Every journey has to begin somewhere, and mine began in the western suburbs of Chicago. The biggest blessing of my upbringing was having parents who fostered and invested in two things: a love for the Lord and a love of learning.
My mom often recounted the times I would ask random questions about this or that, and my dad would respond, “Let’s go look it up in the encyclopedia!” Yes, they got their money’s worth out of those encyclopedias, and they were the catalyst of my curiosity.
I loved history and culture and wanted to travel. We hosted exchange students, and I went on trips to Asia and Europe. I joined the International Club at school and checked out all of the travel books from the library on a frequent basis. As I think back on those early years, one moment stands out in my mind as particularly pivotal. As my friends began to choose their majors and schools of choice, I remember struggling with what I was supposed to do with my life. I was smart and involved in school and really could have chosen just about anything; but I felt a longing for more than just a career.
I was driving down an old country road with my dad when I was 17 and was sharing my frustrations with him. “What can the Lord do with me? Everyone has a thing they are most passionate about and are going to college for those things. What do I have? I love to travel... so what? God wants me to be the world’s best travel agent?!” My dad grinned at me and assured me, “You have no idea what big things God can do with that passion!” It was the first time it occurred to me that my love of other cultures wasn’t just for me… it was for the Lord’s purpose!
St. Augustine said, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” My heart longed to soar through the pages of the world one country at a time. The Lord began to orchestrate my love for travel in 1994 when I spent a month in Japan. I remember thinking it was no big deal for a 14 year old to go half way around the world for 4 weeks and was thrilled to be immersed in a country and culture that was not my own. What I remember most about that first experience abroad was being enthralled at the realization that, although I couldn’t understand the language, there were things that superseded language: laughter of young children, tears of my widowed host mom, and cheers of boys on the soccer field. At 14 I realized that people everywhere, not just where I was from, had so much in common. I didn’t feel foreign or out of place… there, in that far away country surrounded by nothing familiar, I felt at home.
A few years passed but the spirit of wanderlust only grew in me. I was offered the opportunity to spend the summer before my senior year in high school traveling to Hungary, Austria, and Italy. I fell in love with every city we visited and this trip solidified for me that whatever I ended up being called to do, I wanted it to be oversees. It felt natural to me to be in a foreign country and I connected easily with those I met.
In 2000, after going off to college and choosing to study International Business, I had the opportunity to study in Europe for a semester. I studied history, traveled throughout all of Europe, learned a little German, and really felt God starting to open my heart to people abroad. Whereas before, being with people from other countries was intriguing, this experience opened my eyes to the universal need for Jesus' love. I remember walking through the streets of Paris one cold November Saturday sensing the hollowness of the souls that passed me by. The Lord gave me a sense of the great need for His light to shine in Europe and, although I didn’t know how, I knew I wanted to be part of what He was doing on that continent…
Comments