The best way to describe me is to imagine a little boy wondering about the wilderness picking up anything and everything and being completely intrigued by it. I study it, play with it, and sometimes I stick it in my mouth. Everything it seems is a lovely gift. Every once in a while, somebody comes along, taking my hand, and says, “Lets go this way!” In the year 2000, a wonderful creature, with a pure hand took mine and said just that. In that year I told this great thing I wanted to always go where he was going. To do the things he was doing.
I have been with this creature for several years now. This creature being Jesus Christ. He has taken me in some of the most wonderful places, introduced me to others just like me, and continues to be the greatest object of intriguement a boy could ever have. When I reflect on my inspirations, my life experiences, and my loves. When I put it all together…it’s beautiful. A poet or a madman am I.
As one would inquire, I love stories. I only wish I could be a great storyteller. To be the old grandfather all the children would gather around to hear stories of old. Everyone, it seems, is given a chance to tell his or her own moving story. Living a life with Christ demands it. Looking to the ultimate story, His, and being given the chance to be a part of it is an opportunity I hope no one would pass up.
My own story places me in Piqua Ohio sanding on a Fed-Ex box in 1998 and also talking with Namibian students about the AIDS situation just last June. It finds me swinging on swings at 4:30 in the morning in a remote mountain town in Nicaragua and writing a paper on Swedish Fish at the University of Dayton. All of it, big or small is necessary to the creation of the person I am on this day. A person I am proud of and look forward to spending time with. I look forward to spending time with you as well, creating our own stories, and sharing the uniqueness we both entail.
My world race story…
Troubled by dreams, I woke up very early one morning (8:30 is early) in a suburb outside Seattle. I felt very burdened by my current situation. I clearly heard God calling me from this place. To trust him with where I would go and what I would do. To go first, ask later. Deciding to do this did not look good on paper, especially my employment situation. A position with a local boys and girls club. A place that not only had my body, but my heart and mind also. Leaving this place, cold turkey, would not be without pain. Curious as to my next step, I searched the Internet and checked into AIM’s site for the first time in a year or two. I came upon the world race, which was a beautiful portrayal of the lifestyle I inspired to take. Two days later, I put my notice of leaving into my job, my friends and family, the mountains, and nearly everything I had owned. Two weeks later, I was on a plane heading east. Two days after that I was invited to the World Race. Since then, my life has been simplified and clarified. God’s grasp on my life is apparent, once again he is saying, “Let’s go this way!”
