Great changes often mark a writer with great writing. Today I cleaned out my junk drawer and organized my closet floor. So I guess I better start writing.
My junk needs to be sorted and organized because in two days I’m leaving. With college behind me and seminary ahead, I’ve been given the opportunity to go home for four months. My name is Nate Hornbrook and I am an American Chilango, which means I was born in America with American parents but grew up in Mexico City. Home for me is Mexico City, the biggest city in the world. I’ve been studying in the States for five and a half years which has been long enough for me to romanticize about the uniqueness of Mexico—overstuffed tacos dripping with salsa and limon, drunkenly happy acoustic guitars and trumpets in mariachi music, police men that pull you over so you can give them a Christmas present, concrete buildings as far as the eye can see, cramped streets with houses mashed together, kids of all ages kicking around a futbol, waves of copper-skinned people desperate to satisfy their spiritual needs. Just ask my friends from Purdue; I talk about the beauty I find in Mexico City all the time. I hope some of them will go down and see it for themselves some day.
It’s a magical place and the other day I realized just how unique my situation is. I mean how many people get to “return home” to Mexico and join their parents in their intense mission to spread the kingdom of God? If only I could share it with others. I know! I’ll write a blog! And so my hope for this blog is not to bore you with the minute details of my stay but instead to share what I learn during this Sabbatical.
I’m calling it a Sabbatical although I don’t plan on relaxing much. There is so much I want to accomplish during this transition period that I fear I might go crazy! My main goal in this time is to be my dad’s shadow, following him around and learning what I failed to learn while I was taking him for granted all my life. As I said, my Dad is on a divine mission in Mexico and other Latin American countries and you might be uncomfortable about that. If that is your case, then I would encourage you to continue to read and learn about what it is like to live in the midst of people who treasure the God of the Bible. My Dad has a passion for God that I need to understand better. I want to know why my father does what he does and thinks what he thinks. I know many people can’t normally relate to such a close relationship with their dad and so maybe you and I can look forward to sharing a bit of that here.
Of course, I have other goals such as to learn to love my mom and sisters more, chill with old friends, read and inquire about Mexican Catholicism, improve my Spanish, Hebrew, and Greek, listen to various spiritual leaders online, and be physically active. Goals are good. I’m taking advantage of this transitional period to begin a new year like never before and I want you in on it. So, with a heart spilling over with gratitude, I'm inviting you to please come back within these next four months (December-April) and share this adventure with me and leave comments. Who knows? Maybe this blog will end up being a beautiful exploration of God in the homecoming an American Chilango.
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