Building A Foundation
I packed up and moved a hundred or so miles away to the biggest city I could find in the region. The city was bustling, never seeming to…
I grew up from a small town of around 500 residents. A beautiful little valley in rain soaked Washington. My family was far from the big city and relationships were key. To the outsider there seemed not much to do. Being creative and outdoorsy myself, I was content. There were trails to run, waterfalls to search for, beaches to comb and plenty to write in a plethora of coffee shops: poetry, short stories, and articles. Small and quaint, but as I grew out of the school years I found myself longer for a change of scenery. The cloud covered environment was hovering over me, symbolic of being suffocated. I want to explore the world outside, there had to be more out there.
I packed up and moved a hundred or so miles away to the biggest city I could find in the region. The city was bustling, never seeming to sleep. One way parkways and interstates were the norm. The city itself took me nearly 25 minutes to cross with no traffic hangups. My hometown had one stop sign. Such a culture shock. Falling back unto my background I sought relationships and sought out adventure. The area to hike and explore was hundreds of times bigger. Over the next ten years I morphed into one that could thrive in this environment.
College, business start-ups, and getting married. I was jumping fast on the urban route. My values and beliefs were becoming more liberal and ‘inclusive’. Something wasn’t right. Decisions were harder to make. I felt suffocated. Where did I go wrong? I loved both environments or, so I thought, but I found the struggle of making it in either depressing.
Now I find myself sitting in a small town coffee roaster’s shop writing this article reflecting on how I found myself here. I’m hundreds of miles away from both my hometown and adopted big town. My identity that I built around both locations is stripped away. I am entirely new in a place I would never call home but yet it oddly holds the promise of one day holding the possibility of becoming home. One theme I find myself keep coming back to is my foundation in all locales. My environment has been allowed to define my identity, character, and personality. Almost like a chameleon, an unspoken expectation to mold and mesh to my surroundings at all cost. What has that left? An individual undertaking an identity crisis. It’s a sad reality but I’m glad that I’ve come to this point in my journey.
Who I am, is the question. What makes me define my values. Why I do what I do. How do I carry out my checklists in life. Questions abound to the underlying foundation of what makes a person. I’ve come to the realization that it isn’t a matter of where I find myself in life but how I journey itself. I am a man covered in the blood of Jesus. He is my foundation. Dying over two thousand years ago so that I may find true freedom. I am called to love and pursue Him. Some days I can spend time in prayer, others I can find myself running and having splendid conversations with His spirit inside me. He loves me no matter what I have done or the experiences I have deemed as failures abound around. Everything that I am is rooted in Him, and He is my biggest fan. It doesn’t matter the possessions I have accumulated. They are solely material items. It doesn’t matter the professional training have. Skills are easy to learn and move into and out of.
As I find myself almost done with my cup of coffee, I am content. Content in all the promises I have claimed, spoken over my life. I am going to go on to great adventures. I have taken the time I needed to stop from a culture of doing to one of being. Upon the foundation of this new-found freedom, understanding as I journey through this life long process of learning more about myself and Him I am firmly put unto a foundation that is solid. One that I can build upon. Instead of looking at life through the lens of all the surrounding possessions and how they define me, the lens I have exchanged it with is how He sees me. Period. No other filter.
I have no idea where the future will take me. I am not concerned, rather I am excited. I have a ton of experience under my belt, I’m sure I’ll find tons of adventures to get my hands involved in. I’m not perfect. In fact, I am forgetful. It’s in this final thought I want to leave you wherever you are in your identity: get in the Word every day to filter out all those negative self talks. The world is loud enough without you empowering it to dictate what you think of yourself. God knows you intimately. He is your Creator. He will journey with you every step of the way and show you all you need to know about yourself and Him. Trust Him. He has your back.