New Mexico: The Land of Enchantment

It's here!

As Site Director for Fuge this year I get to make a Spring Visit to Santa Fe to meet with all the organizations our staff will be working with this summer, and I'm here! I have been putting in a fair amount of work lately to set up sites for camp and so it is exciting to finally be in the city and see some of God's plan for this summer fall into place. Today, being Sunday, I didn't have any appointments to meet with anyone so I was able to spend some time reacquainting myself with the city. While driving around I was asking the Lord to continue to break my heart for the lost people here. To have compassion on them and truly love them- even though most of them are strangers. Some days I have to stop and remind myself that this job is much much more than planning, phone calls and graphs- it's about people. So, it's good to be here and to be able to put the faces of people to my work.

Land of Enchantment- yes, that is what New Mexico is called. The whole city of Santa Fe just has a different feel to it. It's hard for me to nail it down and I guess it could be a variety of different things. People have tradition here- like the tradition of "being Catholic" because their family has always been Catholic. In my experience working here last summer the religious affiliations people claim are little more than tradition. Their religion of choice usually has no real connection to them as a person. People enjoy entertaining this idea of "spirituality". There are a lot of palm readers and fortune tellers and general mysticism. Almost as if many have a belief in a higher power but haven't made the Jesus connection yet. Generally the overall tone of the city is very laid back. A lot of art, culture and history. There is also a lot of homelessness- especially homeless young people. I wouldn't say that there is a greater homeless population here, they just seem to be more evident. Today I encountered a homeless youth weeping as he sat on the corner. There are a lot of musicians trying to earn money for their dinner by playing their instruments on street corners. Santa Fe may be one of the most unique places I have ever experienced- not that that's saying much. So eclectic and thought provoking. God has done great things here in the Land of Enchantment and I expect He will continue to do great things. While some may think that New Mexico is enchanting I think that once you break through that initial appeal of peculiarity you will find a lot of hurt and need buried underneath. Which means that New Mexico may not be that different after all. We all try to hide the things we don't want to be seen behind the mask of something more attractive.

I do love the work here. The people. God has shown me so much through working in this city and with these people. And like said, I can't wait to see the ways He is going to work in an through the Fuge staff this summer. I have been praying for God to line up all the right people for us to serve. Even though we don't know who they are yet, He does.

Also, it's great to be back on the Glorieta campus. Even if I am 95% certain that I am the only person staying in this hotel tonight.

So many memories.

Goodnight!