One Step at a Time

As I sit here eating breakfast in the family room at my parent's house, I can't help but be completely psyched out by the current situation. I am unemployed, homeless, and all around unsure about where the next year of my life will take me. Brooklyn, Belize, and Kenya are all places I know I will be, but exactly what I will see and do, and how that will affect me internally are all completely unforeseeable to me at this point. That has always been the way I liked it, but I so easily forget that it is always much more scary than it is exciting at the outset.

Yesterday, as I was preparing for my departure, I took a few minutes to stand out on the deck to soak in the last bit of our amazing view. After those few minutes I found myself in a prayer aloud that was really quite comforting and moving. Lately I have been praying for trust as I embark because I naturally feel that God has gotten me into something I can't handle, and maybe he isn't aware of that (brilliant thought). During my prayer, I realized that that's the point. He does know that I can't handle it, but He knows that He can handle it, and if I just trust and continue to take steps of faith, He will give me what I need each step. This realization came to me as I was saying thanks for bringing me to Seattle, even though I had no idea what was up here for me, and for keeping me in Seattle when I tried to bail after a couple months. If I hadn't come to, or stayed in Seattle, the chances of my growing as much as I have and starting ERACE Poverty would have been very slim. If hindsight is 20/20, then I have to say that foresight is at least legally, if not completely blind. With that established, I am very excited for the experiences of the next year as they relate to my own life as well as to the launch and growth of ERACE Poverty.

How about an update on the ERACE side of things? We had a successful jog-a-thon at the SAC last Wednesday, and I cannot thank everyone who was involved enough for their support. We had a total of 21 runners cover over 82 miles in twelve hours. Everyone had a great time, and the members were very generous and excited to be involved. At the end of the day, we were over $6,000 closer to our budget goal! It goes down as probably the longest day of my life, but definitely one of the most exciting and rewarding. Now we look forward one week to the dinner at Portage Bay Cafe where we will try to get even more people involved and more money raised. Seeing the connection between all this work and our involvement in global poverty eradication in the years to come really excites us and keeps us going. Once we have created partnerships and are able to carry out our programs as we envision, many lives will be saved and changed, both on the impoverished side and the endurance racing side.

I hope to see everyone at the dinner next Wednesday the 10th, check out our website for more information and email me with any questions. I will post some photos from the jog-a-thon and the rest of the week once I get to a place with a wireless connection. Have a great week everyone!