My friends Jeff and Matt have inspired me to blog. It's been a LONG time, about a year. A lot has happened during this time. The main thing right now is that I'm considering a job change. It's a big decision. I've been with the same org. over 7 years. This is the longest time I've worked at any one org and lived in one place. The main reason I'm considering a change is because I feel that my calling is related to international refugee work. Over time God has directed my path in this area. While the last 7 years have been excellent in providing great experience and skills, I can't seem to get any momentum moving forward in this area within my own org. It's been a source of frustration for years. It's part of the reason I went to India 2 years ago (to gain the skills and to bring that institutional knowledge back with me). Although it's certainly been beneficial to me and my department, it hasn't translated into an organizational priority (as far as I can tell). I feel like I've been banging my head against the wall and at some point you have to ask yourself whether you're just wasting your time. That's what I've been doing - off and on for a while. Recently it progressed to me considering leaving the org. Hard for me to think about since I've invested so much of my life, love the people I work with and am committed to the work we do. Right now I'm considering 3 options. 1. Stay with the org and try to discuss/push forward on deliberate, intentional international refugee work. 2. A 9 month Master's Program at Oxford (wouldn't be until fall 2009). 3. Go work for another organization. I've started discussion with an org that has an interesting opening in Vienna.
