April 15th, 2004

It's been a little while since the last update. Last time I said I would tell about how I came to the decision. I first heard about Peace Corps in my junior year at Baylor. There was a recruiter's table in the Student Union, and I was a little curious. I typically take life one day at a time and I knew I still had two years to decide what I was going to do, and consequently, I really didn't give it much serious thought, but rather it was a constant shadowy assassin in my mind, waiting to strike it's death-blow.

My freshman and sophomore years I played bass for Baylor Showtime! (yes, there's an excalmation point in the name...it makes it exciting enough for show-biz). In Showtime! we had the opportunity to go to Austria for a month. It was a great experience. I loved immersing myself in the culture, but a month was really too short a time to really experience much. I know Austria is still really posh and cushy, but the attitude seemed much different than in America. Looking back, it's really the small things I remember: eating strawberries in the main square listening to a local jazz band play, trying to buy black and white film from a German Fotoshoppe and mistakingly thinking he said 99 dollars instead of 9.90, sleeping with the window open in a 5x8 foot, unairconditioned in a hostel, trying to engage a little old lady in conversation at the bus stop but only managing to say "The weather is very pretty," and "I play the bass for a singing and dancing group!"

After getting back from Austria, I became more and more involved in Baylor's Campus Living and Learning (aka Residence Life), and realized to some degree a calling to work with college
students. A broad cultural view and world-perspective, I think, is important to understanding and relating to others. I thought about going to get my Masters right away, or maybe teaching English as a second language overseas somewhere. God seemed to bring all things together at the right time. I met Joel Scott, who was my "assistant" boss in Penland Hall at Baylor, and who taught overseas in Japan. He encouraged me a lot to pursue PC, in part to live vicariously though me - because if he had it to do all over, he would have done PC - , but also because he realizes the importance of experiencing other things, to make you a good human being. And I do too, because really, how can you step into someone else's shoes if you don't even know what kind of shoes they wear?

The timing issues seemed to decide a lot of things. I waited to long to apply for graduate school. I didn't feel the passion to pursue it right away, and the door closed. I knew that graduate school would propel me into a career, maybe marriage, and cold, hard "Life" would hit me in the face and drag me to some barren wasteland, maybe high up on a mountain, with a great view overlooking the things that I could have seen if I had gone overseas. I still want to go to school again. Man, do I! I miss school; I miss the whole environment of learning and conversation and community. That's why I want to work at a college. Now, although I'm still not crystal-clear about what I will do in the future, Peace Corps will be a nice sabatical for life. I hope to slow down and reflect more--away from American indulgence and consumerism; I really admire a simple lifestyle. I know that this will make me a better person, and will prepare me for whatever God has writeen in my Book. And whatever I do I want to do for God's glory, which may seem like an elusive goal, but ultimately achievable, if I just follow the peace in my heart and my soul.