Life is short

“Since America has only about 5% of the world’s population, then only about 5% of the followers would really be called to stay in this country to tell (that's only about l out of 20) while the rest of us should go into the parts of the world where there are almost 0% followers."
- K.G.
Who thinks that this is true?
95% of followers will remain in the United States. All their lives.

“A tiny group of followers who have the story keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the... story.”

- K.P.Y.

"There's a cry in my heart, I can feel it
There's a song in my soul, I can sing it
And there's a whisper inside telling me I should go
And there's a place I can hide, Because I'm not yet home

And it's shaking me, breaking me, taking me over
And it's pushing me, shoving me, dragging me home."
- me

There's a teenager I met in Senegal. He's a follower who had to leave his family, his village when they found out; one of the wisest kids I know. He loves to dig into The Book, loves talking about it, loves learning, loves Him. He wants to tell his family about Him. They don't want to hear it. Yet. He went to hang out with some of the Ms one day; relaxing, joking around, hanging out, a good time. He got quite. When asked what he was thinking about he replied simply, "Life is short".
What am I doing? What are you doing? I agree with D. Life is short. Eternity is long.

(A tree in Senegal, forever proclaiming, (In wolof) "Him, His Son, D")

New Sunglasses and Blind spots

So, If you have ever been in my car with me you probably have noticed two things; 1) I like to get where I'm going, to say the least, which means I do a lot of lane changing and 2) I like to ride with the windows down (now, this is may not be something you've noticed because, due to strange/scary events in the past, I used to, as a rule, never put them down, (which is another story entirely) but since spending some time in Africa where you always have your windows down for fear of dying of heat stroke ;-), I've become quite fond of it).
So, with that background in mind...I got new sunglasses the other day! My old ones were cracked, (presumably from the most recent travel across the ocean judging from how crazy my suitcase looked upon my return to the states and the fact that I found them, not in the shoe I put them in for "safe keeping" but in a broken" fanta cocktai"l (african cola) bottle that I have no recollection of packing especially because I don't even like the drink). I admit, they are kinda on the big side, a fad I swore I'd never give into, but, in my opinion, all sunglasses look strange on me anyway, so I just go with whatever's on sale. And, I really like them. They keep the wind out of my eyes since my windows are always down, also they keep the hair out of my eyes which used to find their way in through the gaps in the side. And they, of course, keep the sun out of my eyes which not only prevents wrinkles from squinting ;-) but prevents vision problems that actually do occur from the sun in the eyes of fair skinned people(hello! me!) (both are true! in case you don't wear sunglasses) So, I love them! They meet all the purposes I bought them for, right?

However, I do have a problem....remember I mentioned the switching lanes often thing? well, I noticed the other day that they seem to create a "blind spot" when I turn to check my actual "blind spot" when changing lanes, so I end up having to take them off to change lanes, which is pretty darn often. *sigh...

So why am I telling you about my sunglasses problems? Because I find it being pretty representative of my life these days. I love nursing school so far. I enjoy what I'm doing and am happy to be learning things that I'll actually be using in life. I'm having a great time with my sorority this year, this week is rush week and I'm loving meeting all the new girls. I've even started working with a high school organization leading a group of students interested in traveling, which I, not surprisingly, am super excited about! But, like my new sunglasses, haha, one thing seems to be slacking in my new schedule.

Only one thing though, I mean, I've got all these other great things I love about it...is it really a big deal? Well, is it really a big deal if I can't see who's coming up behind me while I change lanes? If you plan on riding with me any time soon you'd better shout: YES!! If I can't see them, I'll smack into them, ripping off my mirror, damaging their cars, and quite likely hurting myself or other people...duh. This one thing in my life is a big deal...the biggest; with such a hectic schedule of things I love and are great to do, I've been slacking on time spent in The Book, speaking, and just talking with Him.

Having a life that's 95% good things you like to do is still 100% wrong if you're missing the one thing that holds that 95% together.

So, will I get new sunglasses? Probably not, I'll just have to turn more than I normally do to check my blind spot and lift my glasses every now and then. Will I fix the thing slacking in my life? You bet, or it's not a life at all.

Me and L doing some Starbucks advertising in our Nursing scrubs :-)

Some of the girls rushing my sorority and some of the guys from our brother fraternity

Running

It's always hard coming home after a trip. Don't get me wrong, It's great seeing family, friends, and enjoying American things like widely spoken English, Taco Bell, and the always under appreciated AC and toilet ;-), but people, including myself, always seem to feel like they are, in some way, leaving behind what He is doing overseas. I had been thinking about this as I got back into my routine and started school when I went for a run and listened to one of the "Passion" podcasts. They were in Asia, talking about their time in the Philippines and Malaysia. As the main speaker talked about how their current location was a gathering point for followers of restricted countries and heard the followers from other nations shouting from the audience to make their voices heard, it hit me; I hadn't left any of His work behind, I had just changed job sites for a while. Just as these national followers from all over Asia were stepping up to make their voices heard in their nations, this is where He has me now, and it is simply arrogant of me or anyone else to think that them leaving the field will have detrimental effects on His work. He is building up His people to reach their countries in a way any foreigners on a trip never could. Again, don't misunderstand, I'm still excited that, one day, He may place me overseas on a longer-term basis; It's still plain and simple to me, the distribution of followers around the world is still drastically unbalanced, but it is, once again, refreshing to know He doesn't need me and, at the same time, amazing to find that He wants me. :-)

In the mean time, I've officially started the nursing program at my school. It's been a slightly overwhelming first week and a half, but I'm falling into the routine. We've started clinicals working with the community downtown twice a week, as well as two days of classes, and a day of labs which means lots of time spent in scrubs and studying!

Our clinical group riding the city bus to our clinical site to better understand our clients' difficulties in accessing health care

Our group is called "little Egypt" thus... the "little Egyptians"