Hi, my name's Jenni, but you can call me Paul...

So on the recommendation of my friend, Dean, I picked up a copy of Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson. Isn't it funny how God waits until the right moment to place a book in your hands? This book has helped me realize that my decision to come to Italy was the right one.

Mark goes through different cages that keep us from following the Holy Spirit's leading:
*cage of responsibility
*cage of routine
*cage of assumptions
*cage of guilt
*cage of failure
*cage of fear

The one I related to most (at this moment of time anyway) was the cage of failure.
Maybe it's my perfectionist nature.
Maybe it's my inability to make a decision without every detail in place.
Maybe it's the fact that I had an idea of what my life would be like at this point and it is NOTHING like what I thought it would be.
Maybe it's the sting of seeing my plans fail...

Chapter 6 (titled "Sometimes It Takes a Shipwreck") was all about this cage.

"Sometimes our plans have to fail in order for God's plans to succeed.... There's life after failure" (119).

Mark talks about how Paul's journeys were not always planned... It's even in the shipwrecks that God intersects people's lives... You never know who you'll meet when following God.

I loved the end of the chapter where he leaves us with three encouraging observations (138-9):
1) The longer you wait, the more you appreciate.
2) Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is just hang in there (Been there, done that... sooooo not fun at times, but I wouldn't be where I am today without that time).
3) A sense of humor can get you through just about anything (I love to laugh and hope I never lose that).

I'm afraid to fail. But I might just be more afraid of not trying and regretting missed opportunities...
so in the words of one of my favorite musicals: Seize the day.