(presented for your reading pleasure as a screenplay)

INDIAN ROCKS BEACH - SUNNY AFTERNOON

The curtain opens on a cloudless day.  Reclining in a pale green lawn chair, SCOTT sighs as he looks out at the tourist lined beach through a pair of mirrored aviators.  Beside him sits a FRIEND, sipping from a waterbottle.

Seagulls call to each other overhead, and from a distance, the staticy melodies of a poorly tuned radio drift over the scene.

It's hot and even the consistent breeze can't completely blow away the lingering humidity.

NARRATOR

(with emphasis, but casual)

It was December of 2008 when Scott moved back to Florida.  For a little less than a year Scott had been living and working in Nashville, TN.  Sitting under the teaching of his mentor and working with close friends in ministry, he'd struggled to come to terms with what came next.  Sometimes God has a sense of humor about life, and we don't quite get the joke at the moment. 

BEAT

Clarity usually costs us something.  Sometimes we choose to pay up; othertimes life turns us upside down and shakes out our pockets.  Put face to face with the consequences of a life spent delaying decisions, of merely trying to keep as many doors open as possible, suddenly the choices became painfully clear.

FRIEND

(interested)

What was it you wanted to talk to me about, Scott?  I keep hearing you might be moving to Europe.

SCOTT

(smiling)

That's the plan, if God keeps leading the way he has.  How beautiful is it out here?  It's been sunny almost everyday since I've been home. 

SCOTT motions for the water bottle and takes a slow drink.

SCOTT

(pensive)

Well, I suppose it started when I moved home.  I was a wreck, but I knew this was where I was supposed to be.  Started doing a Beth Moore bible study in January that talked about the difference between believing in God and actually believing God.  You know?  Believing what he says.  Anyway, it came at such a crucial point.  I wouldn't be able to go back to work full time because I was going to be gone for a month... they asked me to wait till I got back from Europe in May.

FRIEND

What was going on in Europe?  You did something like that last year too, didn't you?

SCOTT

Yep.  There's this organization called Youthcompass that works with high school and middle schoolers in different international areas all over Europe.  They put on a camp for them every year called Project Compassion in Tauts, Romania.  The guys I was doing ministry with in Nashville recommended me to them last year.  So, they brought me out as the camp musician.  This year I spent two weeks in Tauts with Youthcompass, and then the plan was to travel around Europe for a bit with my buddy Jaro Savol, who was the videographer for camp.  From the moment I arrived in Budapest I had an unusual feeling that my time there was going to be significant.  Europe felt much more welcoming this year.  The people I work with in Europe are incredibly servant hearted.  At the permanent camp grounds in Tauts, for example, there's a whole team of people who have left all sorts of careers and colleges to commit years to loving and serving the gypsy community in Romania.  The folks from Youth Compass are the same story - some of the most giving and loving people I know.  Spiritually speaking, Europe is a pretty dark place, but there are bright and vibrant "lights" there too.  The relational ministry I've seen there has illustrated to me what it means to be vulnerable in loving others while using your unique giftedness.  There is no such thing as a mega church in Europe.  The mindset isn't one of finding someone whose had success and copying them; the path is much more individual and unpredictable.  I see people simply walking by faith and making choices based on their love for the people they serve and their devotion to God.

FRIEND

So what made your time there so significant this year?

SCOTT

You know how when you're putting together a puzzle it takes awhile before you can start to see the pattern?  Well, my life since November has felt like starting a brand new puzzle.  Everything was scattered, and I was picking up the pieces - just trying to make anything fit.  I've seen God's hand at work all this time. As surprising and even painful as the past 7 months have been, I'd prayed too much to not expect to see some deeper plan unfolding.  The timing of moving, trips I was taking, things I was learning, it all seemed to be falling in line as I went to Europe.  While I was there, sitting on the porch of our cabin on the hill, my eyes drifting slowly over the scene like smoke from the chimneys far below, I breathed something about how I could see myself living in Europe.  Over the next day or two I shared that sentiment with a handful of friends including the man who was our camp speaker for the two weeks in Romania.  Chris O'Shaughnessy came with the group of Youthcompass kids from Brussels, Belgium.  Jaro and I were sharing a room with Chris after meeting him for the first time that week.  When I mentioned my feelings about moving to Europe, Chris perked up.  "Well, if you're serious," he said, "I've been looking for someone to serve in the UK back at the Flats.  I actual think you'd be perfect for it." 

You see Chris was one of those kids who moved around a lot when he was growing up.  He's British to the core, but he's lived all over the world.  At one point he lived in Mildenhall, UK working with US airmen stationed at the RAF base there.  Along with Youth for Christ he worked with young adults and youth stationed on base.  He himself lived just off base in an apartment lovingly dubbed the "Faulty Flats" by the young men and women who knew the place as a safe haven and hang out spot where they could take refuge almost 24/7.  Once he left Mildenhall, his place was taken by a man named Micah Steinwandt.  The base in Mildenhall is meant to be a pilot program for similar YFC ministries on US military bases throughout the world.  Mildenhall would be a place to train new staff and explore new methods of ministry.  That's where Chris was offering me a position - to work and be trained alongside Micah as they evalutate the next step from there.

At first, while I was struck by the serendipitous job offer, I didn't take it too seriously.  I was going back to Florida to grow a career in the financial services with Northwestern Mutual - one of the finest financial firms in the country and one that I'd interned with since college where I studied finance and economics.  That had been my plan for a long time, and I didn't understand why I should change that now.  Certainly, finding myself in this transitional limbo since moving back from Nashville made it more realistic than ever to make such a move, but why would I leave the course that I seemed set on for almost 5 years now?  I continued to pray about it and talk with my ministry partners and friends from Nashville.  Once camp ended and Jaro and I set out we had decided to end our tour of Europe by going to Dusseldorf, Germany and Brussels, Belgium to visit some of the youth compass folks there.  By the end of our time there it was clear that, although I didn't understand it, this was God's leading in my life and my heart and head were both at peace with the call to ministry in the UK.

FRIEND

That's crazy.  Are you sure you shouldn't wait till you understand exactly how this will fit into your life plan before you go?

SCOTT

Hebrews 11:8 says "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."  There is wisdom and prudence in looking as far down the road as you can before you set your foot on it, but I don't have to know where it ends.  God's hand has been all over this from before I was even aware.  I see so much good there.  It's time to go.