though the seasons change

    Three years ago I made what, at the time, felt like a radical decision. I moved to the the little Big Island of Hawaii to be trained up as a missionary and then tossed into an unknown foreign nation to put to practice whatever I learned. It was expensive, it was unusual, it was frightening in many ways, but it was exactly what my heart yearned for. My original planned six month "gap year" journey turned to a thirty-one month experience, weaved together through late nights in the red light district of the Philippines, muddy hikes up the mountains of Sri Lanka, sweaty days in tent classrooms surrounded by sheep pastures in Kona Hawaii, and 13 hour drives through the Arizona desert in a 1995 Chevy Astrovan. I found my people. They were faithful, fun, genuine, unafraid, convinced and convicted by truth. They were tiny old women in mountain rice terraces. They were government officials in a violently Buddhist nation. They were orphans. They were freshmen at the biggest party school in America. They were unapologetic and fearless pastors. They were 75 year old prayer warriors in Las Vegas. They were my friends and peers who walked by my side for three years. These people have daily changed me in ways that cannot be reversed. I have seen enough to know that Jesus is worth it all and he is all we have to offer. He heals deaf ears, he breaks away addictions, he destroys lies and confusion with real truth, he releases wisdom and vision and hope. Walking with the Lord and my friends, seeing miracles, knowing the presence of God, receiving a nearly constant flow of teachings and revelations, this has been my normal.

    So what now? 

    A dear friend of mine recently was praying for me. He told me that he felt God was leading me into time of "discovering wildflowers". He said some flowers grow in a garden where human hands tend to them. Wildflowers grow under the care of no one but God. In this prayer, my friend felt the Lord would be leading me to these places of where he is moving without any effort of my own.

    After three years of intentional and intense mission work, I am now back where I began in the Seattle area. I don't yet have an answer for what is next. I am now here indefinitely. This, to me, is more radical and nerve racking than any unknown nation. I know the season has arrived for me to recognize Jesus in the familiar, building the integrity to choose him by choosing obedience and servant-hearted love. I have chased the power and truth of God across the world, but now I slow down to pause and notice where he is moving around me. 

    I plan to use this blog to process what I discover on this new journey, reflect on what I have experienced in my past journeys, and proclaim truth. May this be a place of wildflowers for whoever happens upon it.