It's not always the destination we remember but how we got there

The task of getting us oriented for our coming year of service fell to the wonderful Young Adult Volunteer Alumni, or YAVA,as well as the YAV staff. We spent a week at the Stony Point Center figuring out how we fit into this grand scheme of living out our faith, serving, and being served. If it sounds like a daunting task, I'm sure you're right. It has got to be unbelievably difficult to get 70 some odd people ready for various placements in various cities/countries all in one week so hats off to all of them for getting it done. 

Orientation: the determination of the relative position of someone or something

Why yes, that is how I think of the word orientation, but hey, what can I say other than I'm an engineer, but the fact of the matter is, it still applies. My orientation in life is determined relative to not only God but the people around us. Or to be totally geeky, God is my coordinate system, who gives meaning and placement to my life, but without relationships to other people, I'm just a point in space. God has placed so many other people around us (other points in space) and with that connection between us, we become a vector, having direction as well as magnitude, we become substantial.

Sometimes I forget that this is the way we are made. In college after the Search retreat, they asked us to stand up and say what we learned that weekend. I don't think I'll ever forget the words I said that day "This weekend I learned I can't do everything on my own" but sometimes I forget to live that out. I think the most important thing orientation has taught me is that exact sentiment, I can't do everything on my own; I need God and I need other people. Meeting the other YAVs serving this year as well as knowing there are so many YAVA creating a net of love and support is a wonderful, comforting, amazing experience.

I'm an introvert by nature and I truly enjoy spending time in solitude but we are made for more that just that. In the words of Toby Mac "I was made to love, and be loved by you" It's something I need to remember and I hope as the year progresses, I will seek to live out that love and embrace the love of others.

I leave you with some fun highlights of the week, some of which I didn't get pictures of so you get awesome drawing version!

Stony Point had pigs! They were super cute and were working on getting the fields ready!

Me, Audry, and Colleen after our walk to the lighthouse nearby. I am truly honored that we could be there for Audry's first lighthouse experience since apparently Kansas doesn't have lighthouse, who would have guessed?

Colleen and I put our feet in the ocean one more time before heading out to orientation.

I went to a Quaker meeting in the meditation room at Stony Point during a storm and it was an awesome time of being still, and knowing that God is God and I am not as well as a time of community, peace, and refreshment for the day.

Kathryn is a Zumba instructor so she taught a class for us. It was incredibly awesome and I loved every second of the dancing and the amazing faces she makes.