I've moved to Hollywood, Florida, and as I write this I'm sitting in my ninth floor apartment looking out on the Hollywood skyline in front of the ocean that's only two miles away.  The sun is shining, there's a slight breeze blowing the palm trees below, and I had the opportunity to walk a few blocks to Starbucks this morning for my quiet time wearing shorts and a sweater.  Gotta say, this is pretty nice!

Following my quiet time, I walked around Young Circle and spent a little time talking to God and reflecting on the new season I'm entering into and the seasons that have passed.  Maybe it's because I'm nostalgic or maybe it's because there's some truth in this that I'm still working out, but this is a little bit of what I've come up with:

I was able to break down my life into some specific seasons that evolved me and fed into who i am.  I call the first years of my life through college Season One - My Formative Years.  There were plenty of segments during that time that I could break it down further, but mostly that was the time I spent learning about what interests me and and building the foundation of my worldview*.  While I think I was pretty undeveloped in most areas, there were strong pieces that were being put together that I wouldn't realize for some time to come... actually, over the course of the next seasons of my life.

Season Two was spent finding myself in Orlando, Michigan and California.  It was the time in my life where I was feeding my desire for adventure and learning about what life could hold outside of my safe upbringing.  My curiosity was first piqued during college when I spent three years living in Georgia and learning about the culture of life in the South, and it was expanded during my time at Walt Disney World and in Los Angeles.  There's still much of the world waiting to be seen, but I'm grateful for the time I had to move around and meet new people in exotic (by my standards at the time) locations.

Season Three was a time of spiritual prosperity and flowed perfectly from my time in California where I dedicated my life to Christ.  Over the next few years in Michigan working as a Youth Pastor and then traveling the country as a missionary, I was able to grow in my faith and watch what God was capable of doing in and through me, and it was a time when I began putting into place disciplines that I still pursue today.

The next season was a time of growing my social consciousness.  It only makes sense that I would start to look at the world and how it works within a Christian worldview and that's what I did during my time in State College, PA, but I was dismayed at what I saw with the social injustice and lack of education surrounding the issues of GLBT rights and HIV/AIDS.  During this time I participated in both communities in a new way and first realized the potential for activism within me.  Both within and in spite of the church I was thrilled to campaign for change, and it was during this time that I cast my first vote during an election.  Unfortunately, Hillary didn't win.

Season Five was the time I spent in Indianapolis and I call this my time of financial prosperity.  I was working as both an Administrative Assistant and an Adjunct Instructor at the Art Institute and I was still doing freelance illustration and design - through these jobs I was able to open my first savings account since high school and I began to pursue more seriously the healthy living I'd started investigating during my time in Pennsylvania but hadn't had the money to pursue (biking, green eating, etc.).  I still ate Ramen Noodles, but now it was because I wanted to - not because I HAD to.

This brings us to now - the new season.  What will it bring?  I'm not sure... but I have a few thoughts.

I think this will be the time in my life where my art will finally come into it's own.  When I was originally thinking through my past, I considered my time in PA to be a time of artistic growth - and it was - but I wasn't yet using my illustration and design skills in the way I want to.  I want to use the talents God gave me as a form of worship and to advance pursuit and awareness of the issues God has put on my heart.  I want my art to be the source of my livelihood and a true expression of my journey.

As I look back over my life, I see how I've consistently grown and learned from my experiences.  Each season fed into the next and instead of putting things down at the end of each one, I used those elements to build on the foundation for the following experience.  I still want to travel, I'm still in love with God, I still care about people who are hurting and in need of someone to stand up for them and I understand what it looks like to earn and save... I'm excited to see where these things take me!

So far, they've taken me to Florida!  Stay posted... and thanks for reading!