"I don't want to go anywhere."
That's an odd thing to hear from a person who's been to many places around the world. However, that was the response I gave when prompted with the question:
I couldn't think of any place off the top of my head. Holding a very satisfying hot cup of chocolate milk tea with boba in a sweet Asian cafe on a cool autumn night surrounded by some friends, I was happy.
So that's what I answered.
I'm not someone who itches to travel. I've never had the impulsive desire to pick-up and go on a solo trip. I've just ended up going to a lot of places, which has been more because of my upbringing in a traveling family and a consequence of my curiosity and willingness to pursue opportunities that fall in my path. Every trip I've gone on was an opportunity given from God and it was always for some reason or another, i.e. to represent the USA at an international conference, attend weddings, visit friends, do engineer work for the needy poor. God would place the invitation before me and it would be a matter of me saying "yes" or "no" to go. Lord forbid I say "no" when He's calling me to go. Those were honestly hard decisions I had to make. But after I've made them, I've found that obeying the Lord to do whatever He calls and wherever He directs is worth blessings beyond imagination! I know that if the Lord calls me to go somewhere, He will provide the means. For many of my trips I was given the funds to go, i.e. travel grant, salary, non-profit fundraising. I testify that He definitely arranged everything well for me in the case of my 2-month stay in Brazil, which was a trip of significant meaning that I truly needed to experience.
Though there are people who venture to places that I will never go, I also know that I've been to places that many people don't get the opportunity to explore. I am truly thankful for the opportunities and resources God has given me to travel around the world. My head is full of random stories of interesting situations in a variety of exotic places. Yeah, there were risks of danger, discomfort, pain, and illness in my third world and middle east endeavors. However, who am I to hold on to material possessions and comfort over living entirely for Him to whom I owe my entire existence? Me, small mite in comparison to God's grand eternal glory, withhold trifles He's given me? My life is not my own. I was bought with a very high price. As I have been tested, if God calls me to go somewhere dangerous or far, I would go solely trusting in His protection. I now know that I physically cannot handle extreme conditions well. Like a true San Franciscan, I function best in moderate cool weather. I truly missed the refreshing fog in my last trip where I was having a really difficult time with my health in the hot and humid tropics and eating poor quality food. I've been ill in my last trips to third world countries in India, Southeast Asia, and Fiji and think I would be ineffective in such places long term. I can only claim that God's power was perfected in my overwhelming weakness in those times. I also wouldn't want to be long far from my doctor, whose treatment over the past 2 years has made so much progress to where I am now. We are amazed at how I've been able to take 3 big exotic trips since beginning treatment under her care when I was barely in walking condition when I first stepped into her office.
Now here I am living in the city I was born and raised in. I love being near my family, hanging with old friends, and getting to know new friends. I love engaging in engineering work on the physical environs around me, gaining interesting perspective behind the scenes, off the typical footpath, and beneath manholes of familiar settings. However, life here is not all smooth and easy. There are people around who I have to admit are difficult to me and what lies beneath the paved city streets is certainly nasty and foul smelling. Yet, these are things to appreciate as well. These challenging relationships and conditions refine my character like sandpaper rubbing me to shine more of Christ's righteous and holy likeness. I appreciate city and relational life for all its rough edges. It's a raw reality that makes me feel alive. Ahhhh.
Happy where I am, I would be content to not go anywhere for a while. But who's to know if God will have me go somewhere new? I only go where God leads and possess as He provides. No worries for my future, my loving God has my best in mind. He knows what I can handle and what I need to learn. Once in a while, it's good to stir things up in life and get out of my comfort zone of home. There's nothing to loose, and, if anything, adventure and experience to gain. As if to test how much I cling to material things, it's ironic that my things tend to disappear when I travel. The saddest incident was loosing my favorite pink stuffed bear in my first trip to Hawaii with my parents. I used to carry it everywhere with me. My 4-year-old self must have been so traumatized from the loss because I still feel a tinge of sadness at the fact that I can never again see the first bear I once so dearly treasured. It's ok, I've been given more stuffed bears since!
So to tangibly answer that person's question, if I were to go anywhere, I'd go visit people, i.e. my Brazilian host family, Spanish and Croatian friends I met at the international conference in Istanbul. It would be nice to see them again. It'd also be nice to travel with other people, so add at least one to that trip offer! I don't even necessarily have to fly to take a trip. I think it would be cool to road trip across the USA past vast expanses of landscape while listening to music, maybe pull to the side of a road to frolic in a corn field only to get chased out by a Farmer John. I do have some bucket list dreams like cruise the Nile, ride a horse in Mongolia, and backpack in Peru that would require flying to specific foreign countries. I also have dreams that are not tied to particular places, i.e. pet a dolphin, build an igloo, and launch a lantern into the sky. Well, I'm glad to say that I've been surprised with opportunities to fulfill several bucket list dreams already and join others in accomplishing their dreams.
