So, you’ve come at last! I was hoping to see you lurking around this neck of the cyberspace world. I’ve been waiting to meet you! Welcome to my World Race blog and journey!
Me:
The name’s Brandi Jo. Yes, I do go by both my first and middle names. Yes, my mother was a southerner to the core. And yes, I also have many nicknames, Jobie being the most common.
I’m a 26 year old violinist from Abilene, Tx and do not have any tattoos…yet. I tried getting away from Abilene, but was successful only for approximately 8.2 seconds (in the grand scheme of time). I love this town and have been content to remain here until the Lord moved me again. Looks like He’s doing that! I’ve been playing violin for 15 years and discovered early on that, through it, I connect with my Father in a very unique way. He has blessed me with a love and joy of playing and I feel His delight when I do. This past year has been one of a “rekindling” of the passion for music and one where the Father has exploded my opportunities to explore music. I currently play in a Texas-indie-rock band, called The Penny Jar (check us out!), with the worship team at my church and in a classical violin trio. I will be bringing the violin with me on the Race. Joy abounds when I think about being able to connect with other musicians literally around the world and give praise to the Father! I can’t describe the honor I feel at the thought of being able to share my joy in music with the people my team will come in contact with in each country. Praise the Lord above for this wonderful gift!
My Family:
The Lord’s blessed me with a fabulous family who loves, encourages, corrects and supports me. I grew up with my mom, two siblings….aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents on both sides of my family. My dad and step-family are in FL and I am blessed to have a good relationship with them as well. Both of my siblings are strong, independent, well rounded, successful, beautiful people who, strangely enough, don’t seem to mind my chaotic, seemingly non-directional and rather multi-faceted life. I love them. My mom was a beautiful, strong, courageous, self-sacrificing woman. She passed away last year (you can read a little more about this here), but will always remain in my heart. As if that wasn’t enough family, I also have an adopted/surrogate/spiritual/whatever-you-want-to-call-them set of “parents.” This couple, I am convinced, was placed in my life by the Father to prove to me that I am His and His alone. Through them I have found Him to be faithful, loving, giving, gentle and watchful, while always allowing me to make the choice.
My Church:
I have a wonderful church body (Beltway Park Baptist Church) where I enjoy hanging out with my 20/20 (the young adults ministry) peeps, jammin’ with the Wednesday worship team and engaging the Word with fellow believers in the Sunday morning “corporate” services. Growing up, my family never really stayed with one church very long. So, I had no idea what it was really like to be a part of a solid, Jesus seeking, Holy Spirit inviting body of believers. Until I started attending Beltway. The Lord has done so much growing and stretching of my view of Him through the people that walk the halls of that building. But, what I think I love most about Beltway is that we are not confined to those walls. The leadership genuinely wants to see unity existing amongst the true, not confined by the walls of buildings, church body (i.e. all believers). And we are walking that out, as best we can, in our city – partnering with other churches to meet the needs of our city.
My Job:
Currently, I work for an accounting software company (WolfePak) as an “accounting technician”. Translation? I’m the help. I am part of a wonderful team of about 30 administrative, programming, and technical support people.
Missions:
I can’t really pinpoint when I felt the Lord calling me to missions. I suppose it probably started with my first trip out of the country. I was a senior in high school. And, although I wasn’t technically a part of the choir, I was allowed to joing the senior choir trip to Italy. I fell in love with traveling instantly. A few years later, in 2004, I went on my first missions trip to Honduras. I think this is where the desire to travel with a purpose was born. Due to being a full-time college student and employee, I was not able to pursue that desire again until after graduating. I had an accounting degree, but was fairly certain I wanted nothing to do with accounting (burn out anyone?). What was the next logical, responsible choice? Forget the accounting degree and move to Ireland. Sort of. I did put the degree on the backburner for a season and I did move to Ireland, but it was not a flippant decision. The Lord provided an opportunity for me to pursue vocational-type-mission work in the Dublin area with Focus on the Family Ireland. So, for six months, I “worked’ in an office, got plugged in to a small evangelical community church, made many friends and memories and was taught a GINORMOUS lesson in “resting” in the Father.
It was during the preparations to go Ireland, in 2006, that I found out about the Race. So, for three years I’ve been praying for this opportunity. With that said, it is hard to explain how incredibly psyched, excited and humbled I am to finally be on the journey!
10 Random, Unimportant, but FREE Facts About Me:
1. I was not born in the States. Try Spain. 2. I LOVE photography, but rarely have good, recent pictures of people and places in my life. Probably because I have not invested in a decent camera to make it worthwhile to take the pics. 3. I am not a “feet’ person. Just be sure to keep your feet away from me and don’t touch mine and life will be peachy. Capisce? (I’m kidding, but seriously….) 4. It is not uncommon for me to break out in a small (or not-so-small) dance. I just can’t help it. 5. I’ve been told that people find more enjoyment in watching me watch the movie “Elf” than in watching the movie themselves. Yeah. Apparently, I’m quite entertaining. But, really….the whole series of scenes at Gimbles is HIL-AR-I-OUS. Hilarious. 6. I absolutely, hands down, 100% LOVE to laugh. But, also have a deeper, serious and reflective side to me. Typically, that’s what shows up in blogs (consider that the disclaimer for future blogs ;p). 7. I love worship. 8. “Awkward for Jesus” is a favorite description of myself, “introverted people person” is another. 9. I have the BEST niece and nephew ever. Period. 10. I ran my first half-marathon in November and loved it!
