Another reason for the writing

For my friend Nick, a quote from one of his friends to encourage you in the second week of this challenge. 

- So I can't say I'm surprised when I read the words of Martin Luther, author of those ninety-five theses nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, but he did say, "If you want to change the world, pick up your pen." ...He says it too, John Piper- the things I am discovering with a hunt pen in hand-that moving the ink across the page opens up the eyes, that he may not understand  how it sheds light, focuses its lens, but he knows "that there are eyes in pencils and in pens."

      -Ann Voskamp, one thousand gifts

Lots of thoughts went up this past week about what was going to fill my next post. I struggled with a few topics, tried to write others, and will continue to wrestle with some throughout the weeks. Some thoughts worked, I just didn't know how to put them into writing. I wasn't happy with others once they were on paper. And with some I just stared at the first line on the page for thirty minutes, listening to the words of that sentence vibrate off walls in my brain into nothing. 

I don't want to mislead you though. I love writing, love doing this blog alongside my friend Nick. If I had the chance and the material to write a book someday, then I would do it. Now if that ever happens, we will see. But what I'm saying is, I love this process called writing. It's thrilling having something to share, and exciting to see it all form in front of you as fingers fly across keys. I know that I am an amateur at it compared to some, but I don't care. 

Last summer was the time that I first got really into this. Sure I wrote lots of papers in college, over many irrelevant topics, and was okay at it, even got a smidgen of enjoyment from it, but writing never really clicked till that summer. 

In that time, myself, my cousin Case, and a classmate Alex, spent eleven weeks in Peru working in mango fields. We spent our time swinging machetes alongside locals, traveling and helping out those communities of the farmers by giving them means to having clean water. All of our endeavors fueled blogs we wrote over the summer. And we all grew in the process. I can still now look at Case and see the change in him, that his faith climbed mountains through that time, through that writing. We are different people now because of it, I know this. Those moments and those words were life changing. They still are. 

And that may not touch anyone like it touches me, or I hope it makes Case smile. But seeing that picture and others, knowing the story we lived that summer, how we changed personally in the Lord and in ourselves is why I see writing the way I do. 

Because we did live an incredible story that summer. 

Because I now have a restored relationship with, and a near-brother in Case.

Because God did change us through that time. 

And He will continue to change me, as I continue to examine and write. 

I want you to have something like this pushing you, experiences to look back and reflect upon. If you have the want and the time, find someone to do this with. Write with each other, read and encourage each other. If you don't have anyone interested, allow our blogs to push you. Location is not a thing when it comes to this, you do not have to be in the mountains of Peru for this type of experience. He does not care where you are. 

"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind."
- C.S. Lewis