Spring is in the air...

It's springtime, although it doesn't exactly feel like it all over the place, but it is. That can only mean one thing...baseball has started! That glorious past time that is truely poetry in motion. As a man once said, "I love baseball. You know it doesn't have to mean anything, it's just beautiful to watch." That about sums it up for me.

Adventures

So Kim (my wife) and I are joining the Peace Corp. We applied back in August and have been waiting to hear something official for a few months now. A couple of weeks ago we finally heard that our application has been approved and we've been nominated for service.

In this we also found out what region we will be going to...North Africa/Middle East. I can hear the alarms going off in people's minds right now when they read the words "Africa" and "Middle East." The countries undergo a very rigorous qualification process to get it approved to have Peace Corp volunteers in their country. Normally that process takes 3-5 years. As of now, there are only 2 countries in that region that the Peace Corp is sending volunteers to...Morocco and Jordan.

Kim and I are so excited to finally hear some more news on what we might be doing and where we might be going. I have so many emotions going through my mind right now. Joy, anticipation, anxiousness, and absolute terror! I am more scared about this than I have ever been about anything in my life.

I am very sure of what we are doing, because for some time Kim and I have wanted to do something big, something outside of the box. I think the fear is kind of like when I got married; fear of the unexpected or unknown. Right now I am trying to learn a little bit about the countries we could be going to. Learn more with us and share in our excitement: Morocco and Jordan.

This Too Shall Pass

I read a book recently titled, The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World. It was a very, very interesting book, in which the author decides to read through the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in an attempt to gain intelligence. The book chronicles his readings of the Encyclopedia while throwing out interesting facts that he learns as well as attempts to affirm his increased knowledge.

At some point in the book, the author, who is a non-practicing Jew, realizes that he has questions about the Jewish history. So, he finds a Rabbi and sits down to talk to him. He has several questions, mainly dealing with all of the bad stuff that happens in the Bible, but ends up getting more confused as to why this stuff happens after talking to the Rabbi. In the end the Rabbi sums up all of the things he has questions about with one phrase..."this too shall pass."

I found this very poignant and also very applicable to my own life. Sometimes I get too worked up about bad (or sometimes even good) things that happen in my life that I can't see the big picture. If you look back at history you will see that disaster is nothing new, it's been happening for centuries now. The things we find important now, may not be important 100 years from now or even 5 years from now. I think it's a way of taking things with a grain of salt.

Find out what's really important in life and invest your time and energy in that. For me it's my relationship with God and my friends and family. Don't get worked up over the small, inconsequential moments in life...this too shall pass.