ahh, here we go...

I need to get back into blogging if I'm going to be posting a blog every day or every so often while I'm in Rwanda. 

Let me start by saying that I am immensely excited to depart for Rwanda. I cant wait to meet all the people from go ed, students and staff. i cant wait to really get a feel for the program, academically, spiritually, culturally-- to dive into this thing wholeheartedly. I don't know the journey that I'm about to embark on, but i know it's going to be epic. I can already tell I'm going to look back on these words and say "wow, he never knew what was coming."

I think I still have a lot of preparation to do before I leave. I very much want to pour over this thing in prayer, devour the reading list they recommend, as well as seek out the heart of god in his word on a lot of different issues before I leave. 

My Christmas was excellent. It was just a beautiful day to relax, spend time with my family, and make some music absentmindedly. I've been working hard on a track to release and figure out what my limits are for when I'm in Africa as far as music goes… my metal jams have been spinning. Anyway, I went and saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie with the family, and it was good. My dad got me this mission impossible season from 1988 for Christmas, so we watched an episode of that too once we got back, accompanied by some chocolate panda paws and Christmas cookies. Mmmm. 

One of the things I am most looking forward to is being thrust into a foreign, completely different lifestyle than the one I have right now. The one I have now is pretty mundane-- I sleep, I eat, I read, I play my guitar, I see a few people… that's it essentially. When I get to Rwanda, not only will it be a vastly different cultural framework, but I will be cast back into a sense of academia that I've tingled for in recent days too. I'm also pumped about getting rid of my phone for a semester, only using it when it matters. And pumped to not be around the din of American consumerism constantly. But what am I saying? How can I possibly prepare or anticipate the growth, change, joy, and love that I am hopefully going to experience and understand? I can't, really. 

God is so good and beautiful. I have cherished him today and last week for how good he is to me and my family.