Travel Bug // 2015

I've found myself in the past few months in a fierce battle between anxiety and anticipation for my future. Questions with no obvious answers fight for priority over geometry homework and late night studying. "Am I going to college?" "If I don't... what am I going to do?" "Will I get to travel?" "Where is all the money going to come from?" "How impossible are my dreams?"

The concept of not attending further academics through college or university often inspires a responder's face of "You're going to work at Mcdonalds for the rest of your life?" Now don't be fooled, do I have those thoughts? Of course! But it still can't stop me from dreaming? 

How could I not dream? The more I age, the more I miss what I barley remember. Running for flights - trying new foods - getting lost in new cities - laughing at miscommunications. This was so a part of my childhood. I do believe I've caught something. 

They call it the travel bug. 

And there is no cure... a map and a passport may be the closest thing. Perhaps I caught it when I was young, but in honesty I think I caught it this last winter - it is sick season right? It was like a sore throat.. the kind thats not bad enough to call in sick, but you still can't ignore it. Then it gets worse. The runny nose starts.. the Instagram travel accounts... all of which you follow now and screen shot some photographer's last kayaking date or perhaps a ski trip or a jungle adventure. You wake up the next day and its even worse than before. All the symptoms of the travel bug and it becomes so overwhelming you give in. You're on the couch googling internships in India and New Zealand. It gets worse and worse, and you begin staring at a map... wondering where you can go by the end of the year.

Mental notes of obscure locations in Scotland or South Africa... Wish lists began forming of dream hiking wear, chaco merchandise, backpack gear, and who knows what else. New goals of swimming in Canadian lakes, snowboarding the Austrian Mounts, or driving the coasts of Italy.

"Guess what?"

 "We're going to Yosmite?"

 "Or maybe Iceland?" 

A common interaction between myself and my friends. Sadly... whatever follows my "guess what?" is never quite as exciting. I hope one day those are the right guesses, but for now I'll be living in the adventures around me. That doesn't mean I'm not sick. In fact I'm pretty sure it's getting worse. In fact, judging from my google history of plane ticket costs and rural destinations... I may be checked into the hospital soon. 

There is something exciting about living life for the next adventure. I do hope to travel, but I know the Lord is good. And He will place my feet where He wants them every day. 

- Ephesians 2:10 -Jeremiah 29:11 -Philippians 1:6-Psalm 119:105 -

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.