Saturday, January 19, 2008

Committed

Commitment is hard. It takes, well, commitment, right?

I don't mind making commitments. I generally think I'm good for the commitments I make. Most of the time. Some of the time.

Then there's another kind of commitment...or maybe just another use of the word, I suppose. It's when you make a decision that locks you into a certain action. It creates accountability. It eliminates options so that you don't have to worry about what's behind door #1, door # 2 or door #3.

That's what I did just now. I made a commitment that locks me into a certain course for at least a few months. I booked round-trip tickets to Athens, Greece for March 13-May 20th. Of course, I realize that locking into this course will obviously open up myriad other options once I get to Europe! I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

I'll tentatively spend the first week working with International World Changers in Athens. I'll spend a few days thereafter touring Greece with an old friend that will also be at the Athens project. After that I'll work my way up the Balkan Coast and eventually end up in Ukraine. I plan to spend about a month in Ukraine. Between now and then I'll be trying to get in contact with a number of missionaries throughout the area. I want to see firsthand what some of them are doing; I want to help some of them. Hopefully I'll find a ministry to plug into while I'm in Ukraine in particular.

I'll come home in time to get my legs underneath me before officiating a friend's wedding on May 24.

So there. I'm committed.

2 comments:

Janet T (Clinton's other sister) said...

Hi Clinton, your upcoming trip sounds great, but I thought you had to be back in April for some kind of interview in with International Missions. Is that on hold for now? Hope you escaped any icy weather yesterday, we had some freezing rain but not enough to cause power outages, thank goodness. We also got out of school a couple of hours early yesterday, which was a great way to end the work week!

michelle said...

i can't believe you're going to Europe!!! and have PLANS through the end of May.

i think i'm realizing that the commitment thing is big for me as well. I've delayed buying a car for 2 months now. not sure if i'm exactly ready to be "tied down" again! ahhh!

anyway, love to you friend.