The Past and the Future

This past month or so has been a very good one. It's always cool with big expeditions like my journey to China to see things just come together. A few weeks ago, I got my Chinese visa in record time. It took about 4 hours. Amazing. See? 

I'd imagine that the above image doesn't excite you like it does me. Maybe the story of the last month or so will.

If you had asked me on the morning of July 13th, 2013 what my plans were or if I was excited about my life, I would have said yes just because I'm the eternal optimist, but I wouldn't have had much to tell you about career plans or anything. You see, this past year has been pretty rocky. It all started last June. I was at a military training program in Virginia, and had to come home early from that because of a false accusation on the part of the military. They ended up calling later to apologize for a hasty judgment, but I was still pretty heartbroken over the whole thing. It was a shot to the knees in my professional life for sure. After I more or less recovered from that, I got a job for the summer that kept me decently busy. I was in a relationship at the time, and that got to be more serious. I went back to school for my senior year. To keep a long story short, that relationship ended in heartbreak, so it was a shot to the knees in my personal life as well. Even with that major event in my life, that semester was still far and away the best semester of school ever. The cool thing about the college that I went to is the community there. After the relationship was done, I think I went surfing about 5 times, hiking and rock climbing several times, and never ate a meal alone. All of my friends were terrific through the whole thing. When I graduated in December 2012, I still didn't have any great career plans, but I came home to Placerville, CA, and got involved in my church as quick as I could. I got a job with a member of our church and a close family friend at a cabinet shop to pay the bills and to help him out. I learned a ton in my 6 months of working there, and I was incredibly thankful for him offering me that job. It really made the difference. I kept trying things out on the side. I took the LSAT for law school, made contacts to talk with people about potential career options, and sure enough, opportunities that looked good got shot down again and again. My aunt, who lives in Beijing, came to these great United States for Easter, and that's when life started getting at least some spark of excitement in it.

All through college, she offered to have me come, but I never could because of military stuff or other stuff. She asked if I'd want to come for the summer, and, not having anything on my plate at the time, I thought that'd be a great idea. After a little bit, she mentioned that she could maybe get me a job there, and so she talked to some of her friends in Beijing, and this job at the Western Academy of Beijing came up. Her kids (my cousins) go to the school, so they have a very close relationship to the school. I sent in an application and sent e-mails to the administration, and it looked like a PERFECT OPPORTUNITY!.....and then I found out that they had filled both of the two positions that I applied for. At least that's what I thought the English of the e-mail said. Hm. Well, I thought it would be pointless to keep bugging them, so I moved on, discouraged at another opportunity shot down. I was involved in a Bible study at my church, and I shared about Beijing back at Easter as soon as it came up. I distinctly remember our church secretary saying to me "I'm going to pray for THAT job. You sound like you really want that job." I actually forgot about her saying that to me until yesterday. 

Anyways, go to about 3 weeks ago. I went with my church to go camping up in the mountains around this beautiful alpine lake. It was fantastic, and it allowed my thoughts to wander a little from the stress of career planning. It was a great time! I was training for my first ever triathlon, so I made my little group of friends swim MILES AND MILES with me, and they were great about cheering me on. I got home on July 12th. July 13th was a great day.

That morning, I slept in because my triathlon was the following day. I felt prepared, and I wasn't nervous really at all. I just tried to relax and do some stuff with my family and clean up from camp. I checked my e-mail at 9:03 am (yes, I do remember) and there was nothing there. I couldn't tell you why, but it was almost like I expected an e-mail from my aunt or from the school or something. Maybe it was wishful thinking. At 12:06, which is 3am in Beijing (go figure that out), I checked it again. The screen had the little "waiting" icon hourglass garbage at the bottom, so I waited, and then it said "downloading 1 of 1"! I about smashed the screen trying to access the e-mail when I saw that it was from the school. It confirmed that I had gotten the job! I had to read it through about 3 times to make sure it was actually addressed to me and it said what I thought it said, and it did! I ran outside to my parents to tell them about this miracle, because I really don't know how it happened. Maybe they had never filled both positions? Maybe they let someone go? Who knows. Anyway, I went to a wedding that night, ran in the triathlon the next day, and it was a lot of fun. I even got a little 4th place plaque!

After the triathlon, I talked to my dad about finding a church in Beijing. For me, I knew I wanted and needed to have a group of people there that I could share life with. People who were like-minded and who could support me, and equally importantly, a group that I could serve with in the church. It's very important to me. So, we thought, and my dad remembered a guy who he met out our church's summer camp almost a decade ago. At the time, this guy was just moving to Beijing for a job, and he was going to a church there. My dad e-mailed him and, as if God scripted his response, he said "Bob, you wouldn't believe this, but two days ago, our church prayed for a young man ages 20-25 who can lead music and preach in our youth group. We'd love to have him serve here!" I've been serving in our youth group here, and I've gotten the opportunity to preach in our church this summer and lead music this past semester, so it couldn't have been more perfect! He even graduated from the Master's College, where I graduated from! Weird, huh?

Anyway, I don't want to bore you with details, but can you see how this whole thing was such a polar change from the past year of my life? God gives and He takes away, just like Job learned. There are seasons where you might not be doing anything wrong, so God isn't cursing you at all, but He gives circumstances that are hard and weird and it FEELS like He's cursing you for something you've done. Not true at all. I've learned a lot this past year. I think I'll learn a lot this next year. 

This blog, while it's a tribute and memorial to what God has done in my life, it's always a tribute to all the friends and family to have seen this whole thing. I'm incredibly grateful for all my friends at Master's. You all have been incredibly faithful to me. I won't forget the many conversations and favors that you provided me. I'm also incredibly grateful for my friends here at Gold Country Baptist Church, as well as the staff there who provided me opportunities and even initiated opportunities to serve alongside you. To my friends, all I can say is thank you, because you've all known me since we were kids. We've had many a good summer in the past, but this one surpassed them all. Thanks to the Balmet family, the Gish (junior and senior) family, the Freemans, Schaeffers, Johnsons, Wilkinsons, Ponds, Murphys, Lovejoys, and many many other individuals and families that are not above-mentioned. There's also been a pretty crazy amount of people in our church that have just come up to me and said that they were praying for me since I was like...3. Gotta mention that, because that's faithfulness! Of course, my family is pretty stellar. Rory, Summer, Anneliese, Nolan, Mom and Pop have been terrific to me. Though some of them are not related by blood but by marriage, I consider them all close as if they were related by blood. 

All of that is to say, I'm really going to miss home. It's bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter for sure. The past is good to think on and gain lessons from, but the future is the only thing you can really be excited about, and let me tell you, I am SO excited. This week will consist of a worship night with all these friends, and going over to different homes for meals with families to say goodbye, and spending as much time with my family as I can. On Thursday, I will leave Placerville with the Lovejoys, who are taking their son, one of my closest friends, Brian, to San Francisco. He leaves for Indonesia to teach abroad for his second year. We'll see him off and then I'll spend the night at Anneliese and Nolan's home Thursday night and head out on Friday the 9th for this incredible adventure. Can't wait!