missions field

College is exciting because every other week, you receive an email or support letter about a friend who has decided to abandon his/her formerly ambitious career plans to become an engineer/doctor/lawyer, and serve God semi-long-term overseas. I find that after being in a predominantly work-driven environment for the past two months, that the passion and drive (and faith) to do something like that quickly dwindles after that graduation hat is thrown. Maybe it’s the combination of the alluring promise of security and comfort and 401k’s. (I shouldn’t even be one to speak.. I’m watching my one share of stock grow each day).

But maybe, just maybe, when it’s when we’re all going off to our specific locations, whether in China or some other SE Asian country or Florida or an IV college campus or social work or the public school system or AMD or even Boeing… we realize that it’s really all the same, mission, you know. When you strip away the location and the titles and the prestige (or lack thereof), its the same need and the same resistance. Whether it’s in the form of stubborn college kids or prideful flight directors, the same battle is being fought… and no matter where or what our missions field,… are we living out our callings?

nothing left to lose

i just realized that my away message // recovering from tijuana…\\ might offend a lot of people. or, perhaps more accurately, a lot of christians.

i have this nagging feeling that by the time i get back from my shower, i will get at least one IM with the, “you went to tijuana?!” thing working its way up. and while that might be just the surprise of the friend/acquaintance who decided to chat with me, part of me knows that even a couple of years ago, i would be the one quick to judge.

the first intern i shared my testimony/faith with was on this tijuana trip. we talked about drinking, and why we people drink socially when everyone else was getting hammered at night in mexican clubs. we talked about christian politics and really, what is the difference between a pastor and minister (and why does it matter?) we talked about shamu the killer whale and why el segundo boeing was better than seal beach boeing. we talked about the injustice of how the cultures in tijuana and san diego were so different, yet separated by a few miles of borders. we talked about privilege.. and what it means to live like we do in socal.

and part of me wonders if we’d ever get to talk about that without this tijuana trip. so nah… i don’t regret going.

Something’s in the air tonight
The sky’s alive with a burning light
You can mark my words something’s about to break