If you had a fresh start what would you do?

How often in our lives do we get an opportunity to start over?  To wipe the slate clean ad start anew?  For some people that type of change only comes about when they hit rock bottom and have no choice but to dramatically change their life or risk losing it all.  "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?"  Fortunately for me I am not in this position and that this transition, or even transformation if you will, is purely coming about because of my desire to pursue what I believe God is calling me to do with the time I am given.  In two months time that transformation will begin when I leave everything that is my life, my family, and friends, my parish family, my job, absolutely everything behind to seek out what God has in store for me on the other side of the country.  I believe that in order for this to be a truly fresh start I must do a realistic look at my life, take an inventory and shed all excess baggage.  Over the next few days I will continue to examine what it is I am leaving behind.  While I know that it may be painful to let go of some of this baggage but, in the long run, it will be in my best interest to let go of everything holding me back from living into the life God has called me to live.  This way there will also be no distraction from full engagement into the new community which I will be apart of for the next three years.  This will be essential for me to thrive in a place so far removed from my life as I have known it thus far.  I am looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead, but there is also the lingering doubt that this may turn out like some of my other experiences that I have had.  More on that later.  This is a good start.

I truly see this blog as serving a dual purpose.  On the one hand, it will serve as an opportunity for others to follow my experiences as I travel across the country to seminary in California.  But it will also serve as an opportunity for me to reflect on where I am in my walk with God as I prepare to embark on this adventure, one which I will lead me through the rest of my life.