wasting life – part two.

i guess i need to apologize for leaving my last blog the way i did.  i am sorry that many of you thought i was sad or depressed.  i assure you i am not.  but thank you for taking the time and caring enough to check.  and for showing me that people actually read this.

so why am i still in charlotte and not off conquering the unknown world?

one thing that i do not want is to look back 50 years from now and think that i have wasted my life.  i have never wanted to be someone who sits in an office and never makes a difference in the lives of those around me.  i want people to have joy when they think of times that they have had with me or things they have experienced because of me.  i want people’s day to be brightened when my name is mentioned.  i want to serve the community around me.  i want to be humble and unselfish of my time.

it has been this place that i am in now that for the last 8 years has allowed me to pursue these desires.  it has taken me to the capital of romania to help in one of europe’s largest orphanages and to the highest point in the country to help lead an english camp for romanian students.  this place has lead me to mexico city for 8 weeks to live with 60 street kids at casa de hulgar.  it has lead me to juarez and tijuana, mexico to build three houses.  and it has taken me to ethiopia to build toilets and showers for the only sports camp in the entire nation.  its this place that allows me week to week to invest in high schoolers lives and encourage them and lead them.  and it is this place where people do the same for me.

i guess it was this past trip to mexico that really made me start to think about my life and what i am doing with it.  for three consecutive years i have been a part of building a house for a family that lives in nothing more than wooden crates stacked on each other with cardboard stuff in between to block the wind and rain.  its been life changing to see the joy on these families’ faces as you finish the house and give them the keys.  their lives have been changed forever.  it was a week of my time, but a lifetime of change for them.  however this year i began to see the bigger picture of our involvement with amor ministries (www.amor.org).  this was my third house and ucf’s eleventh house built in mexico.  not only are we changing a families life but i began to see the bigger picture of changing the lives of a community, a city, and a country.  its a great feeling to know you had a part in it.

i may not be scaling the cliffs in patagonia, taking a first decent on the waters of british columbia, trekking across new zealand for 8 months, or living off the land in alaska, but i feel like the lord has shown me the unknown.  whether it has been seeing roman ruins, overcoming language barriers, trying to drive up a dirt road in a mini van, or sitting with a student through a divorce or friend’s suicide.  i feel as though god continues to fill my adventurous desire for the unknown.  i still crave more and look forward to where the lord leads me through it all whether it be in charlotte or some other land afar.

enjoying the journey unknown.

~ by kareydigh on April 30, 2008.