a calling far beyond what happens in these classrooms." I look forward to the next three years as I am stretched, challenged, broken, and equipped for ministry. A current student phrased it this way "Fuller is a place that equips passionate people to do what they already love." I think I'm going to like this place...

Fuller is a diverse community made up of students from roughly 70 countries and representing over 100 denominations. The more days I spend in this world the more I'm reminded of the rich diversity within the family of God. Our God is immensely creative (good quality for a creator to possess, yea?) and we have so much to learn from each other. I am extremely thankful for my upbringing. I was raised in a loving, inclusive church within the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship network. As a young female called to ministry I fully grasp how fortunate I am to have called this place home for 23 years. This circle I've been nurtured, encouraged, and brought up in will always be home, and I am thankful for it. That being said, this girl is ready to explore a little bit, get away from home for a while. I am ready for an adventure! I am excited to share life with people who are vastly different that me. I look forward to having conversations and learning from individuals who think, look, believe, act, speak, and come from different walks of life than me, such is the kingdom of heaven.

A dear friend of mine once gave some advice that I have held close ever since. She said "listen for you heart to come alive, and lean into that." [Sorry for paraphrasing :) ] Simply put, while visiting Fuller I felt my heart come alive. I awoke to my passions, my hopes, my ability to dream- I felt alive, fully human, and I hope that is a sign of what's to come in the next three years.

expanding our grasp on community

Confession: It has been way to long since I posted. In my defense, I had reflections/important bits of life that I was ready to post about multiple times in the past month and a half (lots of stuff going on!) however...I couldn’t for the life of me remember my stinkin log-in. Finally...we have solved this issue and I’m back! (Just in time for a crazy whirl-wind of a month!)

So in my first post or so I mentioned hopes of this being a place where I could process through ordinary, and not-so ordinary, adventures I find myself in...this particular post is for one of those that meets the “not-so” criteria. My adventure of life recently took me across the world, on a trip to Kenya! 

I was fortunate enough to be a part of the Passport Kenya team this summer!  Coming fresh off a full summer of camp we hopped over to Kenya ready for another go round! After a quick layover in London (woo olympics!) and a flight with none other than the President of Kenya (whaat?), we arrived and hit the ground running!  Passport Kenya is a cross-cultural camping experience, a time for Kenyan and American students to come together to do camp, and thematically speaking this summer, do Life Together. And that is precisely what we did. We had around 50 students total (roughly half from America, and half from Kenya) come together for camp-Bible study, worship, silly songs, recreation all the things we know and love about camp. For the majority of the week I felt like I was back in Wingate, Macon, DC, St. Louis, Dallas, simply doing camp. There were many times that our Life Together felt so similar that I would let the fact that we were on the other side of the world slip away from me. That is until that part where I opened my eyes to the beautiful green green mountains, allowed my lungs to breathe in deeply the rich clean Africa air and was constantly struck by God’s incredible creation. 

Overall our time together in Kenya felt so normal. Please don’t hear me saying that this trip was anything less than extraordinary, but there was a strange normality of it all that kept catching me off guard. At the beginning of the week there was some natural hesitance (but please, anyone who has worked youth camp can attest to that happening whether the students are from different schools, different towns, or in this case, countries). Once the initial awkward interactions were out of the way, our students began warming up to each other and I watched something beautiful happen. Teenagers being teenagers. They jammed out to the hit songs during van rides (screaming to “turn it up!”, they played hackie sack, talked about cute boys, snacked (or enjoyed chai time in our case), and had side conversations during Bible Study non-stop (see what I was saying...so normal!) :) I was happily surprised (and I think the same could be said for our students), but our much they all had in common. One night in reflections/debriefing time, one of our students spoke to simply being human, our humanness. As if we hadn’t hit home enough on this all summer, surprise surprise... Our human core, our ability to simply be human, comes most alive in the context of authentic community, when we live into our Life Together as humanity. 

Just as I was beginning to think I had grasped a full understanding on this whole Life Together thing, just when I was beginning to think “ok, awesome theme, we’ve got it...community, check” the wind began stirring in a new way. During our time in Kenya we took a trip to Nakuru national park to camp out, see a crazy number of animals in their natural home (how kind of them to let us stay a few nights) and explore creation. While there we had a few casual worship services and time to gather some thoughts as a group. This is when it was brought to my attention (thank you Sam Harrell) that perhaps in our thorough exploration of community, we have been been leaving out a rather essential element in God’s narrative of Life Together. Perhaps we have been so consumed by the characters and plot line (all of great importance), that we have failed to give any attention to the setting itself: Earth. Yes we as humans are a vital part of God’s creation, but let us open our eyes, we are not the only element. The trees, mountains, birds in the air (turns out there’s insane diversity in birds alone), lions, safari ants (rather annoying little buggers!), flowing streams, I could go on. Let’s be real, we got pretty lucky with God’s choice of setting for this story. 

Now the setting for this life isn’t one that goes untouched, not nearly indestructible, and we are foolish if we continue to believe that we personally don’t have an impact on this Earth. What a beautiful, intricate, surprising, very much alive world we inhabit.

So I have been challenged, what can I do to help it remain that way, help it maintain it’s liveliness. I’m not talking about moving out into the woods, giving up AC/running water, and living in a tree house the rest of my life (while, there are some pretty cool ones!). I’m talking simple, do-able steps...trying to make an effort each day. Just as we have found to be true with our Life Together, our community with other human beings, this too takes intentionality. Caring for God’s creation unfortunately hasn’t found it’s way into my innate natural instinct. We’ve got to put some intentionality into this. Just a few I’m getting started with...

-The 3 R’s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShC0RqSANr4

-Cutting out meat/dairy 

(ok soap box really quick...)did you know 

it take 441 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef?! 

50 percent of the corn grown in the US is used to feed animals. Meaning, 1.2 billion humans don’t have food on their plate, but we are busy plumping up those cows, pigs, and chickens

Beautiful rain forests are being erased to make room for cattle grazing. 

(all these fun (ok-not so fun) facts are borrowed from Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet, 2009.)

-Walking/biking/public transportation/skipping/etc. (Once I make my move to California, I’ll car free! Going somewhere within a few miles from home? Consider leaving the car parked)

-Gardening (ok, this is going to happen)

May we be intentional to remember that we are just a portion of God’s creation, instructed to care and respect the other elements we are so fortunate to be able to enjoy. How sad it is that it takes a trip across the world to be reminded, let us live in a way that continues to care go God's creation, all of creation. So, mountains, rain, water buffalo...welcome to the Life Together party (I apologize it's taken so long).