I’m sitting here at my desk, wrapped in my new blanket, and enjoying a rare day of no plans. This week especially, the week between Christmas and New Year’s, has been a time of much needed rest.
Life got busy around the end of August, and work got even busier. Towards December, I found myself in that spiral of trying to catch up with the speed of life and craving rest. This week became a bright light on the calendar, when I knew I could work from home and then have a few days off with absolutely nothing to do.
I’ve laughed with friends, watched a lot of tv, and read a lot of books, recharging with the life-giving gift of story.
I’ve also found myself knocking things off my to-do lists, the little things that add up and take more energy than you originally think they will. Soon, that to-do list will be empty… just in time for it to fill up again with new things. But for now, I will start off 2017 not feeling “behind”: my home is clean, Christmas is packed away for the year, groceries for the week are in my kitchen, laundry is done, and today I get to relax and reflect on the past year.
2016 was a year of adventure: from the sun-washed streets of Cuba to the Red Light District of Thailand, a joy-filled community in the DR, and the mountains of Ecuador. God taught me, challenged me, and thrilled me with His goodness and grace.
I am so thankful for the gift of this year.
In October, I got to do something really cool. One of my small group leaders from Toccoa Falls College asked me to speak at an alumni chapel.
It was really cool to be back, and such an honor to be asked to do it. During the chapel, Dr. Myers (the TFC President) asked us what was 1 thing we took away from TFC that has impacted our lives to this day.
My mind kind of raced, because there were a lot of things. My English classes shaped who I am as a writer; they helped me analyze and draw out the important elements of a story… which I use in copywriting every day at my job. They helped me see how faith cannot exist in a vacuum; and how art without faith is missing a dimension. Between Shakespeare, History and Structure of the English Language (who doesn’t want to learn to speak Old and Middle English?), diving deeper into a love of Poe and all things Post Modern… my time in my major classes further developed my love of Story.
But then there were the Bible classes. I went to a Christian school until I was 14. The first time I walked into a class at TFC and the professor opened with prayer… and then being able to study the Bible as a textbook in school after 8 years of secular education… I was speechless—and things I learned in those classes still jump into my mind when I study the Bible in my devos.
At TFC, I saw how faith is real and relevant to every area of life—and both my Bible classes AND my major classes taught me this.
I transferred to TFC primarily because of the Bible education. By that point, I’d been in college for 3 years and was ready to graduate with an English degree. Then I remembered something very important:
When I was a little girl, I wanted to be Billy Graham.
I wanted to travel the world and tell people about Jesus and how much He loves them. And I felt this so strongly that I wrote Billy Graham letters.
And he wrote me back.
At least, I believed he did. I would receive letters from him, with kids tracts enclosed, encouraging me to tell people about Jesus wherever I was. Being a small child… I kept most of the tracts in a shoebox—along with the letters—but did give some away. My mom told me once of a vacation we took when I was a kid, where I went around and asked everyone at the pool if they knew Jesus, so something must have stuck. 🙂 It wasn’t until I got older and was looking through the box one day that I realized Billy Graham’s signature on the letters was a stamp, and underneath was the name/initials of whoever had typed the letter; most likely writing me on his behalf.
So 2.5 years into college, my education felt incomplete. Walking into the final of my hardest class, a final that was 30% of my grade (open book and open notes… and still the class was so hard the professor told us to be happy if we got C’s for a final grade), I asked myself, “If I could do anything and money/time were not a problem, what would it be?”
I would be Billy Graham.
But my own version.
Memories of that dream flooded me. For the next half hour, instead of working on the final, I sat down and wrote a poem that basically ended with the phrase “missionary writer for the King”. At that point, I knew I’d be switching schools that but didn’t know where. Didn’t matter… I had a final to finish (and ace, along with the class!).
Fast forward 2.5 years later… and I’m graduating from TFC, attending baccalaureate, and guess who the speaker is? Billy Graham’s grandson.
(Does anyone else have stuff like this happen to them? Shout out to the summer before my senior year of high school, when I walked into a photography studio to get my senior photos taken, and the secretary was MY KINDERGARTEN TEACHER. Or this, my favorite story ever. And there are more stories like this, but this blog is long enough. Summation: God likes to give me full circle moments).
2007, my graduation year, was the 100th anniversary of the college. At the 50th, Billy Graham actually spoke. So for the 100th, they got his grandson. It was surreal. And I was sitting there, listening to my childhood hero’s grandson tell us stories about him. And he told us one I would never forget:
He said that he grew up watching his grandfather study the Bible all the time. He’d constantly be in his office, reading the Bible. He talked about how his grandfather memorized and knew the Word of God.
But then one day, he asked Billy Graham if he could do his life all over again, what would he do differently?
Billy Graham had 1 thing to say: he’d spend more time reading the Word of God.
To hear those words (secondhand) from my childhood hero’s mouth, on the night before graduation and 2 weeks before “launching my career” as a missionary by leading a 2 month trip to the Amazon Jungle… it was the capstone of my time at TFC. It, along with what happened in Cuba this past year, has been a primary influence on my relationship with God. Actually… I don’t know if I can word strongly enough just how big an influence).
So, when Dr. Myers asked us that question that day at the Alumni Chapel, that was the story I told. And then driving home, I thought… I should write a blog about this. Because I don’t think most of y’all know why I became a missionary really. But that blog got on the “to-do list” that I never caught up with… until today.
There you have it:
- As a child I wanted to be Billy Graham. I begged my parents to let me stay up and watch his crusades. I “followed” him as avidly as a 6-year-old can without internet in the early 90s. I wrote him letters and “he” wrote me back, giving me kid-tracts that I didn’t completely hide away like treasure (or fill out myself because they had PUZZLES AND GAMES. I mean, what kid can resist that? I guess re-reading all of those tracts was extra-affirming of my belief in Jesus… I was literally reading the Gospel over and over again.)
- I wrote a paper on him in 5th grade. In 6th grade, I wrote a paper on Amy Carmichael (or maybe Amy was 5th grade and Billy was 6th… I can’t remember). Stories of her, Nate Saint and Jim Elliott, Hudson Taylor, and other missionaries had me captivated.
- I went on my first missions trip, to a deaf school in Jamaica, at 16.
- At 20, I realized that if I could be anything, I’d be a missionary writer for the King of Kings. I wanted to tell people around the world about Jesus, and tell people in the States what God is doing in the lives of people around the world.
Today, I am a copywriter for Adventures in Missions. I get to tell the story of what God is doing in the world and invite people to join in. I also get to tell people all over the world about God’s great love for them.
I’m literally living my dream.
So, if anyone has wondered, that’s why I do what I do. Thank you all for being such an important part of my life. Thank you for your support, encouragement, and prayer. Thank you for what YOU are doing to share God’s love with people here and around the world.
Sitting here on New Year’s Eve, I am so looking forward to 2017. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a Happy New Year!
(Also- I thought y’all would like to see this End of the Year video from Adventures. In it, our Founder and CEO, Seth, talks about some of what we saw God do in 2016. Adventures has been around for 27 years, and the World Race has been around for 10 years. This past year, over 4,000 short and long term missionaries shared God’s love around the world. I am so thankful to be a super small part of it. THANK YOU for being part of it too!)
