Friday, August 9, 2013

Homeless & Hungry

I leave for my sophomore year at Liberty University tomorrow morning.
For the first time in five days, my room is finally clean after looking like a tornado uncontrollably threw up in it. The truck is loaded and the last of  my crates wait patiently by my bedroom door. I've been home for six days and now I'm taking off for three months to college before I come back to visit for only a week, then leave once more. Back and forth, back and forth. Why only six days? Oh, I've been in China for the last month and Wisconsin for two and a half weeks before that training to go as part of leadership on the team to China. And here I am once more, leaving early for leadership training, but this time it's for my college hall, and I'm gone for much longer.
I don't mind traveling and moving about; in fact, I love it. It's a great joy to me. I love traveling. Plus, I've grown up in a military family, so I've been moving around my whole life. This is merely second nature for me to pack up & take off. I've never lived anywhere for longer than six years, and that was double what we normally spent in a home. I was born in North Dakota, but I consider myself from Alabama cause that's where I lived the longest and where I graduated high school, but my family now resides in Georgia, and I go to school in Virginia. I've moved eight times, lived in five states, have visited most of the states in the U.S., and have explored six different countries (including the U.S.). So when someone asks me where I'm from, I never really know how to answer.
Homeless and not content. That's what one of my friends calls me. It's true, though. I don't really have a home, never have. I don't have that place where I know everyone and they know me and we've all known each other our entire lives and I know where every back road leads because I've had time to explore that over the years. Instead, I've met countless people, seen numerous places, have had tons of friends that come in all different kinds. I've gone places and done things. I've experienced suburbs, cities, and small Southern towns. I've been blessed with the gift of seeing God's creation. I've been able to adventure through-out my short lifetime thus far and experience things others haven't. I'm not cooped up in the same old town with the same old people doing the same old things. I consider this a blessing.
God's called me to be a missionary. I have a love and passion for people, other cultures, other places, traveling, and serving. I love to travel. I love to move around and see places, experience places. I love understanding other people and why they do what they do. I've been blessed enough to be given marvelous supporters that donate to my mission trips so that I can see these places and serve these people. I hunger to travel the world and see all the wonders that it has to offer. I consider this a blessing.
So maybe I'm "home"-less. And maybe I'm not content just staying where I am.
I long for adventure.
I long to go out.
I long to suck the nectar from the beautiful earth that God's created.
I don't want to stay planted and never experience all that there is.
I consider this a blessing.

So here I am, sitting in my room with all these thoughts running through my mind. I decide to type them out and post them because I haven't posted in ages and a half. But let me share one more thought with you that started this whole hype in my mind...
It was last August. It was close to 3 A.M.. I was sitting on my bed in my new house in GA that I had only been in for a month, scanning over all of my crap that I had packed for school, making sure I didn't forget anything and praying that I wasn't bringing too much. My dad came down and sat on my bed, chatting with me as I packed some last minute stuff. Later, my moma came down to chat with me. They both had tears in their eyes and a nervous air about them. I was leaving later that morning to a school that's nine hours away for the next three months straight before I would visit for a short week for Thanksgiving, less than a month for Christmas, and about a month and a half for summer (I spent the other month and a half on my mission trip to China). It was strange to think about leaving them at first, but they had prepared me for this. I was ready. It was a new adventure with new places and new people. It was exciting to be opening my wings to fly out on my own. Tonight, everyone's resting peacefully. I take off tomorrow after being home for only six days, but it's okay. My parents have done an amazing job preparing me for this life and being there for me throughout it. I love y'all very much. <3 thank you.

1 comment:

  1. Ah, what a beautiful life you live! :) I don't think you need me to tell you that you are doing it right, cus you are. And its painfully obvious. I am convinced that your life will play out like a movie (a great one at that) until it is over. I'm glad to have been a small part of it!.

    ReplyDelete