Busy, Busy, Busy

Things continue to move at a breathtaking pace over here. Last Wednesday, my project leader and I met with the man who has stepped up to manage the community center in Mohmandara, and handle the partnership with the reconstruction forces. After our morning meeting, we got to work on polishing up our presentation materials and delivering them back to the ministry because at 3:00 the next morning (MDT), they presented their proposal to the PRT in Nangarhar for budget approval. Wednesday afternoon was thrillingly intense as I worked as quickly as I could to clean up some architectural drawings and renderings, and our PowerPoint presentation. After work, though thoroughly exhausted, I sighed deeply, satisfied by a good day's work.

Later that night I got to attend a small dessert reception for the project manager at a ministry board member's house a little north of Colorado Springs. I got to hear more about how the project came together, how God had been working in so many ways and so many places to bring this about. In fact, the president of the ministry and his staff marvelled at how no one in the organization had sought out this project--it is almost as though it spontaneously generated from pure need. The Mohman people independantly requested assistance from the missionaries. EMI independantly reformed its relationship with the ministry. The PRTs independantly saw the opportunity of a project of this type in our project location. A man independantly decided to retire from his job during a recession and start working for a non-profit missions organization. And all of these independant events miraculously coincided geo-temporally to bring these services to a rural village in Afghanistan.

Bokononism and Christianity are mutually exclusive, right?

Some of those present at the dessert, in sharing previous experiences, brought me to realize that God does not always put things on cruise-control for us. Oftentimes, if he gives us a message, we will have to pursue that calling as long as we can without confirmation or apparent intervention. As I came into this experience, I was actually anticipating this scenario, where I would hear God's direction and would have to work hard, fighting every conceivible obstacle to reach the destination. I was looking forward to proving my faith not to my Lord--he already knows my heart as he knew Abraham's--but to myself. I feared that if I didn't do something that would challenge myself, all that I've learned in the past couple of years would mysteriously vanish and I would find myself petty and irrelevant as I perceived myself to have been all along.

I think, as I near the end of this internship and desperately fight regressing into my former self, I'm beginning to realize that many of my notions of what it will mean to live fully devoted to my Savior were incomplete. It may not be as difficult as I was believing, as I was hoping, though I keep in mind that it very well may be everything I expected or even more.

Last Thursday, the Van and Nancy Switzer visited EMI and I was pleased to show them around the office. For me it was good to see a familiar face and hear a little from home, and I think they were impressed with EMI. Van is a non-practicing Civil Engineer and may be interested in participating in some trips sometime.

I'm still looking for something to do after May. Don't let my use of the word "still" make you think I'm complaining--I've only been looking for a couple of weeks and my confidence in God's plan is yet unshaken. My positive experience with the US Army in Afghanistan has opened a door that I previously ignored, a door which led to the Army Corps of Engineers. I always knew, somewhere in the back of my head, that they hire civilians as engineers and operate in some ways like any commercial firm, but always wrote them off for one reason or another, most recently my unwillingness to support any efforts that may induce or implement violence as means to a greater end. I still think there are creative solutions, often beyond the imaginations of mere mortal men, that can resolve any conflict without any damage to life or Earth, and I still think it would be nifty to be able to pursue those solutions. But for now, I need to do something, and I want it to be productive, and domestic USACE work vaguely fits both categories, perhaps better than most corporations to which I find myself applying. As long as I don't have to design a pipeline that transports mustard gas, agent orange, or petroleum, I think I'll be able to put up with a federal job for a time. If it comes to that.

If nothing else comes along, then Phil: can I live in your car(s?) for a little while? I might only need a place until my FE results come back. Also, I'll help you weld stuff onto your roofrack or whatever. Thanks.