An amazing few weeks in Brazil...

So... my time in Brazil has been a blessing in the usual, predictable ways... like working on my tan in the hammock in the afternoon.... a weekend in Parati with amazing friends who I love... good talks, good prayers, good laughter, and new friends made. I am blessed... as I have been for a long time... by this amazing place. Sometimes it amazes me that I am so very blessed that this is part of my life... a part I certainly don't deserve. Blessed.

Anyway, I went to the beach (Parati) on the weekend and Monday and when I got back, after our long drive back to the city, I wrote the following... cause even though I say I am not... I really am a writer in some crazy sense of the word:

How can it be that life can come so quickly into focus?
How can it be that a place, and a few of the people who inhabit it, can challenge my years long struggle in just a few short days?
WHat happens when you realize that stepping down from a place isn't so much about lack of focus, but a conscious decision to rediscover peace and joy?

I love Brazil.

I love the people, the culture, the place (and of course the warm sunshine!). What I love most though is that in Brazil I see a decision... a line drawn in the "sand". I will always love Brazil. I will probably always consider it to be my home in so many senses of the word. I will always love the beach, coffee with friends, pizza at Casa da Pizza, and hammock naps mid afternoon.

WHat I love/see here though is a line drawn in the "sand".

I see a time when I loved something so much, I didn't want anything else. I see a time when my heart broke to walk away. (In so many ways that is still how I feel.) Yet I also see a line drawn, a time when I walked away from what I LOVED to be where I knew I was callled. A time when I left what was safe, comfortable, and easy for an uncertain and fearful path. I chose to follow God's desires instead of mine.

I see a choice that has defined what my walk of faith and passion to follow Christ is will be.

I see here a place I would return to in a heartbeat if I knew it was where I was called to be.

I see here a reminder of the fact that stepping down/away doesn't equal a lack of focus or direction but a decision to submit to what God desires over what I desire.

I love Brazil. I wish I could stay. Yet I know I can't.

I want more than ANYTHING to be EXACTLY where GOd wants me.

Peace.... in Brazil... in Ohio... in my heart.

Camp Whip Poor Will Craziness