anticipation

I'm at a very strange juncture in my life--I have these two awesome experiences laid out before me, and much planning to do for them both. But I keep reminding myself, "live in the present, live in the present" because I know if I don't, the present will slip away. And these last few weeks at home, though I've been counting them down for months, will be the end of an era in my life.

My faraway & more long-lasting upcoming experience is, of course, at Emory. I've officially signed my scholarship papers & have started the very early processes of apartment hunting. Any suggestions here? I lived on-campus all 4 years of undergrad & was practically whisked stress-free into a great summer sublet. The good news--I have a potential roommate :)

The more immediate experience I'm preparing for is with YouthWorks--I was officially offered the job of site director! I leave for training this Thursday, which is so funny to me because some people have been hired since the fall, according to their website. I think it will be good for me to not have a lot of time to brood--I'm such an over-analyzer. I do have a lot of training material to look through in a week's time, though! (A whole website chock-full of pertinent information--oh, I love the organization!) At the same time, I totally don't feel rushed into this decision, or forced into it as my only option. I had to turn down a job with a similar organization, which was hard, but I believe God has catered this experience to where I'm at in my life right now. It's going to challenge me deeply in areas of leadership & ministry, but I delight in thinking about the person God will mold me into, the places He will prune away to make room for new fruit. I say with confidence that this job will be absolutely ideal for my summer before seminary. And I consider it a great privilege to be a part of this organization that will be hosting over 30,000 youth this summer! Thankfully, in the midst of all my contract-signing & whatnot this week, God gave me a moment to pause & imagine how many people would be impacted for Christ through these mission trips this summer. And He has asked me to be a part of that! I'm so pumped to see the work God is going to do in & among these teenagers.

And, you may be wondering, where exactly will I be working? Well, I'm still wondering that, too. I should know before I arrive at my training next weekend--which, like I mentioned before, is a lot shorter of a wait than many of the other hired staffers. So I could be pretty much anywhere in the States, from as close to home as Raleigh/Durham, to Atlanta where I'll be spending the next 3 years anyway, to California! I feel really good about not knowing though--the other organization, I basically picked myself where I wanted to be out of their six city options. And that choice was based primarily on me thinking that city would be a nice place to spend a summer. So now I get to leave it up to God & see where He would have me--and that's scary, but exciting & sure, and definitely more faith-centered, which is a centering I'm trying to focus my life around more & more.