Well tomorrow morning I leave for a new adventure….
I am sorry it has been so long since the last time I blogged, so let me catch you up quick on the last four months of my life. I moved down to Georgia to partner and work with a great non-profit organization called “Adventures in Missions.” They are the organization that runs “The World Race” which is the 11 month long mission trip to 11 countries that I went on last year. I moved down here in September to intern with the organization and have the opportunity to get mentored by some great leaders to help me grow in my leadership and knowledge in leading and working for a non-profit organization. My hope was to be a squad leader for the world race this January, but some things have changed.
This season of being down in Georgia has been really good, but also really hard. There has been a lot of growth (kind of like growing pains) but a lot of amazing blessings. Even through the growth, I have always felt this is where I am meant to be for this season of my life. The first week down here, we backpacked in the mountains of North Carolina and camped in the wilderness for a week. Then the next three months consisted of working in the office at Adventures in Missions (aim), reading great books, having great conversations, working on projects, getting mentored and poured into by great leaders, getting to lead and pour into future world racers heading off onto the race, working on and growing in my identity in Christ, and celebrating living life with other world race alumni that soon became family to me. I have felt very blessed to be down here and have learned a lot about myself and who and what the Lord is calling me to do and be.
In a recent conversation, I overheard a friend saying a quote that really hit home to me. He said, “Today’s no, is God’s greater yes for tomorrow.” That really hit home to me because the door got closed to squad lead for this January, but God’s greater yes is that I get to leave for Guatemala tomorrow morning. I am gong to Guatemala for 3 to 6 months to work and serve along side with other World Race alumni who have started a long term missionary base there. I will be going seeking the Father’s heart for my own life and going to serve the mission team there. By going there I will also be getting to experience what a long term missionary being in one place for a long duration of time is really like. Living in one place and working with the same group of people in the same area for a good amount of time will give me a great taste to see what it’s like to be a missionary in a third world country.
I am still very much on a journey and a search for what my true calling in life is. I know the purpose of my life and I know what and who my life is meant and called to be about. But in many ways, I am still searching for my individual assignment and post of where I am meant to be. But what the Lord keeps reminding me most of is this, that it’s about loving people. It’s about loving people right where they are at and that through my love for them, maybe their hearts will feel a glimpse of God’s love for them. So even though I don’t know my grand scheme in life or have the next ten years planned out, what I do have planned out is this, I want to love my God with all my life and heart, and love others with his love. Because by his love working in me and through me, I hope others will come to know him, feel him, and experience him in their lives. It’s so amazing to realize that God doesn’t need me, but that he invites me to be a part of what he is doing on this earth and in people’s hearts and lives, it’s honestly the most amazing feeling in this life.
Thank you for supporting me, for believing in me, and for praying for me. Thank you for even taking the time out of your busy day to read my blogs (trust me, I know sometimes there really long). Having you all to support me and encourage me means more than I could describe. I’m not perfect and I mess up more than I like to, i’m just a normal person like you. I might live a different life style than the normal American, but i’m trying to do what makes me come alive and what I feel my true purpose in life is. Knowing that I have friends and family that support me, love me, and believe in me, is one of the most deepest and most meaningful blessings from God in this life… So thank you….
I will end with this – I recently went to go see the movie “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” I actually saw it 3 times, I know, crazy right. The first time I saw it, my family actually walked out of it because the first half of the movie was so bad. The dude in the movie (Walter) was having all of these visions and it made no sense and it wasn’t very funny. But my cousin and I stuck it out and stayed until the end and Wow am I so glad I did. Walter day dreams all of the time in the movie because he wasn’t truly living his life. Yes he had a job and went to work every day, but he was lost inside because he was living a life that wasn’t really him. He let fear paralyze him and forgot who he really was inside. The movie is very inspiring and it’s about finding yourself and learning to take chances and risks on the things and the people that mean the most to you. It’s about learning to appreciate and live in the present moment and to take nothing for granted. The movie is about one finding them-self and learning how to really live the life that they were created to live…and most of all, the movie is about learning how to conquer the fears that try to paralyze us all. And here is the best part, the more Walter begins to really live, the more that the day dreams go away. So the second and third time I saw the movie, I didn’t mind the beginning of the movie when he is day dreaming all the time, because now I know that it sets up the real story and message of the movie which is…..
–stop dreaming and start living!
So in a lot of ways, I am still trying to find myself and my true calling in life. I think this will be a life time journey that I will always be on and won’t fully complete until I’m in heaven with the Lord one day. It’s a journey of finding myself as I find more of my Father. And as I find more of my Father, I find more of myself, and as I find more of myself, I find more of what my true purpose in life is! I can’t know what my purpose in life is, if I don’t know who I am, and I can’t truly know who I am, if I don’t truly know who my Father is.
So I guess I would say i’m on a pilgrimage of learning how to love others, searching for my Father, and trying to find myself in this great adventure of life that we all been chosen to live
God Bless you all and no matter what today looks like for you -take a chance and love someone you don’t know, help someone who wouldn’t expect it, and choose to get to be the hands, feet, and heart of Christ to people… and when you look in the mirror at the end of the day, look deep into your eyes and I hope that you see a glimpse of the eyes of Christ within you looking back at you smiling with His love for you!
Below is the trailer for the movie “The Secret life of Walter Mitty” and then a movie that I used for a presentation on what my calling is. It’s a movie that I feel like defines the journey and search that I have always been on in trying to find my meaning in life and who I’ve been created to be…I hope it inspires you!
We have all been created for a purpose and a meaning, none of us are accidents, we have all been put on this earth for a reason…i’m just trying to live and find out that meaning…I hope you are too. It might look different for everyone, but never give up on your dreams and what you believe you have been put on this earth to do and be!
God Bless you all and thank you for making an impact on my life!
Ryan
Here is a link that shares a short description of the the base that I will be staying at and working with: http://www.adventures.org/trips/mission-trips.asp?locid=98&tripid=5495
