In the beginning

Starting August 25th, 2013, I will be embarking on the next chapter of my life with limited direction on how I will proceed. I'll be joining Iris Ministries in Micronesia for two months while learning not only the heart of Iris but also being given an opportunity to serve a vastly different culture than one I've grown accustomed to (http://www.irisglobal.org/missions/harvest/micronesia). For those of you like me that didn't know where this is, it is essentially in between Australia and Hawaii.

Backing up a step, I have always had a desire to continually push not only myself, but others to be what they were created to be. Since being in scouts and growing up, I've come to live by two life mottos. One is that if you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room. And two, like a tree, if you're not growing, you're dying. With these two guiding principles, I am not only stepping out on the water to see what there is ahead of me, but also to hopefully find something within myself that I didn't know was present or that I have been lacking.

Much of life is run by fear that causes us to do the things we do. It is for this reason that I choose to run towards the unknown, unfamiliar, uncomfortable, unprepared, and uncertain.

I've been questioning the reasons why it is at this point in my life that I feel I am being led to take on an adventure away from everything I have known. The more I search the answer, the more I begin to see the dots that have connected different life experiences to create in me the person I am now and to give me the skills that I will need in the future. All I know is that I'm following a sense of peace I have not felt many times in my life and there have been too many things occur for me to ignore this calling. It's a funny feeling that happens when you know you were created for such a time as this.

After Micronesia, I feel a calling to head onwards to Thailand in order to minister to the youth in hopes of teaching English and any other skills that I may able to offer in order to prevent further exploitation of the worth of a human that eventually leads to prostitution and the breakdown of a family unit. There will be more to come on this area as it is largely ignored in our western world and so often people choose to simply look away from this issue rather than accept that they can help to be the change.

It is my hope that once this mission begins, you will be able to partner with me in uncovering the beauty that everyone was created in and created to be. I fully intend to update this weekly and to highlight unique individuals that have a lasting impact on my journey and hopefully yours as well. Additionally, for all those of you that know me, I'll continue to push my limits and living life to the fullest and expect to have a number of wild stories to share with you. I'll also be sharing plenty of pictures to keep this a little bit interesting for you along the way!

I would love to share my heart and vision for this should you be interested in getting together before I leave, so please don't hesitate to reach out.

"You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know."
- William Wilberforce, Abolitionist