A Week and a Half

Next Friday I will be done with college. Wow. I said it. Next Friday, the Washington DC Semester program ends, and with it, my career as a student at Calvin College comes to a close. I'm not going to write a big reflection on my time at Calvin yet (though that may come later), but I thought maybe it was worth noting.

It's been a fantastic four years at Calvin (well, 3 plus one abroad). It's actually funny to think about the fact that I am where I am today, because I spent most of my life saying I was not going to go to Calvin. When I started visiting colleges and looking at where I wanted to go I mostly ignored Calvin. I had nothing against Calvin, except for the fact that it was close to home and almost my entire family had gone there, so I didn't want to.

Four years later I am so thankful that I chose Calvin, and I have not a single regret about going to Calvin. I've had so many fantastic opportunities, and I know that my time at Calvin will continue to provide me with opportunities through the course of my life.

Again, in a week and a half I'll be done with college. One month from tomorrow I'll be a college graduate. Wow.

An Exercise in Patience and Trust

• Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
• Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34)
• For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD(Jeremiah 29:11-13)
• For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

I've been trying to think of a time in my life when I felt less patient about life, or when there was less of a need to truly rely on God.  Of course, we always should truly rely on God, but it seems to me that as I inch closer to graduation, with my plans for next year still not clear, God seems to be repeatedly saying to me "Trust Me, let Me work this out, I have a plan, and My plans are perfect."  

I'm the kind of person who likes to know what is going on in my life, and I like to be in control of it. For the first time in my life I feel as if I have no control over what happens. I think when we reach a point like this in life, it's pretty clear that there is nothing to do but to look to God and say "You are God, you have created me for your work and your glory, you have prepared me to live for your Kingdom, now help me to follow wherever you would call me."  

As I think about my life up to this point, what I've learned, what I've done, where I've been, I feel like God has been preparing me all of my life to serve Him through pursuing a life of social justice, working for the poor around the world, giving a voice to the voiceless and following Christ's example of reaching out to the lost and the least in the world. I've studied, I've traveled, I've prayed and I've practiced.  God has prepared me. I am ready. 

And while I sit here saying "I'm ready, let's go save the world," God is saying "My time, not yours." I don't know God's time. I hope that it is soon, and it may be.  For now, I continue to search and pray, serving God where I am here and now, knowing that God calls us to serve Him wherever we are, and trusting that when He needs me, the call will come. 

The Last Few Weeks

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post, and for that I apologize. Basically I got busy at work, so I didn't have as much time there to write posts, and then with Kristen visiting me here in DC (which was amazing!) and other stuff going on blogging just kind of slipped my mind.

As I said, the last couple of weeks at work have been pretty busy. I've been doing a lot of research on issues related to the G8 Summit coming up this May in France.  I've written reports on Financial Levies, food security, I even wrote an article that will be published in next month's issue of Monday Developments (InterAction's monthly magazine).  I've also had the opportunity to go to some really interesting presentations and meetings, hearing a presentation at the World Bank on commodity price volatility, a presentation from the CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (one of the main US government international development programs), and gone to a few House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearings.

One thing I've learned, or rather, been reminded of in the past few weeks is the need to rely on God. Those who know me know that I like to be in control of my life and be able to plan things out. Looking for jobs and figuring out what I'm going to be doing post-graduation (that's in May...WOW!) has reminded me that I can't always have everything figured out. With the difficulty in finding a job, and the uncertainty of the future, it's been easy for me to worry about that and think about it way too much. Thankfully, God keeps reminding me just to let go and trust that He will provide. An example of this happened this past Sunday in Church. During opening worship something got me thinking about jobs, and it had me really distracted from worship. I kind of snapped back to the song we were singing just as we sang the lines "You are God, you are God, of all else I'm letting go."  Things like that are the small ways in which God has been reminding me to trust Him and let Him provide for me and guide my steps. In the midst of uncertainty about finding a job it can be so easy to worry, but it is so comforting to know that God is in control and that He has a plan.

There have also been a significant number of political developments in the last few weeks, a number of them garnering national attention on the situation in Michigan. Some of those highlights include Governor Snyder passing the emergency financial powers law (I can't wait until he tries to use it and the whole state turns against him, followed by numerous court cases challenging what seems to be a fairly clearly unconstitutional law).  Another happened yesterday, when Governor Snyder signed a bill reducing the length of unemployment benefits, because apparently that is supposed to help create jobs (I don't see the logic there).

I'm hoping to have time soon to write some more on a variety of political issues, I guess that comes down to me making it more of a priority.

I hope all is well for all who are reading this.  To all of you back in Michigan I miss you guys a lot (that means you should visit me here in DC, because DC is an awesome city).