I sit on my bed in Salta de las Rosas, San Rafeal, Argentina on my last day before final debrief and wonder how I really got here. Dont get me wrong, I have dreamed about the race coming to a close and how final debrief would come and go quick and I would be home before you know it. Also it’s been a long journey. I continue recieving messages like “I cant believe you are coming home. It hasnt been 11 months.” But to me the days are long and the months are short but the journey is exhausting. But as I process leaving the race there is a part of me that can’t believe it, another part that is excited for the next journey, and the last sad it’s all coming to a close.
The one I really want to address is being excited for the next part of my journey in life. I am not writing this blog to pump myself up but I believe how you end one season of life is how you start the next. And I am excited for the future.
My dear friend, Misha and I were sitting waiting to leave for our going away party. Mind you, it’s Argentina, so the party didn’t start till 9:30Pm or so. So we were sitting outside watching the fireflies and Misha started talking about how she was sad and didn’t want to go home to an ordinary life. And I looked at her and said, “Our life at home doesnt have to be ordinary.” When I said it I didn’t realize that, that was how I felt in my heart. I didn’t realize that I don’t see home as ordinary or my journey in America as ordinary.
We choose a lot in life. We can be as radical as we want. We can choose to go home to a life of normalcy or we can choose to do it all again.
My life no matter where it is will always be an adventure.
People at home, along the way on my race, friends, so many people tell me that I am brave because I went on this journey. But truly I believe the brave thing is coming home. It is easy to buy a plane ticket and be a missionary in a 3rd world country and love on orphans. But what’s hard is the mission field at home. The hardest mission field is your friends, your family, your city. Thats the hardest place to be. But again it wont be ordinary. It will be hard, but it won’t be ordinary.
No, in fact my mission field at home will be extraordinary, it will be an adventure, it will be thrilling. It won’t be easy but it will be worth it. Nothing about this life is ordinary if we choose to live it as we are called to.
I am sure you are reading this till the end just to find out what it is that I am doing next. When I get home I will be spending the holidays with family and friends, catching up on all the Greys Anatomy and Shark Tank I have missed, enjoying Sundays with the Duffys watching my Ravens stink it up, exploring new coffee shops around Maryland with Pops, and most likely a Harry Potter marathon with Bobby. Yes, I will be applying for jobs and trying to get my life in order but no, I don’t have a big plan.
My plan is that this adventure continues even on my favorite American soil.
