I was thinking about this yesterday as I drove to work. How “out of control” of my life I am. I mean I never planned to end up working on the 4th floor of a National organization in Old Town Alexandria. I never would have chosen to move to DC and become a part of the life and culture here. I never would have guessed that I would have spent two years in central VA, and I certainly never would have guessed I would have all the physical things I have. How is it that I own a car, am renting a HUGE house, own a Mac computer, an ipod nano, a slew of fantastic clothes, shoes, and jewelry, and the finances that allow me to essentially plan to buy whatever I want at some point in the relatively near future if I budget correctly. How have I become that person?.. I have no idea. I did not set out after college to get or be this type of person, all I wanted to do was love people for Jesus. So, in fact, my goal after college was to spend 27 months in Africa with the Peace Corps. Instead I have spend the last 3 1/2 years building a resume that is so much more fantastic then I feel I am. How have I found myself placed in a job that is so well paying that I am going to knock out substantial amounts of debt very quickly? I have no idea. I have not set out for riches or fame, in fact, I could careless about ever owning a home of my own… And yet, here I am feeling totally overwhelmed with the things I am blessed with in my life. How have I become this person? So insanely blessed that I do not know what to do with it?.. I do not know. All I know is that I am constantly praying that the Lord does not let me get swept away with the tides of the fickle people that surround me and do no turn to Him. I do not want to become this person without Him. I am not drawn to it, and I certainly do not need it, so then I must have a purpose, a mission, an adventure, and it would be impossible without His guidance.. or rather it would be pointless and have about the value of a vapor on a windy day.

I want to gallivant around this town being edgingly different. I want people who meet me to be perplexed by the dynamics that make up who I am. I do not care if they look at me and decide based on my looks that I must be different or the same, what I want is for them to walk away from an encounter with me knowing I am real, loving, and that my life is being driven by Christ. I want to be different because normal is overrated. I have discovered safe is boring and not at all what we are called to surround ourselves with, and I have never desired for the “comfortable” so why would I start now? I want the ones who are scorned by other Christians to be drawn to me, to my life, to my laughter, to my joking, to my love, and to my Savior God.

I am so much further from perfect and put together then I would like to be at this point in my life… But, it is who I am, and where I am at, so Lord use it. I am going to grow like whoa here in the metropolis that is DC, but I am also excited to push to be even more passionate, excited, and in love with my sweet Jesus. How exciting that I have been put here. God is good.

Now, for those of you that keep asking, here is a bit about my actual life and first week here… I finally feel like I am at this point of no longer being overly stimulated or overwhelmed at the sheer magnitude of the things I am now having to adjust to and call home. I caught up on homework which was a huge help, and was able to do some familiar things, even though it was in a totally new place.

So, to explain the random assortment of things that have happened my first week here:

From a work perspective:
Day 1 – Sunny
Day 2 – Partly cloudy
Day 3 – Mostly cloudy
Day 4 – Rainy…
Day 5 – I was amusingly expecting a monsoon or snow.. thankfully it was partly sunny haha

From a life perspective:
Thursday I decided staying home and doing homework was not at all enticing since I had spent the previous three evenings doing exactly that, so I peaced out and went salsa dancing. I enlisted the help of my wonderful friend who exposed me to the Latin dance world to begin with and we found a place not too far away that would be good and allow me to “just dance” haha I only stayed for a couple hours, but was able to partake in an intermediate class, learn some new things, and then dance. Surprisingly, I was asked to dance a decent amount, and quickly realized that I have a long way to go until I can consider myself a good dancer… but, I am really excited to be around such a large number of good dancers on a regular basis to help me improve!

I also discovered this week that my church has a martial arts bible study that meets on Sundays, trains some, then goes through some Bible passages.. I’m stoked!.. Especially since there’s Arnis involved as one of the styles!! 🙂 Between these two activities, it has helped curb my (I’m sure false) feelings of becoming “fat and lazy.” I am excited to know that I don’t HAVE to go running if I don’t want to, I can dance and do martial arts for very little money or travel.. and I don’t have to worry about or get aggravated by ancient mysticism working its way into my martial arts!

Friday night, I met up with a friend from Lynchburg and a local friend of hers, and we went to Old Town and had a great night just hanging out… and maybe laughing at the incredibly unaware white men really feeling and trying to “channel” Kesha on the dance-floor… poor guys.

Today, I went with those same friends to explore Georgetown. We had some fantastic coffee… Who’s employees were incredibly amused by my typical “Americano with Flavor.” “What flavor?” “Surprise me.” 🙂 We walked around, I got some GREAT ideas for Christmas, and realized how cheap and practical I am yet again… and then got a FANTASTIC Chai cupcake. This is also about when I realized that I even though cheap and buy pretty much NOTHING unless it is on-sale.. I enjoy great food, and am ok spending money on good food…. Weird?.. Maybe a bit haha

Tonight, I plan on heading to a friend of a friends house… by myself to partake in a game night! Haha, good thing I do not scare easily huh? Showing up to a random persons house where I know no one to play games.. I must be crazy right?… Or maybe I just have a Savior, a blackbelt, and a severe lack of fear of social situations lol Besides, how else am I supposed to meet people? Everyone has fears, insecurities, goals, ambitions, stories, and a past… No one is totally unique and normal. I just assume that we have an equal amount of good stories and bad stories from our past, and that they look at me and recognize that I am just as “normal” as they are.. so why not be friends? 🙂 The idea of strangers has always been a foreign concept to me… They’re only strangers until you can introduce them to someone else right?… And that, takes a grand total of knowing someone for 30 seconds…

I am really excited to make the trek to Church tomorrow… To once again have church in the basement of a coffee shop, and slowly begin to feel more at home. I am excited to meet God there once again, only this time hopefully less ADD and more focused.

I know I have said this, but I am really looking forward to the things to come. The new friendships I make, the people I get to love, the opportunities I will get, and all the times God is going to have teachable moments!