Happy New Year

The New Year is a very symbolic time. It is a special moment that marks the past year and steps forth with a hopeful hint of anticipation into the unknown, the year to come. For me, New Year’s is usually a very special night filled with friends and family; a time of celebration, but most importantly, a time to be immersed in prayer. This New Year’s Eve was momentous in a very different sense, in that, I experienced what is widely known as, a meltdown.


On January 1, 2010, I embarked on what would be my Ecuadorian Adventure for a semester abroad as un estudiante intercambio cultural (cultural exchange student) at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, (http://www.usfq.edu.ec/ ) officially launching my number one 2010 New Year’s Resolution: actually learn to speak some Spanish.


Every year I make grandiose resolutions promising to do this or resolving to get better at that to absolutely no avail. This New Year’s I went ahead and pushed my resolution off a cliff, you know, to give it a head start and there is most definitely no turning back now. I have been ‘studying’ (jaja) Spanish since 8th grade and have now completed my minor from Virginia Tech. I can write an excellent, very longwinded, Spanish term paper, but can’t seem to muster a simple sentence without fumbling all over myself. Que ridículo, no? So, on the eve of 2010, in the face of the overwhelmingly new year which would bring with it a new country, a new city, a new family, a new university, a new language, a new culture, and ultimately a new adventure; I was furiously packing whilst trying to quell my nerves and mitigate the onset of tears.


In the depths of my emotional vitality, I discovered a prayer conveniently tucked between Psalm 62 and 63 of my study Bible and I prayed it over and over again.

My prayer for 2010:

May God bless us with discomfort at
easy answers, half truths, and
superficial relationships, so that we
may live deep within our hearts.

May God bless us with anger at
injustice, oppression, and exploitation
so that we may work for
socioeconomic justice for all people.

May God bless us with tears to shed for
those who suffer from pain, hunger,
homelessness and rejection, so that we
may reach out our hand to comfort
them and to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless us with enough
foolishness to believe that we can
make a difference in the world so that
we can do what others claim cannot be
done.

~ Education for Justice

So here’s to taking foolishly daring steps in the name of service and to LIVING THE VISION.

May 2010 truly be a Year of the Lord’s Favor filled with recklessly radical obedience to God and the beautiful blessings of unfailing love, flowing grace, unequivocal mercy, deeply rooted faith, blind trust, and luminous hope.

Salud y feliz año nuevo