Transitioning

There was another suicide in the village of Hooper Bay today.

I heard it from one of my students from ACC because she was a fellow high school classmate of the girl who commited suicide.
The girl who committed suicide has a baby that hasn't even turned one.

It makes me really sad.

I was telling a friend about the suicide issue in Alaska today.
He responded that he never even knew that stuff like this was happening there.
Most people don't know.
I was thinking today that more people in the lower 48 need to be aware though.

I do know.
And
I think this is the hardest part in transitioning back to Illinois.

The other day I went to an eighteen to twentysomethings group close to the Chicago area.
The first thing that I noticed was the nice cars.
Then the plasma tvs.
Then the people there with their nice clothes.

It was a bit of a shock coming from a rural Alaskan culture.
I used to want to be like that when I walked into settings like that:
Have the fancy cars
The nice clothes.

Not this time.

People in Alaska used to call me urban,
But I can say that there is one area in which I have changed:
I'm not as materialistic.

I'd rather just go into a place and be who I am
Than pursue the newest trends.
Don't get me wrong,
The worship service was definately what I needed.

But I just couldn't get Alaska off my mind.

As I looked at all of the nice/pretty things there,
I couldn't help but imagine how else the money could be spent.
How much more people could be sent to places that are in great need of His light.

I think at the core of it all,
I just need to get used to being back in Illinois.
God can use me here just as much as He can use me in Alaska.