Here's to 32

Looking Out - Jan 2011

I suppose it isn't entirely my fault.

Still, I can't help but feel that - in some small way at the very least - the record setting snows we've been having in the Northeast are payback for all of the times I said that I missed winter while sipping smoothies in the tropical heat of KL last year. 

That, or the back-to-back-to-back snow/sleet/ice storms are compensation in advance for all of the wintry mixes I'll be 'missing' over the next four years.

The facebooked birthday wishes that came in over the past couple of days brought some warmth to the beautifully cold landscape around me. 

Coming as they did from across the United States and places farther afield like Malaysia, Nepal, Tanzania, and Denmark, the wall posts and messages were a visible expression of the world-wide-web of relationships I've been fortunate enough to find myself enmeshed in during my brief time wandering around this rock we all call home.

As 32 begins, my international dance card is already looking quite full. In March I'm off to Borneo and the city of Kota Kinabalu doing site visitations for work. That will be followed quickly by a week in not-quite-as-balmy Chicago in April meeting potential volunteers. May will find me closing out my Yale Divinity career with a two week travel seminar in China. Then, during July I'll be re-oriented to the world of ELCA Global Mission in Toronto. Finally, in August, I'll set off for Malaysia and Southeast Asia - for good this time. 

From this vantage point, 32 portends to be quite the peripatetic year. 

Oddly, perhaps, I trust that it will be a settling year as well.

After nearly six years of study and preparation and yearning, I'm crossing the threshold into a new vocational homeland. It is comforting to be on the verge of arriving. While my work will still require a fair bit of wandering, I look forward to extending my roots and deepening relationships in more secure and stable soils.

For that which has past, I am thankful.

For that which lies ahead, I am hopeful.

For all that lies in between . . . 

Here's to 32!