The Next Five Years

This entry was originally published at Imperishable Inheritance

I have been thinking intently about what my life will look like after June 10th. That day is the day of my graduation from The Wright State University. I am certainly excited to embark on a new time in my life. My time in college has been such a life changing experience that I am completely different from the start. I came in a recovering drug addict, anorexic, lost, uncontent soul. I'm leaving over three years sober, recovering every daily from my eating struggles, found, and completely joyful in Christ. My idea of what this time would look like has also changed drastically since I started due to all of the intense changes.

I thought starting that I would leave a MIS major going into a good full-time job, married, and getting ready to have children (I'm not kidding, I thought I would be married by 22). My ministry is surely at the top of my list, and before I make any kind of professional decision I will be decided spiritually. Thinking of being married at 22 makes me laugh. I promised Trinh we would marry each other if we weren't married by 32; so I have to get going (just kidding Trinh)!

I have met and starting meeting with a man by the name of Andy Miller who I am excited about. He has a serious heart for international ministry, and he also has the ability to dream big. Trinh and I met with Ben Thomas who is our unofficial advisor (he leads the ministry for Athletes in Action for all of Southeast Asia), and we discussed about the future of the ministry. We talked most about a partnership with Apex Community Church. While none of us go there, we realize how strategic of a partnership it can be, but I have theological concerns over their house church movement and how they see Bridges fitting into that. We are in discussion now over what this will look like. I am writing a strategic plan for Bridges, and I will post it soon. We have decided to become an organization at WSU however.

The next five years tentatively look like this. Before I start I know not to worry about tomorrow (Mat 6:33-34), but I also want to be diligent and strategic in how I approach my ministry. Matt Martin talked to me about living together after graduation, and I think that I will excercise that option for a year for a few reasons. First, I don't want to leave Bridges as it is right now. It is right on the pinnacle of being an extremely powerful force in the Dayton area for reaching international students, and I just can't simply leave at this crucial time. Secondly, I don't want to just drop my job at the base, and I will explain why.

In five years, I have established that I want to be overseas in an unreached people group. I put a map of the Middle East on my wall so I have to look at it everytime I leave my room. I have started to pray for Sudan, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia.

While I work all that out, I would like to work with The Traveling Team mobilizing college students. I e-mailed the leader Claude Hickman, and hopefully we can work out a situation where I can speak but not have to drop the job. I don't want to drop the job, because I know I'll need it to get into a country such as Saudi Arabia. I hope I can work with them in some regard.

Well, I feel lazy for not posting an intense theological essay on this blog in a while. I need to get on that.

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