ARISE-ing

Allow me to maximize the usage of this pun: I have ARISEN and travelled across the country to ARISE Institute in Jasper, Oregon. The trip was sticky, long, and taxing on my lower back, but it was altogether a good experience.

Flying out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, I arrived in Chicago O'Hare. Three hours, one Naked juice, and  a dilapidated veggie wrap later, I was on my way to Portland, Oregon. I'm not going to pretend that this sounds the least bit interesting to anyone, so I'll skip ahead and summarize the trip. I arrived in Portland, barely got my luggage in time, and managed to chase down the shuttle that I was supposed to be on. Praise God for the man unloading the luggage who decided that "somebody just might want that guitar."I made a good pal on the shuttle - a middle-aged woman who informed me on how to be an Oreganian. She also told me about her vast world travels. She was the type that I imagine Jane Goodall or Amelia Erhart were - a really free spirit who simply decided to up and move to Oregon one day. We talked for a good hour and a half, and I repeatedly checked that I wasn't being a nuisance. I told her I'd pray for her job interview the following day, and I think she really appreciated that. She seemed in need of a good conversation and someone who would listen.

After transferring to a tiny mini van and making friends with a foreign exchange student and a woman who desperately wants to move to Hawaii I was finally picked up in Eugene, OR by a fella named Nick, one of the ARISE interns. We made several puns and talked in funny voices. Life was good. I felt for sure that I was at the right place.

By the time I finally got to the campus, it was unreasonably late and I smelled like airport bathroom. All is well, though. The campus is beautiful, the people are fantastic, and after our orientation today, I am certain that God has lead me to ARISE for such a time as this. I am excited about what He will do, and I am eager to be a part of His plan. I understand that there are so many of my fellow student missionaries already serving in foreign, non-westernized countries. I am not about to assume the task that I have been called to for this semester (Bible-work and evangelism) is as physically or emotionally demanding as the state of some, but the message of the Gospel is of imperative importance wherever it is relayed. Entrusted to all of us, in these frail earthen vessels, is a great and beautiful message of Truth and hope in Jesus. I think about and pray for all of my missionary brothers and sisters already in the four corners of the Earth, whether that's Palau, the Philippines, Europe, Kenya, South America, or Egypt. I look forward to joining y'all in the jungles of Zambia come January. Until then, I am excited and blessed to be at ARISE.

Be well and do all the good things . . .