Ben-First!

That's the new saying in our family. We're going in Ben-first.

I guess this week I've realized that clothes dry, wounds heal, sickness goes away, and dreams cannot be reached unless they stop being dreams.

I can't spend the rest of my life doing what everyone else does. I've known that for a long time. For a while, I sort of tricked myself into thinking that I could do something intellectual and respected. Haha, I remember sophomore year, not even that long ago, when I said my dream was to be an expert in some niche field of psychology or social science. Yeah, shoot me in the face. That was before I became familiar with the thrill of becoming airborne on a mountain bike by lake Fontana, rafting the Nantahala, or simply whizzing down the water slide at Cohutta Springs camp.

I've been so blessed. God has given me the BEST life. There is literally nothing else I could ask for. I challenge anyone to say that they are more blessed than me. That can only mean one thing--I've been called for a work that requires me to give back just as much as I have received. I would feel guilty if I lived the rest of my life any other way than extreme.

It's incredible and perfect and mind-blowing and awesome how God enacts his plan. It was only a month and a half ago when I reached a certain point in my life. I was restless. So I very plainly asked God to do two things for my life, if it wouldn't be too much trouble--show me my place in this world and place his hand in a certain relationship I wanted very much to develop into something more. Within a week I was fired up on a totally new direction for my life, and, well, the relationship was going pretty well. :-)

So no stuffy psychology for me. When people used to ask me what I wanted to be, I always said, "I'm not sure, but I know I definitely do not want to do anything medical." Now EMT training is looking likely. I want to rescue people. I don't know how or where, or really what, but I know that God is calling me to something crazy and wild, and I know that he will work out the details just like he always does. He's so much fun.