Drop Your Nets

I like to consider myself a pretty spontaneous person. I do have structure, but I also allow for a lot of flexibility in my schedule. My nickname for this weekend - "Gumbi."

Over the course of this semester, I have been considering applying to be a FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) missionary after I graduate. Tuesday night, I realized that interviews in Kansas City are the same weekend that I leave for Nicaragua on a service trip for spring break. Oh yea, I'm going on a service trip to Nicaragua for spring break. Anyway, at that point I didn't know what other weekend I would be able to go. The next morning, I got a text message from my friend Marcus who is a missionary asking if I was up. It was 8:30am. "What could he possibly have to talk to me about at 8:30 in the morning?" He text me back and said that it was really crazy so he was going to call me. The next second he was on the phone and he says, "Can you go to Denver this weekend for interviews?" I sat in silence for about a minute. "...I'm not going to say no." There was a ton going on this weekend on campus here in KC. Bible study, birthday party, fraternity event, service, my friend had two tickets to see the Broncos play the Chiefs (win!). I don't know why, but that afternoon I told him that I could make it happen. That meant that I had to fill out an application the same day because it was due at midnight, along with three references by the Friday. It was a lot, but thankfully my friends came through and got them in. By midnight on Wednesday night/Thursday morning it was a reality that I would be leaving for Denver in 23 hours!

Matthew 4:19-20 "He said to them, 'Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed him." That's exactly how I felt when I said that I could make the trip out to Denver. My decision certainly did not disappoint either. The Holy Spirit did work on my heart this weekend to the point where at the beginning I was only going to keep an option open for after I graduate; now, assuming I get the call, this is my number one choice. Yes, I will forfeit the opportunity to go on Survivor. In a heartbeat.
I met a ton of great people this weekend. I truly hope that it is not the last time that our paths cross. It was just so incredible to experience again a group of peers pursuing the same relationship with Jesus and striving to become great. St. Catherine of Siena said, "Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire." There was a blazing wildfire this weekend in Denver.

That's the weekend in a nutshell. Gotta love spontaneity! If you follow avidly or just happen upon this entry, I would ask for your prayers as I continue to discern God's will for me for the next couple of years of my life.