Love, Life and the Pursuit of Heaven

The past couple of weeks have been…life. I guess that is the best way to describe them – life. Right? You might be thinking, “Duh, you idiot. What else would they be?” But have you ever stopped and thought about what life really means? The events of the past few weeks could be described in various ways, just as life often is. Life can be awesome, fun, confusing, joyful, sad, painful, exciting, and the list goes on. The events of this month are revealing to me the many challenges and many triumphs associated with life, yet they are always allowing God’s endless love and mercy to shine down.

Love is revealed in many different forms and I have been seeing it through people and nature in abundance. Two of my very dear friends, Larry and Donna Mitchell, traveled out to Boston earlier in October and spent the day with me. This couple holds a tremendous place in my heart and in my life for many reasons. They are truly examples of a couple in communion with one another and God. While they have faced many hardships in their life together, Larry and Donna never cease striving to advance each other's souls and live their faith. It was great going whale watching with a couple who has filled the roles in my life of elementary teacher, guidance counselor, youth group leader, confirmation teacher, friend, and the newest role of mission partner. I am truly fortunate to have Larry and Donna on my missionary support team, joining me as I walk along the road of life with the students at MIT.

Confusion also took a hold of me this month with the devastating fire that occurred in my hometown in Missouri. I am sure many residents of Shelbina were asking “Why?” as an entire row of historic buildings were engulfed in flames which required nearly 10 fire departments from surrounding communities to  defeat. My dad’s barber shop was one of the businesses destroyed, leaving a pile of rubble and debris left in place where years of history and memories once resided. However, Shelbina will not allow the confusion to keep a grip on them. Love was poured out in a multitude of ways as community members began serving each other and working to help those fighting the fire and those whom lost properties and belongings. 

It was during two trips with students this month that I experienced God’s love in nature. The first outing was to Harvard, Massachusetts to go apple picking. It was absolutely awesome to see the fruit of the trees in the orchard and be able to freely choose whichever apples we desired. Just recently my team accompanied students to Kinnebunkport, Maine for a weekend. “Divine Mercy” (how appropriate) was the theme for the Tech Catholic Community Fall Retreat. Being in Maine was truly a testament to the beautiful creation of the world – the earth on which we get to experience life.

October is one small fraction of the earthly life I am currently living. This life on earth is only one small fraction of the amazing life I hope to experience in heaven (God willing). From what I have seen so far, including both joy and pain, I am eager to begin each day anew and learn more. Love came first, and then there was life. Now, we are in a continual pursuit of the most divine place, heaven.

I'm on the Edge of Glory...I think

Something beautiful. And in my life. Taken at a spiritual
retreat in Nottingham, Pennsylvania.

Blogfail. I have not posted anything since September 17^th! Reasoning for this includes the fact that I have actually been trying to work hard at being a legit missionary. Whether or not I am succeeding at this – I am trying! Perhaps another reason I have not blogged is because I have been diligently working on my quarterly missionary newsletter (which by the way I got sent to the printers today!) Finally, let me share what is probably the most realistic reason I have not blogged: our chaplain commented that sometimes blogging simply leads to people trying to portray a glorified version of their life when it is in fact, not that special.

I dare not try to express that this view is exactly what has kept me from sharing my life as a missionary in the past two weeks; however, his remarks resonated with me to a particular extent that I wanted to blog about them. While my life is not always “glorious” – it is beautiful. Part of why it is beautiful is because I choose to believe in this. I desire to believe that every day I can wake up and choose to see beauty all around me. God gives us that choice. We can choose His love or not. That’s it.  

Share the crazies. ß This is a comment I typed in order to remember I need to share the experiences in life that allow me to see how fortunate I am. For instance, allow me to share a few moments from yesterday that illustrate this idea in three parts:

1. At about 1:55 pm I was walking over to the Berklee College of Music to meet with a student and I passed a man laying on a stoop along Massachusetts Avenue. It appeared he was passed out, in pain, and possibly drunk from the half-empty bottle of vodka beside him.

2. At approximately 10:50 pm I was walking down Mass Ave towards my apartment. I first passed a group of four young teenagers. One of the girls was barely wearing any clothing and allowing her assumed boyfriend to touch and grab all over. Then I saw another young couple. The girl was clearly feeling very hurt while the boy was aggressively trying speak at her. It appeared to be an overly-dramatic scene from a movie.

