Passionate

I want out of this machine
It doesn't feel like freedom ...
-Switchfoot, "American Dream"


I was in Rapid City this weekend (Saturday and Sunday), and let me say -- it was awesome. I was afraid I wouldn't get a chance before I started work, but Dad and I made the trip to pick up a few things still in storage, and I had the amazing luck of catching half of Rapid City at Andy's welcome back party.

Good weekend. Lots of people, lots of "see-you-laters," a few melancholy feelings, and one really good sermon that still has me thinking.

Brandon, an awesome pastor at Fountain Springs (I say that partially because he is and partially because he might read this [insert smiley face here]), talked about purposeful passion ... or passionate purpose. The first challenging thought was -- how much of the time do you spend just trying to survive? How many days are you just trying to get through? I know I have days like that (lately, a lot of them) where I'm just looking forward to the point in the day when I can stop moving and zone out, or sleep, or otherwise stop functioning. Days when it doesn't occur to me that there's something bigger out there, something worth getting excited about any day of the week.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I found something to work toward -- I got a job, and there are a lot of things that have to happen between now and when I start in two weeks. Bam. Purpose, even if it's brief.

Still, moving isn't exactly something I'm passionate for, nor will it be a long-lasting thing (I hope). Which begged the question: what am I truly passionate about?

It took a little bit, but I came up with a few things:

- Chemistry. It sounds nerdy, but I get genuinely excited talking about chemistry -- reactions, effects, strange chemical properties ... Even more so with biochemistry. This is listed as "something that makes me happy" as well. (It's nerdy, but aren't you glad someone gets excited about it -- and it doesn't have to be you?)

- The outdoors, particularly backpacking. This one seems so much more obvious and one of the main draws to Wisconsin was the surroundings. There are more trees there than I've ever seen and actual bodies of water. Hiking, camping ... Maybe I'll learn to cross-country ski and kayak, too. Yay.

- My family. Get me started on stories about my siblings and I can go for hours.

- My friends. Ditto.

- Russia. The people, the culture, the cities, the language ... Wow.

In addition to that list, you could add God. The thing is, He doesn't generally come up in "normal" conversation, but He gets in on all of the above topics.

Part of me was relieved: I have things I'm passionate about! The cool part? I actually get to use some of them. I'm not ignoring my passions anymore, but finding ways to make them a bigger part of my life. And suddenly, I was even more excited about being a chemical engineer.

So my question to you is -- what is your passion? What is one thing (or more, if you want) that you could talk about for hours?