Today marks the beginning of the last five weeks of seminary. I don't have a plan really for what comes next. It is a bit terrifying to be facing the end of life as I have known it since the age of five in a few short weeks. I know the time is going to soar by and before I know it I'll be sitting in the Princeton University chapel about to shake hands with President Torrance and receive my diploma. I can't believe three years has gone by so fast. Wasn't it just a few days ago that I first moved into this room? And yet, so much has changed. It really has been three years and I have come to the end of my seminary experience.
With that in mind, I'm trying to plan what I am going to do with myself for at least the next year. The current idea on my mind is to teach English in Tanzania. I'm trying to decide if this is the right choice for me right now. It is a volunteer position for which I have to pay $6000 on top of starting to pay back loans (if I can't get them deferred). But the kids I would be teaching wouldn't be taught without the volunteers coming to supplement the education system that is currently set up. As a developing nation, Tanzania needs all the help it can get in order to get the education system fully developed. By spending a year as a volunteer teaching, I can make a small impact on the country to help empower and education children to be the best they can be and to create more opportunities for them. Education makes a big difference in the opportunities that are available. As more children are educated, the better off the country as a whole is as well as the East African region. I'd love to be a part of something like that and to make an impact on children in that beautiful part of the world.
I know that it wouldn't just be my contribution either. I'd be working alongside many other people and teachers from Tanzania to offer children a quality education. In so doing, I'd be taught so much. My perspectives and experiences would be greatly broadened. I'd be challenged and pushed beyond myself in ways that may be painful at first, but necessary for lasting personal growth. It is for these reasons and more that I want to go.
But then I wonder if I'm just running away from things here. Am I just escaping, for a short time, the responsibilities of starting a life here in the states? Am I running away from settling into something long term? I mean, the thought of starting a long term career is not very appealing right now, but I don't know if that is because I'm being called in another direction, because I'm not at the point to really do what I want to do as a result of the ordination process, or because I'm running away from it? I think that is a question I need to answer before I make any plans to go abroad for any length of time. I don't think I need to have my whole life figured out, but I don't want to be running away from something I should be doing here in favor of an adventure that may ultimately be a bad decision. So as I think these things through, I'd be grateful for prayers and good thoughts in my decision-making process.
