Just Call Me George Bailey

In case you didn't know, I'm somewhat of a movie buff.

I love to go to the movies or just watch them at home.

My taste in movies is wide, varied, and all my own.

And of course, being the dramatic person that I am, I get lost in movies the way that you can get lost in books.

It's just fun to imagine right?

My very favorite movie ever is the old black and white Christmas movie about a man named George Bailey called, It's a Wonderful Life.

You may have heard of it =)

George Bailey is a terrific guy who makes all kinds of sacrifices so that others can get ahead.

He puts his plans to travel the world on hold to run the family business when his father dies, he gives the money he saved up to his younger brother so he can go to college. Then, when it's time for his brother to come home and take over the business, turns out he has gotten married and is going to work for his father-in-law. So once again, old George gets nowhere.

George's passionate desire to get the heck out of Bedford Fall's is squelched time after time.

Within the time constraints of the film, poor George never goes outside town limits.

But of course, as you know if you've seen this movie, George's call in life was to be in Bedford Falls. That's where he really made an impact whether he knew it or not.

He was right where he was supposed to be all along.

Lately I have been thinking and praying a lot about my future. I'm kind of living on a whim right now. Doing this year to year thing, living paycheck to paycheck, and loving it!

I'm a part-time Young Life employee only because I needed a year to decide if that's really what I wanted to do.

But I feel as if God is thinking "You just THOUGHT you needed a year, I KNEW what I wanted you to do all along."

So now comes the time where I choose to stay or go.

Stay in East Tenneessee....where I have spent my entire life, where my family is, where I can sometimes feel trapped and lonely, or, go somewhere, anywhere, a place I have never been,

somewhere no one knows me or my family, somewhere fresh and new and exciting.

But I think my heart is here.

Here with the kids that I have grown to love so very much over the past 5 years.

Here in the town that has more darkness than light.

In a place that holds so many happy memories and so many I would like to forget.

My place is here. Beside the middle schoolers I have just begun to build relationships with. It's with my high school friends who have changed my life when I was supposed to be helping change theirs. It's with the people here that have taught me what it is like to love Christ and love young people.

Sometimes I have this overwhelming desire to travel, see the world, take trips to exotic places, have adventures with crazy, beautiful people.

I think this has always been a part of who I am.

But, I also think this desire is semi-fueled by Steven, who lives in California, and does an obscene amount of cool things. I find myself comparing our lives and me thinking "I NEED TO DO SUCH AWESOME THINGS!!!"

But I think maybe I already am doing awesome things.

I mean, I'm not scaling mountains, or surfing up and down the coast, or camping out in the grand canyon, but I am doing Christ's work. Or at least making my best attempt to.

My town is the kind of town everyone wants to get out of, so if my call is to stay

here and love this community....I think that's pretty obvious it's what I have to do.

So I guess you can start calling me George Bailey.