Answering the Birthday Questions

I ended my last post with the two questions that my family always asks on birthdays. The first is "What was the most significant event of the past year?" The second is similar: "What do you claim as the most significant event of the upcoming year?" I have been answering these questions since I can remember having a birthday. When I was younger it was often a trite answer of something that had happened in the recent past. Now I like to think and reflect on these questions. Really think about all the significant things that have happened to me in the past 12 months and then find the one that is the most significant. This year that is especially difficult. In the past year I have moved from Cannes, France to Austin, TX and prepared to move to Geneva, Switzerland. I have made so many friends that I know I will have for life. I have had an addition to my immediate family in the person of my nephew, Jacob Oliver Philbrook. I have changed jobs three times.

When my mother and brother posed the questions to me on Tuesday, at first I pleaded that I should wait until my party on Friday. I wanted time to think. Then it struck me. I know the most significant event of the last year. It was none of these momentous things I mentioned above. The most significant event was a small moment that happened at a monastery in Taize, France. During my week there I decided to spend the last three days in silence. I knew that my time in Cannes was coming to an end and I was not sure what the next step in my life should be. I wanted to pray and listen to see if I could hear something from God. I was contemplating moving to Chicago to be with my family there or possibly moving back to Los Angeles to be with friends from college. I had not really thought about Austin. I was even considering staying Cannes and working with my church there. All of these ideas were swirling in my head and I was not sure which path was the path that God wanted me to take. I spent many hours in the sanctuary praying. During one of my prayers it suddenly came to me, with clarity, that I should move to Austin, TX. I had been here a few times, but not spent significant amounts of time here. At first I thought, no, this can't be where God wants me to move, yet the more I thought about it and prayed about it the more sure it became. While I was in silence at Taize it was easy to trust and have faith that God wanted me to move to Austin. I was still two months out from moving and of course I would always do what God told me to do. As I came closer to the impending departure and even as I moved here I began to doubt. I began to doubt that God had ever spoken to me. I began to doubt that moving here was a good idea. I began to doubt that it was right for me. Now, as I am preparing to leave Austin for one year, with the hope of coming back, I see just how right Austin was for me. I have made amazing friends here. I have found a church home here. Austin was where I needed to be. Making the decision to move to Austin was not easy, but it was the right decision. I suppose that is why I listen to God, I have faith that the path God shows me is the right path for me. The most significant event of the past year was my decision to move to Austin and then following through on it.

Question number two. "What do you claim as the most signifcant event for the next year?" Once again I wanted an easy out - a way to answer without answering. I wanted to claim that I have no idea what my most significant event of the next year will be. This is true. I am embarking on a mysterious journey very soon. However, even as I do not know that specifics of the most significant event, I can claim that moving to Geneva will probably be the most signifcant event. The move to Geneva is directly related to the move that I took to Austin. Both were made/are being made on faith. I do not have enough money to support myself in Geneva. I do not know how I am going to make it for a year. I have been telling God that I'm not ready to be poor. But, I have faith that this is what God wants me to do. I have faith that God will provide for me. I also have doubts and fears. I have fears of failing. I have seen how well it worked out moving to Austin. When I have my doubts I can just remember what God did for me here. I am hoping and praying that I can remember that. It's often easy to forget. I forget most of the time. I claim that the most significant for the next year will be me moving to Geneva.


On an unrelated note, I got my passport back today from the Swiss Embassy. I have a shiny new visa inside it! There is nothing stopping me now from going. I have my plane tickets. I have my visa. I have all that I need. God will provide the rest. I pray that I can live that. As the preacher said last Sunday at church, the Gospel is not something we believe or preach - rather it is something we live.