If we examine our world from the outside in, we realize how much time has passed to show that our generation is quickly rushing from under us out into the world. Celebrities have been born and rising from behind, and veterans have slowly begun to set and disappear into the another world ahead. Many of us, including myself, still withhold ourselves from embarking upon this journey that awaits.
In the recent I've come to wonder: when will I let myself drop from comfort and safety into the rush and allow myself to venture the world? Will it be soon? As some of you may or may not know, my life's testimony so far is of unexplainable gratitude, and a remarkable knowledge that I have been raised by the gracious hand of the Lord. In retrospect, I must admit that I cannot fathom where I would be today without the ever so prominent presence of God's grace in my life. However, I can't help but fearfully wonder: when the rays of reality slowly beam upon me, what face will I show to the world?
When I had recently gone to backpack Turkey with my family in May, we met a couple from Dubai who had just been married for about a year. After spending a whole day with our tour group, I was able to peek into their very different lives as I got to know them.
The groom had just turned 30 and the bride was a very tender age of 19. They had been matched up through family ties. The groom had went to school until the age of 15 and proceeded on life by dropping out and taking over his father's business; he is now a very wealthy millionaire, owning and managing 3 sporting goods companies out in Dubai and South Africa. His English was quite eloquent and he spoke Arabic and IsiXhosa fluently. His rough, business-like demeanor and self-sufficient portrayal suggested a short youth and rushed allotment of responsibility.
The young girl, Hannah, spoke only Arabic but shared her youthful sparkle with me through pictures of her family and wedding on her ipod and our very limited shared vocabulary. By her excitement of my and my mother's company, I had sensed her loneliness and craving for tender motherly and sisterly affection. She was just 4 years younger than me, the youngest of 3 sisters, and had been married for a year running a household and supporting a husband. Learning of her life made me feel the reality of the striking differences in the lives of individuals just my age around the world.
I was extremely blessed to have met this couple as well as other extraordinary people on this trip to Turkey. God was very subtle with placing these acquaintances - turned friends into my life. I learned so much about the differing cultures of these fellow tourists and gained so much from the experiences they shared. In other words, the fate of our meetings were undoubtedly timely and purposeful. We grew quite fond of each other's company and I do hope to keep in touch and meet again someday.
The experiences I shared with my new acquaintances/friends made me finally acknowledge a reality I've so long avoided and ignored. I've often day-dreamed the strikingly familiar though process we've all run through in our minds... "When I grow up...." Now standing at the point between college and another chapter that is taking grasp unto another step towards adulthood, I realize that my growing up phase is right now.
This generation is commonly referred to as the Global Generation; the age of an entire continent with a growing economy sharing a singular currency, endless internet mediums pulling the ends of the earth together within seconds, global mapping achieved just by downloading Google-Earth, and the development of a new iPhone being more anticipated than the second coming of Christ. (Disclaimer: That last point is a half-serious joke.)
Needless to say, the world has never been so small in the history of mankind. A terrifying excitement awaits to burst within me, wondering how this generation, our generation, my generation, will conquer it. How will we rise?
I think we don't realize the responsibilities and unfathomable possibilities we hold. Personally, I've been so consumed with my current immediate situations that I didn't realize how much my every single action from this point on will affect the rest of my life, including the very people I am to include in it.
With infinitely more lessons to learn and countless more worlds to encounter, I have so much room to grow. As a young Christian soldier, equipped with only the Bible and hopeful heart of faith, I've come to finally see a physical interpretation of my armor and weapons in God.
As the world rushes beneath me, spanning into an unseen future, I pray to fall into and ride through the rush, with my heart as a throne for Christ and my body as a vessel to contribute in the fulfillment His purpose; striving to go beyond my own abilities and pushing through life without regrets and with the never-ending blessings God showers upon me.
