I love watching the whirlwinds around me. Often, I find myself sitting with my back up against a wall and watching the world spin by in countless directions. Perhaps I do this as a reminder to myself - that my own personal whirlwind is not all that makes this planet spin.

This latest stage of life has been a true blessing and an adventure I would never have traded. I have criss-crossed the globe and throughout these years, have built and solidified friendships spanning from the foothills of Mt. Meru, to the towering waterfalls of Kakadu, to the snowy shores of Karlskrona. And amidst all of these, my bonds to those back home has never been stronger.

At times I question God's fairness, for my family and I have had life pretty good. We've had our ups and downs as any family does, but all-in-all, I don't have many complaints. I sometimes wonder how God chooses who is born to who. And as I continue to ask this question, the answer that I seem to be given over and over is that those things that I once thought were rewards, gifts and rights, are in fact, responsibilities. Education, wealth and freedoms are not given to me to help develop my own character and future, but rather, to serve those around me.

Over the past week, the world has been inundated with images and stories of those in Haiti who are facing struggles unimaginable to many of us watching and listening back home. We sit in our comfortable couches and beds watching images flash by us on the TV and computer and feel an overpowering sense of numbness. Sometimes I try to wipe that numbness away and think of other thoughts, but this time, with the situation in Haiti, the numbness doesn't seem to disappear.

This year I've been working on obtaining a master's degree in sustainability, and it's been fascinating to study the way the world ticks and in what ways we humans have an impact on this planet. That whole responsibility thing is starting to kick in. And sometimes it saddens me, sometimes it inspires me, but much of the time I am left realizing just how big the situation ahead of us is. And this doesn't intimidate me all that much, if anything it gets me more excited, but there are moments where the weight of what's happening seems to be resting entirely on my shoulders.

I think Haiti brought that weight to many of our shoulders.

And as devastating and heart-wrenching as the whole situation has been, it has also been incredible to see the support from around the world. And I've been re-inspired by how much humans do care. People seem to quickly see how their gifts, what could easily be viewed as their hard-earned rewards, are more importantly a responsibility.

A responsibility to love our neighbors.

This whole idea of loving our neighbors has also been challenging me a lot this year, and what it means if we truly want to follow Jesus' teachings. The more I read and re-read, the more I'm finding that Jesus didn't say many things from a comfortable couch watching the problems of the world pass him by through a screen. Jesus was dirty, he seemed to have a knack for getting in the middle of things and flipping the traditional views upside down.

Jesus' teachings are more messy and chaotic then the images I remember from my childhood. Perhaps that's why I find myself so often watching the whirlwinds spin around me - because that's where we tend to find Jesus most frequently.

So as I start to dive deeper into what Jesus calls us to be, I'm hoping to better understand his call to peace, to grace, to forgiveness, to humbleness. And hopefully, those terms that are too often abstract, become flesh in my life.