What's next?

After I get asked "how was your trip?" and I'm done attempting the impossible by trying to describe my summer in under 4 minutes, the conversations have mostly led to another question. What's next?

The easy answer is, Penn State. I've got one more year, and it promises to be sweet indeed. I've only got classes until Christmas (and rock climbing and ballroom dancing hardly count). I'm interning with Alliance Christian Fellowship full-time in the spring and working for the Race Relations Project all year. And in May I should be (barring disaster) graduating. gulp.

Which leads back to the question... what's next? And most people seem to be much more interested in the after-graduation answer than the PSU one. I should start by saying that I, for one, am much more interested in the Penn State part. As previously mentioned, it will be full and excellent. And God, in the past, has never revealed the next step to me much in advance. Something about being fully engaged with where I am and not worrying about tomorrow. So I expect not to know with any certainty for months. And I'm not just ok with that, I'm excited. God has been doing an excellent job of leading so far; why mess with a good thing?

All that being said, long before I left for the Philippines the thought played in the back of mind, this will be a good way to figure out if I'm supposed to be overseas. I tried to suppress it, but it was there all summer. Could I do this for more than two months? For two years? For ten? For a lifetime?

The first week, I kept thinking, this is awesome. It's crazy and challenging and fun but there is no way I could do this for any extended amount of time. No way.

But then, things kind of settled into a routine and I began to realize that I wasn't entirely right. Sure, there was no way I could do "this" for even a year. But "this" was an internship. I was moving at least once a week. No one would want to do that for an extended period of time. So my answer became maybe.

And then, my trip just getting better and better. I got to become part of a community. I had a couple more opportunities to process what I was thinking. I started to become more culturally adjusted. I began picking up some tagalog. And so, my answer is now yes. I think it would be awesome to spend some years in another culture doing transformational development.

I'd have to find some work I'm passionate about within the context of an organization I think is faithfully following God's call. (FH seems to me to be doing a decent job). The Philippines was great, but I'm not convinced that's where I'm supposed to be, so I could go anywhere. And I'm not convinced I'll be hopping on a plane the day after graduation. It might be nice to stick around for some weddings and whatnot. I've also got a lot to learn still. Although, it seems silly to go to grad school until I have a better idea of what I should be studying.

So, what's next? The short answer is, I have no idea. Following God, on whatever awesome adventure He has planned next. I could go overseas. I could stay in the states. I could do something like Teach For America (though, the Peace Corps is out). Part of my heart is still in Brooklyn, but there are tons of places left to explore. My passion still lies in addressing poverty, physical and spiritual... so I could go just about anywhere and do just about anything. And it's going to be awesome.