First, a list.
Things I have been told about Scotland:
1) The weather is unpredictable
2) The weather is cold
3) The weather is wet
4) Scottish people, once they meet you
and realize you’re American, will turn the accent up to an 11
5) And that’s because Scots hate
Americans
6) Scots don’t hate Americans
7) Don’t ever, ever act American
8) Pubs.
To be honest, I’m starting to get a
little nervous. This is normal, I’ve been told, but I still hate it a little
bit. I’m nervous about little things, like my online student account things
being really confusing and losing something important in the shuffle of
registration stuff. I’m nervous about missing flights (though history has shown
that it makes me super good at not missing them). I’m nervous about not being
able to pack everything I need to in the space and weight allotted to me (even
though I’m a light packer and can probably do it). Probably the biggest concern
at this point is that I skimmed the important email that says orientation
started a day later than I thought, and I might have to pay just a bunch of
money to stay in the same hotel for the extra night.
I’m also realizing I’m not going to be
at UPS for a semester. It starts with seeing friends’ instagrams of campus and
thinking about how it’s going to be a long time before I have chocolate milk
from the Met and dumb stuff like that. Also I’m living in a house of really
awesome people whom I love and adore and they’re all excited about moving in
and I’m reminded I’m not going to be there for another 4 to 5 months.
Saying goodbye to friends from both
home AND school has made the whole thing bittersweet. It feels like I’m leaving
home twice. Simultaneously.
So here is the second element of the
going-on-adventures thing.
Real talk: Many, if not all of you,
know that I am a Christian. I have my struggles with this lifestyle and I learn
more about it every day, including the fact that I will never be able to live
it out 100% of all the time and yet mercy abounds.
Part of the struggle is trusting that
the God who has loved me my whole life and is consistent in his goodness can
and will take care of me. This is basically every day for me. I’m a very
self-sufficient person and I like to hack it on my own. But in my experience,
life is easier when I remember that there is something bigger than me that I
can rely on. It has made and will make adventures easier.
And as I write this I can hear the
people-use-religion-as-a-comfort stuff, and to that I say, 1) it’s not that
simple and 2) don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.
I was introduced to the concept of
adventure through Jesus asking me to take risks. Over and over in the gospels,
Jesus asks people to risk their comfort in order to live meaningful lives. He
asked twelve men, ranging in occupation from family-business fishermen to tax
men, to leave everything behind (family, friends, money, social standing, etc.)
to follow this possibly unstable carpenter who claimed spiritual authority all
over everywhere, and they became a part of the single most influential
spiritual, historical, and social movement in history.
To a lesser extent, this same guy asked
me to become a music major, and by far it’s the best decision I’ve ever made,
even though there was – and is – a lot of risk involved. But good Lord it’s
rewarding.
This idea of risk and reward, for me,
comes directly from my faith. I learned it through trading in my
self-sufficiency for whatever God has planned for me instead. And it’s dumb
that I constantly forget where the idea came from and that it’s applicable not
only to my past but to my future as well.
If he can get me through a hard year of
school, he can help me out with finding paperwork and remembering details for
some trip.
I don’t mean to preach though it
definitely is sounding that way. I guess I’m writing this as a form of
accountability. And the internet is the most rigorous system of accountability
I can think of.
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