I think I left off the last post with my move to the Nashville area.
My position at Old Hickory Lake was to be my "permanent" assignment. I would be there until I decided to leave. So I set about quickly to settle in and make the most of it. I found a couple of Catholic Parishes near my apartment that I thought I'd look at first. They were very nice, but I decided to keep looking around.
A short while after I moved to Nashville I had a setback in life. My wonderful relationship of just over three years came to an end. This was hard on me, I had begun to think that I probably was going to end up marrying her. The reason the relationship ended was actually a reason to be very thankful to God, but I don't want to go into that for her privacy.
Because the possibility of becoming a priest had been in my mind for so long and even during our relationship my first thoughts upon the breakup was that I should just do that. It took me a few days but I soon realized that would be one of the dumbest decisions of my life. I knew that even if I truly had a call to the priesthood I would question it in the future if I went in a reactionary way. So, I set myself to not even consider the priesthood for at least three months and until I had been on dates with at least two other women.
Before I could really get into any of that I had to finish my treatment for the cancer. The last step in this is a dose of radioactive iodine. That done I was stuck in my apartment for almost a week because I couldn't have any risk of passing radiation to others.
At the end of that week I decided to go into Nashville to the Cathedral for Mass. They have a "young adults" group of faithful Catholics based out of the Cathedral that I was interested in getting involved in. The Mass at the Cathedral was nice so I decided to go to the young adults Holy Hour the next night.
The young adults Holy Hour and the social dinner afterwards were great. Little did I know that I had just found my main social network of friends in Nashville. Aside from the monthly Holy Hours they got together regularly for socials, theological discussion, and service. Once I became active in this it was a rare night that I couldn't find something to do with someone from that group if I wanted.
I was greatly enjoying my off time in Nashville and the job wasn't bad. But I still longed to get closer to home. I had also accomplished what I had set before allowing myself to pray for His guidance on where my life should go. Sadly the discernment kind of fell back into the back and forth pattern of the last many years.
Early in the summer I was enjoying life greatly when I got a heads up about a possible job with the Corps closer to home, back on the Mississippi River, and a significant amount of my time being back to doing forestry work. It was a great opportunity, but with the wonderful life I had in the Nashville area I had a decision to make.
I guess that again that is enough for now... I'll write more when I can.
Peace,
Adam
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