+==let's go swimming==+

"Be not the slave of your own past - plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience, that shall explain and overlook the old." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is in essence what I am trying to accomplish in New Zealand. My friend introduced me to this quote and it struck me. I am not going to NZ to become "adventurous" as I once imagined. I'm not going to become something I am not. I'm not going so that I can become "cooler" than I already am :]. I am going to come back with this self-respect. I'm going to find myself. Find God. Learn more about myself than I can here in Battle Creek or at Elmhurst. I will come back with new power. Power to stand up for myself. To stick to my convictions. The power to be me. I will return with an advance experience. Something that will put me ahead of others in the future. An experience that will last a lifetime. An experience that will help me with so much. I will no longer be the slave of my past- the slave of the weights that tie me down. the slave to that which I no longer wish to be.

All that which I learn, experience, and encounter will help me become who I am supposed to be.

God has plans for me in NZ. I have lots of things to get away from. Things I need to forget about. I'm tired of dealing with things I shouldn't be dealing with. I'm not growing at Elmhurst. I'm too caught up in other things to be focused. I'm at a plateau in my call. Nothing is happening. And perhaps it is. But I need a change in perspective. I need to find God. (More about this later.)

I'm going swimming. diving deep and swimming far.

Countdown: 3 days.