Sidelined?

It has been 3 weeks now since I re-entered American society. I am adjusted. There have been moments of sheer bewilderment and embarrassing confusion, but I have done the coming and going a good bit now and have more or less gotten the hang of things.

My first McDonald’s drive-thru coffee acquisition, ended with a few frustrated and home-sick tears, when I could not for the life of me decide how to make forty-one cents out the pile of American coins in my hand. Now that sounds like a seemingly-easy task, but a quarter looks like a peso to me and it all just went down hill from there. My first Sunday back in The States was the most intense culture shock experience I have ever had! I was in my first all English worship service, in an air-conditioned building, with no screaming children, not one mangy dog or surprise chicken. The guitar had all six strings and everyone sang on key, and quite well I might add. It was reverent and maybe a tad somber. I had to remind myself to listen to the preacher, “YOU CAN UNDERSTAND HIM,” I kept trying to remind myself. Everything, about that hour was so distant from my more recently adapted vision of “Church.” I’m a tad sad I couldn’t shake the weirdness faster, because I was at an awesome mission-centered Church, which I do really love.


Since, stateside, I got a fabulous haircut on my 7-hour layover in L.A., took the red-eye to Miami, hopped a Church van in Atlanta, spent a weekend debriefing in Rainsville, took a lazy three-day sabbatical from life in Ft. Payne, enjoyed a fabulous-fun-filled weekend with four favorite new friends and one fantastic man in Birmingham, took a delightful detour in Nashville, reunited with the best family in the world in Glen Burnie, strolled down the inviting brick streets of Annapolis, gallivanted through rain, shine, and enchanting moonlight in the national mall of D.C., and packed my bags to head to gorgeous Greenville(SC).


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(Mapquest calculates that trek to be 79 hours and 5 thousand plus miles; praise the Lord for areoplanes!!!)

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The past three weeks of American life have been outrageous and exhausting…


Now, I have loved every stinkin’ minute of it, but Sunday afternoon laying out by the pool not moving or thinking was a nice change of pace for sure! And what directly followed Sunday was the biggest sigh or relief, quite possibly heard ‘round the world! I DON’T HAVE TO MOVE ANYWHERE!!!! My bags are UNPACKED! I never thought I would see the day when staying in one place actually excited me so much, but today is that day people, and you are here to witness it with me. Don’t you feel privileged?! Those of you who are not religious followers of my blog (a.k.a. everyone but my parents) allow me to explain this odd marvel. From the beginning of April to the end of July I lived out of a backpack.



I changed locations or “transferred” as I would say in Filipino-English, every three to four days. Yay! Right? Travel is awesome! Well, hate to burst all you travel enthusiasts and envious home-buddies’ bubbles, but for me it got real old! Needless to say, folding up a T-shirt placing in a drawer and closing said drawer is quite the highlight of my day! Hey, I may not be a terribly "exciting" person right now, but at least I’m easy to please!

And while I may have temporarily vacated my jungle, I have NOT left the mission field!

Ecclesiastes 3

"A Time for Everything"

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak, 

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

I have a new season in South Carolina, but I assure you, I have not been sidelined (Hebrews 12:1)!




Till. ALL. Have. Heard.