Heading West

This afternoon I begin my trek west.  I'm sitting on the porch at Beaver Falls Coffee and Tea with some of my closest friends from Beaver County.  It's a surreal experience.  So surreal that it really doesn't feel like I'm leaving.  Today, it feels like I'm just about to take a little drive to Columbus to visit friends.  Tomorrow will just feel like a trip to Milwaukee.  I don't think the reality will set in for at least a week that I'm really going to live in Tacoma, WA, and not Pennsylvania.

That's something interesting I've discovered about life while approaching this day.  When I talk about being nervous about leaving or being sad about not getting to stay, friends would encourage me that I'll be back to visit and I can return for a new job in a few years.  I used to think that that fact was still a big deal and that three years was a significant amount of time.  It still is significant, but I think I'm beginning to realize that life will go on, I'll keep in touch with friends and visit for vacations.  When I come home, life will resume.  If I move back to Pittsburgh in 3, 5, or 10 years, I'll return to a different set of people, but a life as similar as I choose to make it.

The big difference will be that I'll have an amazing experience under my belt.  This move will be the hardest thing I've done to this point.  I've lived in the Pittsburgh area for 26 years and now I'm venturing out to a new place with very little familiar places.  This will be a growing experience that is completely necessary for me to become the man God's created me to be.

I recognized recently that I need to leave Pittsburgh at some point and try something new.  It is clear that this chapter in Pittsburgh is coming to an appropriate end.  People are transitioning into new lives and settling into new situations, so it's time for me to do the same.  I'm ready to potentially be a pioneer for friends who want to join me in the Pacific Northwest.  Or maybe I'm ready to start a new life on my own.  Or maybe I need to just get away from PA for a while to recapture its mystery in my heart.

No matter what the case, God is sending me to Tacoma for a reason.  I'm excited to see what that reason is.  I've got a few ideas.

Faith

I have faith.  More than I realized.  You really learn how much faith you have when you take a "leap of faith" and make a risky move.  In my job search, I've had two campus interviews for jobs so far, been offered both jobs, and turned them both down.  They were not good fits.  The locations were not appealing and the work was not what I've been looking for.  The people were fantastic and I hope our paths cross again, but in the end it was a strong feeling of comfort when I turned the jobs down.

So I'm crazy right?  Well, maybe I am.  The fact is, though, that whether I should or not, I'm waiting for a good fit to take a job, even in this rough job market.  Sure, I'm young and have my whole life in front of me, but I'm not the type of person who will sacrifice a good place and good friends for what seems like a lateral or downward movement.  Give me community and I'll go.  Give me an amazing city (ahem, Seattle) and I'll go.  I'm young and single with what feels like the world in front of me.  I guess I'm just not as willing to sacrifice as I should be.

But that's how God created me.  He wants me to live life to the fullest and enjoy every moment, not sacrificing a second.  I felt so overwhelmingly comfortable turning down each position that I did not question for a second whether it was the right move.  I have an awesome community in Pittsburgh, Beaver County, and Philadelphia that I'll only leave for an exciting opportunity.  But have no fear, employers, I am committed to only applying to jobs in exciting locations from now on!

In the meantime, I continue to pray.  I'm praying for the right opportunity to come at the right time.  I'm praying that I can soak up every second I have in Pittsburgh in case God leads me to a new location.  In the end, all we have is today, so enjoy it.

Also, enjoy this jam about Faith by Taking Back Sunday: