Thursday, 08 February 2007

3051511131

(30 hours, 5 hours, 15 hours, 11 time zones, and 1 hemisphere, 3 years, for 1 God)

Eric came down to Holland for awhile today. Seeing as his going-away party was right in the middle of the biggest blizzard western Michigan has seen in years, he came down to Hope so all of us not graduated with him could wish him the best and whatnot. It was good to talk to him about just stuff and hear what he'll be doing in Singapore with YoungLife. Imagine spending 2-3 years getting paid largely to spend 30/40 working hours every week hanging with kids, another 5 in quiet time with God, and 5-15 more doing volunteer work with the freedom of being paid for it? Sounds pretty sweet to me.

But it has to be scary. That kind of work sounds great, but Eric's paying a hefty price. Imagine with that job the requirement that you move 11 time zones away and into the southern hemisphere, to boot.

But that's exactly what Eric's doing, and it's in the name of Christ. I can't help but admire that true willingness to literally "go into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." It's sweet.

*Disclaimer*
Ben Manting: if you're reading this, yes, I know it's a complete ripoff of "Operation 85512301" but it seemed kind of fitting. For the rest of you readers who might be confused by this reference, go to the date April 19, 2006, on this Xanga or April 18th, 2006, at Ben's LiveJournal.