WILD THINGS

There is so much that has happened this past week that I can not begin to explain them all....

so I won't on this post.

What I will talk about is things!!!!!!!!!! They are what you love to love but hate to love at the same time.

Ugh in America we get so caught up with wanting things and "needing" things.

And then when we have to get those things we have to spend more money to take care of those things.

Cars....ugh the largest money pit ever. I hate them.

Computers......same thing.

I seriously wonder if i count up all the things in my apartment that I have but do not really need to survive what that percentage would be. Probably like 95% or something. How in the world does this cycle stop???

I am so guilty of it so much! Even though I have been in other countries and seen people live such different lives. I still live the same way. Part of me still wants that "American Dream" and the other part loathes that dream.

I have no real resolution to this problem. Other than just giving every little thing over to God. I try to do that as much as possible. However, sometimes my grip is just too tight and I can only let go slowly one finger at a time.

He has so many great things for us and most are not tangible. I wish we could physical trade-out our things for his things. It might help me get the picture more.

OK well.... no other thoughts and no conclusion..... just off to loose my grip some more.

ooh and here is a video slightly related http://www.storyofstuff.com/

how the T came to be

First..... currently dancing to

"Here In Your Arms" by: Hellogoodbye

Second: I have mostly ruled out the D.R., but I still am holding on to it a little

Third: This is how I decided to name the blog "Trail Leaping"

(Please press play on the below video to listen you while you read.)

About 2 months ago or so I was talking with a friend about what I my next "life move" was going to be. At that point I knew it was time to leave Tulsa, but I hadn't figured out where I was going to be leaving to. My friend was really encouraging and in the course of the conversation used the word term "trail-blazer".

Then there is Joyce Meyer.

People could call her trail blazer, but if you read any of her books she didn't not end up where she is quickly. She would admit to most of the time to not even knowing where she was going.

That is what I think happen to most people anyway. Pretty much we do not really know where we are going.

Enter the Carmen song..... there is a line that says "Walkin' out on the promises God made

Takin' a giant leap in the air"

Maybe we are so much as "trail blazing"....... but trail leaping.

Insert my made up definition here:

trail leaping (t-ra-ale lee-p-ing) v. the act of trailing after God and his will by taking leaps through the air into nothing, trusting him that you will land in the right spot that will appear as he uncovers them

insert scriptural thought here:

Abraham trail leapt. Romans 4.

Purple= the leaping part.

¹⁹Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead.²⁰Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

The title of my blog also makes me think of lily pads or a sky diver.

OK insert your thoughts.... I want your opinion or other analogies you can think of.

Temptation

SO........

My Nashville plan is still definitely in the workings...however... .

In my last post I mentioned that I had applied for a teaching job in the Dominican Republic and they had said that I do not have enough experience.

Well....they emailed me the other day saying that their special education position has opened up.

The director of the school has sent me a couple emails with tons of information about the position and things.

It has some benefits like air fare reinburshment, healthcare options US and abroad, they will partially furnish living quarters, pay the deposit on your living place, and etc.

It has some downsides, a two year contract, making less money, putting off grad school further, and being marriage minded would that delay that area further?

TEMPTATION TEMPTATION OR OPPORTUNITY OPPORTUNITY????

Is this a distraction from a path I am currently on or an opportunity to trust God even more?

I have no idea.....

(side note: i know i said that next time i would talk about the title, but now it will be the next time.)

A little after the start.....

So this blog is starting a little after the decision was made (the making of a decision could have been it's own two year long blog) but here it is after much praying, waiting, thinking, and etc..

Before I say the decision that I made in February here are all the possibilities I considered, some more seriously than others but almost all with hours of Internet research and some with actual applications filled out and sent in.

Moving to Austin for graduate school.

Moving to Colorado Springs.

Moving to Miami for attempting graduate school.

Moving to New York for attempting graduate school.

Teaching in Indonesia.

Teaching in China. (Pretty much any Asian country that would pay me to teach English. Some actually keep calling me.)

Moving back home to Houston.

Moving to Minneapolis.

Trying to do the World Race for missions.

Joining the Peace Core.

Staying in Tulsa.

Staying in Tulsa but working at a different school.

Moving to Dallas.

Teaching in Dominican Republic (they said I didn't have enough experience)

After all of it........

I am moving to Nashville.

(It sounds even more official typed up.)

This one fell into my lap unexpectedly. (Story inserted below)

I want to go to grad school for a degree in International Education.Not many schools have that program All the other places that have it are either too cold, too expensive to live, or I do not know anybody. I was randomly reading a special education article online, one click lead to another and boom a little school called Vanderbilt has and it is in Nashville. Granted, Nashville I really only know two people, but that is better than no one.

So here it goes..... now leapings of faith to get a job, find a place to live and a roommate, make some friends, and get into Vandy for fall 2011.

Next time more on the title of the blog...........