Around-the-World VI: Blur
One of the hardest things for me to do is to be present, to be completely void of other distractions, and to focus on what truly matters. All the years of my life, I have been lucky enough to be surrounded by wise and patient mentors: pastors, teachers, and church members.
The most important lesson I have learned remains as potent as when I first heard it. I am an adult, officially. I have been for two years now. But there is more to maturity than just a piece of paper that declared my birth. To be a wise and mature adult, I must have peace of mind. I must be able to see things clearly, and the only way to achieve this is to be present.
There is an obstacle when I try to advance on this path, and that force is known as the blur. The blur is evil and it is deeply embedded in me. It takes away my ability to fully enjoy life by smudging all of my precious memories into one muddy vat. When one looks at this mixture, they would instinctively see just one substance and generalize my experience. But I am adamant to fight this force in me. This newly found conviction became more important to me when I traveled to ten different countries, for five months, and with my fellow students on the Around-the-World Semester study abroad program, who were all facing the same problem. How could I be fully present when every place I go is an avalanche of knowledge, information, and events?
With every place I visited, I simply stopped. I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath, and exhaled. Then I opened them to find myself relocated to a whole different world. Suddenly, I was on the fifth-floor rooftop in Tianjin, China, looking at the boring beige communistic skyscrapers that pierced the gas-filled skies. Then I was gazing up at the luminous stars that ignited the dark Mongolian plains. After that, I was cruising fifteen knots on a luxury ship in Ha Long Bay. My peers were enjoying happy hour while I lingered at the stern and stared at the mountains that floated effortlessly on the waters in Vietnam. Then my body constantly shook as the Nepali bus I was on crawled its way across stubborn rocks. The rocking prolonged itself for five hours, but it was no matter, for the beautiful Himalayas were in sight. Then I was in India, lying in bed, and listening to the “Battle of the Sounds” that was occurring outside, the battle between praying mosques and thundering rainstorms. In a moment I was drenched in golden hour light as Dr. Middendorf, our theology professor, preached about the Light of the World on top of the Areopagus in Greece. Then my head softly pressed against the cool and smooth limestone that fortified the Western Wall in Jerusalem. And then, finally, I was on the first floor of the education center at the Ugandan YWAM base, encouraging my fellow students to cherish every single moment of their Around-the-World travels.
I would not have been able to recount these scenes and stories had it not been for the wise words of Dr. Schultz, our anthropology professor. He said, “the only time you have is now” for you cannot live in the past or the future. My mind was always in the present and with each step I took in this journey, the picture of my travels became clearer and clearer, and less of a blur.
Khoi has grown up in anticipation of traveling on the Around-the-World Semester after seeing his older sister, Mai, and older brother, Vinh, each embark on their own ATW trip. He is pursuing a Music degree with a piano performance emphasis and a Pre-Seminary Minor.