It's good to have dreams :)
If you could go anywhere in the world, free flight and accommodations, where would you go?
I couldn't think of any place off the top of my head. Holding a very satisfying hot cup of chocolate milk tea with boba in a sweet Asian cafe on a cool autumn night surrounded by some friends, I was happy.
So that's what I answered.
I'm not someone who itches to travel. I've never had the impulsive desire to pick-up and go on a solo trip. I've just ended up going to a lot of places, which has been more because of my upbringing in a traveling family and a consequence of my curiosity and willingness to pursue opportunities that fall in my path. Every trip I've gone on was an opportunity given from God and it was always for some reason or another, i.e. to represent the USA at an international conference, attend weddings, visit friends, do engineer work for the needy poor. God would place the invitation before me and it would be a matter of me saying "yes" or "no" to go. Lord forbid I say "no" when He's calling me to go. Those were honestly hard decisions I had to make. But after I've made them, I've found that obeying the Lord to do whatever He calls and wherever He directs is worth blessings beyond imagination! I know that if the Lord calls me to go somewhere, He will provide the means. For many of my trips I was given the funds to go, i.e. travel grant, salary, non-profit fundraising. I testify that He definitely arranged everything well for me in the case of my 2-month stay in Brazil, which was a trip of significant meaning that I truly needed to experience.
Though there are people who venture to places that I will never go, I also know that I've been to places that many people don't get the opportunity to explore. I am truly thankful for the opportunities and resources God has given me to travel around the world. My head is full of random stories of interesting situations in a variety of exotic places. Yeah, there were risks of danger, discomfort, pain, and illness in my third world and middle east endeavors. However, who am I to hold on to material possessions and comfort over living entirely for Him to whom I owe my entire existence? Me, small mite in comparison to God's grand eternal glory, withhold trifles He's given me? My life is not my own. I was bought with a very high price. As I have been tested, if God calls me to go somewhere dangerous or far, I would go solely trusting in His protection. I now know that I physically cannot handle extreme conditions well. Like a true San Franciscan, I function best in moderate cool weather. I truly missed the refreshing fog in my last trip where I was having a really difficult time with my health in the hot and humid tropics and eating poor quality food. I've been ill in my last trips to third world countries in India, Southeast Asia, and Fiji and think I would be ineffective in such places long term. I can only claim that God's power was perfected in my overwhelming weakness in those times. I also wouldn't want to be long far from my doctor, whose treatment over the past 2 years has made so much progress to where I am now. We are amazed at how I've been able to take 3 big exotic trips since beginning treatment under her care when I was barely in walking condition when I first stepped into her office.
Now here I am living in the city I was born and raised in. I love being near my family, hanging with old friends, and getting to know new friends. I love engaging in engineering work on the physical environs around me, gaining interesting perspective behind the scenes, off the typical footpath, and beneath manholes of familiar settings. However, life here is not all smooth and easy. There are people around who I have to admit are difficult to me and what lies beneath the paved city streets is certainly nasty and foul smelling. Yet, these are things to appreciate as well. These challenging relationships and conditions refine my character like sandpaper rubbing me to shine more of Christ's righteous and holy likeness. I appreciate city and relational life for all its rough edges. It's a raw reality that makes me feel alive. Ahhhh.
Happy where I am, I would be content to not go anywhere for a while. But who's to know if God will have me go somewhere new? I only go where God leads and possess as He provides. No worries for my future, my loving God has my best in mind. He knows what I can handle and what I need to learn. Once in a while, it's good to stir things up in life and get out of my comfort zone of home. There's nothing to loose, and, if anything, adventure and experience to gain. As if to test how much I cling to material things, it's ironic that my things tend to disappear when I travel. The saddest incident was loosing my favorite pink stuffed bear in my first trip to Hawaii with my parents. I used to carry it everywhere with me. My 4-year-old self must have been so traumatized from the loss because I still feel a tinge of sadness at the fact that I can never again see the first bear I once so dearly treasured. It's ok, I've been given more stuffed bears since!
"Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Bretheren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:12-14)
So to tangibly answer that person's question, if I were to go anywhere, I'd go visit people, i.e. my Brazilian host family, Spanish and Croatian friends I met at the international conference in Istanbul. It would be nice to see them again. It'd also be nice to travel with other people, so add at least one to that trip offer! I don't even necessarily have to fly to take a trip. I think it would be cool to road trip across the USA past vast expanses of landscape while listening to music, maybe pull to the side of a road to frolic in a corn field only to get chased out by a Farmer John. I do have some bucket list dreams like cruise the Nile, ride a horse in Mongolia, and backpack in Peru that would require flying to specific foreign countries. I also have dreams that are not tied to particular places, i.e. pet a dolphin, build an igloo, and launch a lantern into the sky. Well, I'm glad to say that I've been surprised with opportunities to fulfill several bucket list dreams already and join others in accomplishing their dreams.
It's good to have dreams :)
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