3. As I brushed my teeth around 11:35 pm I heard shouting coming from the street outside. After peeking out, I saw a woman and a man quarrelling. From the dialogue I picked up things the woman was yelling such as, “I don’t even know you!” and “Quit following me!” and “Do you want to rob me? I have nothing! No money!” and “You’re not even from around here. Are you Irish?” From the context clues I was offered, the two appeared to be strangers, possibly homeless, and the man was insistent on following the female. Amidst the conversation there flew many a curse word and included in the event was some pushing and shoving. (Thankfully the police arrived shortly thereafter.)

Now, in an attempt to be clear – I do not want to convey these instances in a sarcastic or humorous light. These were real events. This is real life. This is reality! I saw and heard each of the previously noted debacles. What I certainly want to do is make it known that life is not meant to be this way, nor does it have to be. I see the pain and suffering of many people around me both at MIT and in the area I live in. On one hand, I feel very sad. I wonder “Why?” and think “What the hell am I doing here?” On the other hand, I am convicted in why I am serving as a missionary.

It is evident that our world is in need of love. God’s love. And if I can bring even a fraction of that to the people I am allowed to work with every day, I think that I am doing an okay job. The world is not black and white. It is super confusing. And it is certainly not glorious. But it can be. We have been given the knowledge and instruments to change it.

This blog is not intended to bring “glory” to my life. At the least, I hope it could offer the least bit of glory to the One with whom glory should reside. Nonetheless, I am so glad a small remark made by someone (a pretty awesome someone at that) could inspire me to look deeper into a profound aspect of life. I like to think my life is special and I am grateful that you are sharing in this journey with me. Blogsuccess?

What Are You Waiting For?

Classes are underway at MIT as students blanketed the campus on Wednesday, September 7^th. My teammate Ashley enjoyed taking pictures of some of the students on their first day. This had me reminiscing on first-day-of-school pictures that were often taken as a youngster. One student at MIT, Elizabeth, was very eager to get to her first class of the day as evidenced by the picture below.

FOCUS Missionary, Sam, finishing out her
soccer career at UConn.

Elizabeth is actually from Columbia, Missouri and attended Hickman High School. It was very nice to find someone in Massachusetts who can understand my roots and Elizabeth and I like to talk about how awesome our home state is. These conversations usually include topics such as Mizzou, Shakespeare’s cups, mutual friends, and how the Tigers are way better (and classier) than the Jayhawks.

Regarding college athletics, I was pleased to spend last Sunday afternoon attending a soccer game with my teammate, Ann. We walked over to Harvard which is only about a 25 minute walk from where we live in Cambridge. The Harvard women were playing UConn, which is where another FOCUS missionary, Sam, will be graduating from in December. She will be serving in Texas as a Varsity Catholic missionary working with the athletes there. It was great to see her missionary leadership coming through on the field. She leads some of the women on her team in prayer and works hard to motivate them throughout the game.

It was quite an experience to be walking around the campus at Harvard. The institution truly exudes an extremely collegiate vibe and I felt a bit more intelligent for the day. Perusing around the campus and exploring the buildings was quite interesting. Being of such rich historical significance, Harvard was definitely an intriguing place to be. I especially delighted in seeing the Harvard Coliseum, which evokes even more history as it mimics the Roman Colosseum. The only difference between the two is that we find college men battling it out on the football field as opposed to gladiators battling it out with some lions.

As a missionary, I have the opportunity to meet new students every day. This often leads to very interesting conversations about life, faith, food, sports, academics, etc. Just this past Friday my teammate, Joey, and I were walking around campus and ended up having conversations with some really great students. Most of the intentional interactions I have with students stem from questions surrounding  life. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself what the meaning or purpose of life is?

I have learned from various people including my FOCUS teammates that no matter what one views in regards to what their life means, faith must be present. It takes faith to believe that Christ died for our sins. It also takes faith to believe that He didn’t. It takes faith to believe in the truth in science and it takes faith to believe in religion. If you find yourself faithless, you aren’t searching for the purpose and meaning of life. And it is finding what we believe in that drives our purpose and our meaning. Some students I met seemed to think that this question would be better answered towards the end of their lives. It is as if when we get older, it will become more important to examine what our meaning is as we naturally approach death with age. However, no one knows the point at which their life on earth will end. And if we wait to find our purpose and meaning, then we could miss out on what true living really means. We could miss out on being fully alive. Our lives can become more, and they can become more at this moment – right now.

Every day I strive to learn more about my faith, so that I have a greater purpose and meaning for living. I challenge you to examine what your purpose is and to start living now. What are you waiting for?