Tomorrow I start my last week of classes here. Then it's a free week in Sydney. Then it's a week in New Zealand. Then it's home. And now that the end is near, it feels like it's taking forever to get here. When I feel like I can't wait to be home, November 20th just hovers in the back of my mind, and refuses to budge. Everyone keeps saying that our time is running out so quickly, but to me it kind of feels like it's suddenly slowed down.
In our ASC classes, we're starting to 'process' all of the things we've learned/seen/experienced here and figuring out what we do with it all. We seriously have the best discussions in those class, and I'm going to hate going back to normal class where no one wants to contribute. But we were talking about the idea of mobility and stability. And I've been sitting here staring at the screen because it's so hard to summarize those ideas in just a few sentences. One story we read, though, sums it up really well.
There was this pastor, and he was trying to balance working locally in his church with taking national speaking engagements. In this, God spoke to him and said, "Stay home and do your knitting." Stop thinking about going out to save the world and start thinking about serving where you are.
Four months ago, that is exactly what I didn't want. But now I think I get it. Staying home with the knitting isn't very exciting, and you struggle against boredom and ambition, but it's good. And it's necessary.
It's kind of weird that God calls us to stay where we are sometimes. It doesn't fit in our box. It isn't what we think 'God's call' is. Before this experience, it was hard for me to believe that with mobility and stability, one isn't better than the other. Maybe because I thought I hadn't experienced mobility. Now I have, and I love it and it's great. I've had an amazing time in Australia. But I am looking forward to being in the same place for a while, and appreciating it. It'll be good to be somewhere where I have a connection to the place. I would like to be home and do my knitting. And hopefully I won't change my wind after a couple weeks.
Recently I've been trying to do cool things, which is a good goal to have. Thursday I went to Bar Me with some friends/family to see our friend Phebe Starr play a show, and it was really great. Part of me felt like I was back at the student union at Taylor at an IFC show. The musicians were amazing, but Phebe definitely tickled those ivories. Check her out.
I went to a Sci-Fi film festival with some friends and saw a Finnish movie about an evil(?) Santa Claus. And it actually was really good, really well made, and really funny. If you can, watch it. Rare Exports.
current song: After Hours by We Are Scientists [Do you guys get that I do this because I use the lyrics in the title of each post? I hate thinking of titles for this. So this was an easy compromise. But I do love all the songs I post, and I hope you listen to them all as you read.]
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