Jumping Off A Cliff
 
 
“There is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). I came to the islands of Micronesia six months ago thinking that my purpose was to spend two years here serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV), but it soon became apparent that this half year was to instead serve as a transitional period, a necessary stepping stone to the next stage in my life. Because of various reasons, I have decided to resign from my service as a PCV. On March 4, I will be moving to Long Beach, CA where I will turn the page and begin writing the next chapter of my life. I came to Micronesia with the idealistic goal of changing the world, but quickly came to understand that it was first me who needed to be changed. The Dalai Lama says, If you want to change the world, first try to improve and bring about change within yourself. That will help change your family. From there it just gets bigger and bigger. Everything we do has some effect, some impact. I have so much still to learn about who I am and my destino.* Coming to Micronesia has brought me to a place of recognition that I am now a man, but I have much growing left to do. To stay, would be to remain somewhere between here and where, to become frozen in the night. I will not cease trying to become till I have sailed beyond the sunset. There’s no way for me to say what my future holds, but I feel that much will be required of me. And it is only through the relinquishing of those pieces to which I would feel more comfortable lugging along with me that I will arrive at my destino—and it is only through said journey that I will find true fulfillment and truly be able to make a difference in the world. I would like to say for friends like Travis who are interested in Peace Corps (PC) service, I still hold the PC experience in high regard as being the “hardest job you’ll ever love” and a way to truly make a difference and be changed yourself. Had the opportunity to serve as a PCV come at a different time in my life, I believe I would have thrived, but such was not my purpose in coming here. Nevertheless, I walk away a changed man, having learned lessons and gained perspective that I could not have procured otherwise. I believe, too, that I bid adieu to some students and fellow volunteers who have definitely impacted me and, it is to be hoped, were in some way impacted by me as a result of our brief period of time together. Mission accomplished. I’ll end by sharing a reading from the book of Isaiah: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD’s renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.” Isaiah 55:8-13 (NIV) * In Spanish there is no distinction between the words ‘destiny’ and ‘destination’, only destino. At first, I thought this to be a weakness of the language, but upon deeper consideration, I found profound spiritual implications in the semantic study. http://www.travishellstrom.blogspot.com/shapeimage_1_link_0
“There is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.”
⊱Ecclesiastes 3:1
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Somewhere between Here and Where