One Door Closes as Another Opens

by CJ Dyer

This has happened a good portion of my life. I came into NBA XPLOR one person, and I will be leaving it as another. Nothing that has happened to me these last few months has been by chance or a bad thing. Everything happened for a reason…so that I may grow.

I am pursuing my dreams and ideas. I have been able to see that I can live life and still get what I want to do done. These next few years will be made possible because of my time spent in NBA XPLOR. Having the support of the XPLOR team and my housemates has also been a big help in getting stuff done and taken care of.

I will be living in Ohio after this year. That is one of the many changes that has happened in my life. I did not even consider that fact that I might like it here enough to move here. I have a job lined up with the local YMCA, and I am hoping to follow through with it from the summer into the fall and beyond.

I also will be going to school here. I will be attending one of the local community colleges and then heading to Hiram College. That wasn’t so much a change as how I attacked the situation. Back in Oregon, I did not put a whole lot of effort into my schooling. I now see what I did wrong, and I am working to fix it so I can finish my degree. I will be going in for business management with a minor in sociology. I hope to eventually have a career to back up my idea of opening a game room for teens.

Life in XPLOR has been a blast. I got more out of it than I ever thought possible. I now have a focus for my energy and a place to point it at. I feel like I am shaping myself to be and do what I want to do. I have run into walls or roadblocks, but I either climb over them, go around them, or cut an opening through them. I have found a point that I will not be stopped by something on my path just because it is there.

The XPLOR program year draws to a close. One door closes.
My new life in Ohio is just beginning. Another one opens.

Thank you for everything you have provided, Lord.
Thank you for the support you have given, NBA XPLOR.

CJ Dyer is a 2015-16 NBA XPLOR Resident in Hiram-Mantua, OH, a partnership with Brighter Day Christian Church, Hilltop Christian Church, Hiram Christian Church, Mantua Center Christian Church, and Hiram College. He serves at Little Village.

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NBA XPLOR is a 10-month service residency opportunity for young adults ages 21-30, with the purpose of empowering young adults to discern and develop a “heart for care” as they live together in simple community, engage in direct service and justice work, engage in leadership development, and discern their vocational calls to honor the various communities they are called to serve. Learn more at nbacares.org/xplor.