As a senior in high school I am constantly getting questions like “What schools are you looking at? What do you want to study? What’s next for you?” From every family gathering and birthday party, to Wednesday Taco Nights at Los Ranchos, the “far in advance” questions never failed to make an appearance, and boy did it stress me out to no end. I didn’t even know what to eat for breakfast in the morning nonetheless, what I wanted to do with my life. Until one day…
I was sitting at lunch with some good friends of mine when one of them says to me “Das, look at this super cool Instagram feed. You’d really love it,” with beauty and grace, (as she would say) she handed me the phone. Little did I know; that small gesture, that simple sentence, the graceful pass of the phone, would change my life entirely. As I scrolled through the captivating photos on the profile of a complete stranger to me, I stumbled upon a photo of a guy smiling ear to ear. I clicked on the photo, and the caption is what drew me in. “this man. I have so much respect for this man. He has taken the heart he’s got and brought it across the globe- to love and to lead and to learn. to grow and expand. it’s such a pleasure to be around someone who makes scripture something tangible. He lives the song he sings. He’s rare. Radical. REAL. mmmmm no words.. thank you for being alive like you are. so much love for you.” Reading that made me tear up a little, the fact that this guy had made such an impact on so many lives inspired me. I had to find out more, I clicked on his name and it brought me directly to his profile where the first thing I saw was a blog link. I love blogs, and so full of curiosity- I clicked the link. It took a few minutes to read, and then I read it again, and then I read it to my parents, and then to my friends, might as well have memorized it because it was THAT good. Good enough for me to switch it up on everyone and break the mold of graduating high school and going straight to college, so with that I decided to take a 9 MONTH long gap year to FIVE beautiful countries including; Haiti, Botswana, South Africa, Dominican Republic, and the Philippines. The best part of this trip is that I am doing it to serve the Lord and the people I will meet along the way. Ahhhh!! The excitement is uncontainable, I hope you’re imagining me jumping up and down and hugging you because if we were face to face, I’d be doing exactly that.
People find joy in a lot of things, and success has a different meaning to everyone. Whether it be having the biggest house on the street, the nicest car, or making the most money in the office building you work in, we all strive for something to make us feel more full. For me, ever since I was a kid, I wanted to make people laugh, I wanted everyone to know that they could count on me to be the first to help the chicken cross the road. Not for anyone else, not to keep some perfect “scorecard,” I didn’t even want people to see me do something good for anyone else. I just find joy in making people happier, that’s just me. I don’t want to be the wealthiest, or have the biggest house on the block, I want to see people smile. I want to spread the love that Jesus has for both you and I, across the globe- like butter on toast. I want people to find warm comfort in knowing that no matter what happens in this inconsistent and chaotic life, there is a consistent and faithful God that loves you, the clerk at the gas station, and me all the same. I want people to find God in the depths of their sorrows, and when they feel they have no purpose, no worth, I pray that they find Him like I did.
I want to bring people on my mat.
In Mark 2:1-12 Jesus forgives and heals a paralyzed man. A group of loyal men carry their paralyzed friend on a mat to Jesus. Once they arrive and see that the house is completely surrounded by people, they take their friend on the roof of the house. They then dig a hole in the roof and lower their paralyzed friend in front of Jesus, this is where it gets CrAZy. After seeing the men’s faith, Jesus says to the man without a second thought- “Son, your sins are forgiven. Get up, take your mat, and go home,” and so the man gets up, takes his mat and walks home. WHATTT! I’m in awe. How awesome is Jesus, wow. What really gets me is that Jesus tells the man to “take his mat.” Why would He say to the man who has been stuck on the mat his whole life to take it home? Whattt? I believe that Jesus tells this man to take his mat with him to show the people back home what He has done. So that this ordinary man can now take people on his mat to lead them to Jesus, just as his friends did for him. To show them what full life is really like. I want to bring people on my mat, and the World Race is how I will do it. I want to show people love, and compassion, and full life, just like I’ve been shown.
Sure, I’m going to miss my family and friends. I’m going to miss my dogs and the halls of my school where I’ve made incredible friends. I’m going to miss out on rushing sororities, and getting a head start on college, but it will all be here when I get back. The thing is, life for me after high school wasn’t meant to be spent in a classroom, it wasn’t meant to be spent alongside kids my age stressed about the 12 page essay due on Friday. God opened this door for me and I am going to walk through it with a wide range of emotion, but I’m choosing to trust Him through it all.
I truly appreciate you taking the time to read a little bit about me and my journey, I will be blogging about once a month to keep everyone updated on what’s going on with this whimsical adventure. Thank you so much for reading this blog, YOU’RE AWESOME!! Feel free to email me or message me with any questions you may have. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Make today splendiferous!!!
