cutting back.

Lately I've been ready to head back to America. Not because I don't like Norway or the students here but because I miss things. I miss calling people and it being the same time zone. I miss being in spring in the month of March. I miss biscuits and gravy. But most of all I miss my support group of people.

My best friend Andrea has enlightened me to the concept of community. I've always valued it, I just never knew it's name. But I do now and I miss community. I'm always fairly open and honest and I guess I might as well continue being honest. So here goes, I miss being near my community who encourage me to find out more about who God wants me to be, my community who make me laugh at silliness, my community of people who challenge me to think outside of who I am yet they don't push me. We talk and we grow together at the same time. I miss having conversations about God that don't always have to be rooted in doctrine or some strange new rule. I miss the thought provoking statements and conversations that follow.

I am tired of not being around people who understand me and are in the same place that I am. I want to be surrounded by my community of believers who give me things to think about in worship, things that I need to hear and understand. I miss the warmth and support so much it almost is to much. I suppose to make matters worse I read stories (blogs and facebook) from my people back in the states who are surrounded by community and to be honest I get jealous. I want to have what they have, I want to abandon my ship and swim to where they are because from here it looks much nicer than my boat. I want off and I want to be with them.

I can't. I have to stay and work, I need to stay and be where God called me to be.

So I'm cutting back. I can't keep reading about all the amazing things that I'm not doing, all the fun things that I can't learn and I can't keep reading about the thought provoking conversations that they are having. At least not while I can't be there to be apart of it too.