There’s this funny thing about making plans – they have a
distressing tendency to blow up in my face. For the past two years, I’ve
wandered from place to place, always planning to return to the Seattle area and
settle down. Instead, I’ve bounced around from Seattle to Oregon to Montana to
Seattle to Costa Rica and back again. After my latest adventure to Costa Rica,
I swore up and down that it would be my last trip. I had begun to get a handle
on what God wanted to do with my life, and therefore I would finally get myself
a real job and a real apartment. You know, pay bills and so forth. Like a
proper adult.
But I’m still not ready to settle. The Environment and
Resource Stewardship (EARS) allowed me to begin seeing a larger world,
introducing me to the power that God can have in others’ lives, but a simple
introduction hasn’t been enough. My experience with Christianity and God has
been very small, and frankly, rather damaging. Most of the time, I have seen
Christians only talking about God changing their lives. However, at YWAM I have
encountered people who want to be a part of the kingdom Jesus describes so
vividly. Now, I’m heading back to Costa Rica in six weeks to do a Discipleship
Training School (DTS) with Youth with a Mission (YWAM). It’s the same base that
I worked with when I did EARS earlier this year.
As I head off to DTS, I’ve decided I want others to be more
involved in my journey. In my past travels, I rarely made the attempt to share
the knowledge I gained or the bits of God I’ve discovered. I do not want anyone
to misunderstand my thoughts. Some of my most important friends are
non-Christian and many have been seriously hurt by the church. I never want to
contribute to that pain or align myself with the parts of the church that are
so seriously broken. Following that line of thought, I have no desire to make
my Christian friends feel criticized as I question my faith and the meaning of
Christianity in my life. Therefore, I tried to keep much of my story to myself.
After all, how can I possibly describe seemingly small experiences that had a
large impact on my life? How could I get others to see how God works in little
things when I just barely believe it myself?
I want to invite all of you to follow my wanderings as I
prepare for DTS. Unlike EARS, DTS is designed to stretch the faith of students
and help them discover where they fit in the world. The course is divided into
three parts: knowing God, knowing yourself, and finding out how you fit into
the world. This is all covered at base during the first three months, then we
go on outreach for another two months. Outreach, in my single experience, is a
combination of trying to serve others and learning from mistakes, all the while
trying to figure out what God has to teach. In total, it’s about five months of
travel and spending time with God.
During this trip, I’m going to try sending out a monthly
newsletter. While I have my blog, it doesn’t have the accountability I
apparently need to keep writing. If you want to receive updates from me, facebook
me your email or simply shoot me a message at jessiekbyron@gmail.com.
Please keep me in your prayers. My story is only a small
part of the world, but sometimes the little things can have an impact. My
greatest hope is that DTS will teach me how to show God’s love to others.
