It started with a prayer:
The first week I was in Tennessee I was staying at a family friends house in Lebanon. Since all the dorms had been full the original plan was to look for an apartment or a house to live in for my first year at Belmont. It was not until a few days before I left home that I found out I ended up getting put in a dorm after all. I thank God everyday that it worked out the way it did. Some of my closest friends from Belmont lived with me on the first floor at Thrailkill Hall that year.
So instead of spending that week looking for a place to live, I had a lot of free time to think and pray. I prayed for my time at Belmont to be about more than simply going to school and earning a degree. I asked God to bring people in my life that I could build meaningful relationships with, people who would challenge me and encourage me. In a place where I didn't really know anyone. What I really wanted was to be part of a community.
Ask and you will receive:
It turns out that God has a way of giving us more than we would have ever thought to ask for. I sometimes wonder what my life would be like had I not ended up coming to Nashville. The time I have spent in this city, and more importantly with the people of this city, has been some of the best and most challenging few years of my life. Though I came to Nashville to go to school at Belmont, much of what I have learned over the last three years wasn't found in a textbook or a lecture, it has been through the people I have met here(if you are reading this that means you). Many of you have helped me see what it really means to live for more than just myself, and that is something I will always take with me.
The Reconstruction of Faith and Life:
In many ways I am walking away from my experiences at Belmont and in Nashville with many more questions than answers. It is through these questions, questions such as what does it truly look like to be part of a local church and part of the Church as a whole? What does it mean to be part of a city and community as a whole instead of simply just living in a city? How do my career and life goals match up with the Gospel of Jesus? These are just a few of the questions that are leading me towards the next part of my journey.
My decision to be a part of the World Race, and thus to travel to eleven different countries spanning three continents over the course of 11 months was no hasty decision, and is something that I take very seriously. So it is only after much prayer, countless conversations with family, friends, and mentors, that I was finally able to trust the Lord in this choice. I have no idea what to expect from my time around the world, and I'm not sure I will end up back in Nashville when it is all said and done. Yet I am confident in the fact that no matter where I end up, if I strive to follow the ways of Jesus and let the Holy Spirit guide my decisions, that my journey will be better than anything I could ever dream up. In the end I am taking this step not to simply try and find the answers, but instead to live out the questions.
