MY BIZARRE LIFE: PART DUEX

When I said "PART TWO: IRAQ tomorrow!" I clearly forgot an extra tomorrow, because it is now 2 days later. Oops. Crazy crazy things have happened since then, but I will make that stuff a separate post as I want to complete My Bizarre Life. The content between the ****'s is the end of the last post, but will help with context and continuity.

IRAQ

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Now why the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks am I here in Iraq. This one is a lot shorter ( I hope), but also pretty ridiculous. It all started back in High School.

My first service trip was to Costa Rica, the summer of my sophomore year of HS. I went to work at La Montaña Christian Camps ( think Hume Lake or Forest Home in CR) as a helper/counselor/whatever. It was incredible, enlightening, and gave me a passion for serving God that could only be slaked by another trip.

The following summer I traveled to the Dominican Republic with my youth group to help build a schoolhouse for Haitian refugees seeking asylum. This was my first service trip where hands on building was the main form of ministry and love spreading, and it was a very different experience. It was eye-opening towards the pain of those in need and those who are broken by poverty. 

The summer after senior year I traveled to Turkey to work with a church in Antalya. 

I fell in love... with the country, and the food, and the culture (not a woman). I spent my time building relationships with the locals. This was a very different type of service trip, and while it seemed more like a vacation, the fruits of relational labors grew much more on this trip than they had on the previous two. I came back to America, and was itching to leave, itching to get back to Turkey or at least that part of the world.

Fast forward 2 years. I am home from college for winter break, and like 2 days before I leave for school I decide to join my friend Lauren (it might actually be your fault that I am here in Iraq) in this thing called Mandate (feeding the homeless of Santa Barbara), put on by Valley Christian Fellowship. Its being led by this guy Cody Fisher, who I had met randomly a few years before a bible study right before he left for Iraq. So I vaguely remember that he went somewhere kinda crazy and we start talking. We end up talking the whole night about GD and this organization he co-founded called Preemptive Love Coalition that provides life saving heart surgeries for kids in Iraq. He tells me about their summer internship program, 10 weeks in Iraq. My heart nearly skipped a beat. 

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The middle east? No way. So cool. So I keep asking questions and I find out that the internship is open to anyone who is passionate and has something to offer. Meaning that I could do design for them if that is what I felt I had to offer. I knew almost immediately that I was going to go. 

Now just to give you a little reference. I am the kind of person that can commit to something like this right off the bat. Once I am in something I am in something for the long haul. At the same time, my being committed doesn't mean that it necessarily works out for me right away. I told my mom about the whole Iraq thing, and said something like "Hey, this sounds neat, maybe this a possibility for me for summer." But really what I was feeling in my heart was "Heck-freaking-yes. I am going to go to Iraq, I am going to serve God, and I am going to do what God has given me, design." My mom reluctantly said, "Ok, maybe?" But really what she was saying (conjecture) is, "Heck-freaking-no. You are not going to Iraq. You are a sophomore in college. And you are going to die."

I heeded this not, and began pursuing the internship until I totally missed the deadline to apply. Typical. Remember when I said being committed doesn't always work out right away? Yeah... that happened. This was the ultimate blessing in disguise. It was God saying to me, "Wait...calm yourself. If you want to be invested in this organization, then you are going to be invested. But you are going to be prepared and empowered in Me. Your desire will be granted, but it is going to take some work."

And work I did. Over the course of the next year, I continued my design education, honing my skills while working multiple design jobs and holding design positions in my fraternity and other groups on campus. I often tried things I wasn't even sure I was capable of in order to better learn about myself. All of this work was great preparation for Iraq, but was only covering the earthly side of my life.

December of last year I read through "Mere Christianity" and it revolutionized my mind. It altered my perceptions of faith, and rocked me to the core of my relationship with Jesus. I was convicted and challenged and returned for Interterm desiring to get on track with God, making him "numero uno" instead of "numero who knows". He heard my desire and got me plugged into an awesome men's group called Revive ( I love you guys so much), which has strengthened my faith and relationship 10-fold. 

I made some critical changes to my life, and soon after found my self showered with ridiculous blessings. One of which was my acceptance to the PLC internship in Iraq. Another other is a combination of monetary and prayer support as I fundraised for the trip and tried to complete my Junior Show. Thanks to the people like you, I am living the dream that I had over a year ago!

So.... here I am, in Iraq, because I serendipitously met Cody a few years back. Here I am, a graphic designer, because I thought Christian t-shirts were the coolest thing since whatever was cooler than sliced bread. If either one of these things were not true about me. I would not be here, I would not be at Chapman. I wouldn't have met some of my best friends for life, I wouldn't be the Son of God that I am. All of this is just crazy to me. I am reminded more everyday about why I am here, why I am me. I am who I am, and I am doing what I am doing because the great I AM (God) has known every silly passion and thought I have ever had, and has worked them for my good.

Gosh I hope this post makes sense.