My Last Summer

The realization that this is going to be my last summer felt like Robitussin to me. Wierd. I know, but work with me for a second. You know that you're going to have to take the medicine eventually. But you havent taken it just yet so there's still a smile on your face. You don't want to stay sick forever, you want to keep moving on with your normal, day-to-day activities. So you take the medicine. Yep, you were right. This taste is not pleasant in the slightest. I bet that wasn't comforting at all. But you swallow it anyways and the Robitussin leaves a sour aftertaste in your mouth. As soon as the initial shock of that taste fades, there's a note of optimism because you know you're on the road to getting better, to moving on past this temporal stage.

With this being my last summer I wanted to do something else other than work for some summer cash. As much as I love my family and friends at home, I wanted to go someplace for mission work. There was this internal conflict between comfort and discomfort. I prize comfort so much. I have everything I need, why leave it all? It's a spoiled mentality that I've been trying to get out of, but it's a process. As Christians, I don't think we're called to be comfortable. We're supposed to be uncomfortable. If we're comfortable then something is not right. There have been opportunities to leave and go do mission work but it was this same mentality of total avoidance of discomfort that I was still holding onto that prevented me from leaving.

My good friend, Lee Thomas, and I came to the Coffee Mill and ran into her old bible study leader, Paige. We got entangled in this long conversation about the very thing that I've been trying to let go of--comfort. Security. Stability. Safety. Have y0u ever been at a place at just the right time and heard exactly what you needed to hear? Take a step in my shoes and that's what happened to me. Hearing the Lord speak through Paige was just the affirmation I needed.

So this summer I am going to Haiti for a couple of weeks. It's going to be tough, expensive, but nonetheless eye-opening. Am I scared? Yep. Am I excited? Beyond belief. How do I feel about my last summer spent in a place that has just encountered so much destruction and hurt? Wouldn't have it any other way. Bring on the uncomfortable.