Sunday, August 21, 2005

Job-less, car-less, wife-less, home-less, care-less

So I'm sitting in my parents' basement listening to my brother play some DragonForce, which is some British band that plays like 80's-style rock music; it's like unabashedly throwback, but since I dig that kind of stuff usually, I'm OK w/ it.

As the title suggests, I am, as of Friday, all of these things. No job. No car. No home. No wife (but what else is new? It's been that way for 4 weeks, 1 day, 5hrs, and 40 minutes as of right now).

No cares. Well, let me take that back. I care quite a lot that I've been away from my beloved Aubrey for so long. No fun. Let me reiterate for all you married people or future-ly married people that you should only try some separation like this if you're ready for NO FUN.

As for the no job and no car thing, that's pretty nice. It's amazing to think that it's been years and years of anticipation and now I can finally say that I am a missionary. Not that I care particularly whether or not I can proclaim that fact far and wide or whatever, but God put this desire in my heart at least 10 yrs ago, and to have that seed come to fruition in my life is gratifying.
Looking forward right now to:
-embracing Aubrey again, sooner rather than later;
-not feeling cross-eyed all the time b/c of long hours of working in front of a computer screen;
-not buying gasoline for a car anymore, at the time when it is less pleasant than I can ever remember to buy gas;
-not paying rent for a while (our apt in Japan is rent-free, courtesy of the Kikai Board of Education. Thanks guys!);
-changing my life to be a full-time learner of Japanese (I've long wanted to speak many many languages) and sharer of the Good News w/ a lost and beautiful people, the Japanese;
-sharing tales of missionary mishaps, munchies, mistranslations, misunderstandings, and mayhem w/ other friends in the service of the King abroad, like Ben and Aaron in Highland, Tim in Africa, Ron in Asia, and others.

Praise God for His perfect plan! Let the record note that I will leave my native soil around 9 am CST on Thursday 25 Aug for Japan. Only God knows when/if I will return.