on giving up the ghost

Despite how it trails me everywhere, despite that the email address still forwards to me, despite that I still occasionally introduce myself incorrectly, the truth is that I am no long Maggie Emma Thomas.

As such, it's time to retire this blog, whose very name is no longer correct.

You can find our new one over at BookofKellers.wordpress.com.

Love,
Maggie Keller

All systems go!

It's official! My counteroffer has been accepted!

I'm moving to Abuja, Nigeria in 5 weeks!


A massive thank you to the people who have been praying for me since I found out about this opportunity. I truly believe that now is the right time to do something crazy and I'm going to be obedient wherever God leads me. Thank you for praying for me!

I'll be updating here as I get closer to departure (somewhere around August 22nd), and once I'm in Nigeria, I'll be sending an additional email newsletter with updates.

I'm so excited!

Not a coincidence

Exactly one year ago, I wrote the following in an email to Amy, my college roommate:

"You and I were talking about how I was afraid I could never get to the mission field and now I have another reason to wait: student loans. Many missions organizations I've looked at refuse to send missionaries that are in debt. I'm not saying the loans are a deal-breaker, but it's just another hurdle that God will overcome if he wants me overseas after graduation. I'm still praying. God's plans are still bigger and better than mine."

365 days later, look where I am. Oh, Lord, you're so good to me.

Life changes so fast.

This past weekend was full of love and friends, good food, and lots of rest for me. It ended abruptly with the loss of my job this morning. I feel quite sideswiped as I have worked very hard the past 2 weeks to make this opportunity a success, and then to have everything change so suddenly is very unnerving to me.

All that said, this is a good decision. It wasn't a good fit or a healthy environment for me to remain a part of, and I am looking forward to see how God will make this interesting. He certainly has my attention now...

Not sure yet if I'll be staying in Chicago. A lot depends on if I can find employment in the next couple days. I might head home for a while during the wedding season and then make my way back to this place I've come to love so much.

God is still faithful. Still.

New Beginnings

First, the obvious: I am a Wheaton College graduate! Graduation weekend was an absolute whirlwind, but my family was all in town so it was very special. Goodbyes were pretty tough, especially with the roommates. I have so taken that part of community for granted. They shaped the way I experienced Wheaton, and for that source of solidarity to end so abruptly seems cruel.

After moving out of campus housing (has it really only been 7 days?), I went on a retreat with the 6th graders from church. We had a blast with our team-building games, bonfires, girl talk in sleeping bags, capture the flag, and ghost in the graveyard. Oh, to be 12 again. The retreat was amazing, and I hope as meaningful to the kids as it was for me.

When the retreat was finished, I moved into my new digs in Elburn. It's a sweet house (I have my own room) and the couple is really cool. The first triplet came home from the hospital today, and I'm really anxious for the rest to make it home, too...can't imagine how their parents feel.

So my life looks dramatically different now than it did a week ago, and while that's overwhelming to me, I'm also looking forward to the freshness. 4 years is enough in one place for me. Time for something different.

Paradigm Shift

For the last 2 days, I've been writing a final paper for an elective course called Media, Religion & Society. My topic is broad and unmanageable, I'm running out of time, and the research is far more captivating than the actual writing. In short, the paper is a disaster.

What's more, Shane Claiborne is wrecking me.

I picked up The Irresistible Revolution because I thought I could profile Claiborne's simple living community called The Simple Way as a corollary to the megachurch phenomenon so popular these days. And I don't even want to write this paper anymore, I just want to read the book! There is something so profoundly worshipful about their approach to community. Their bottom line is "small things with great love." What a standard to live up to.

I am also struck by the fact that they are successful apart from income. In fact, they live frugally (in the Franciscan sense - for real). And I'm being hit hard with this concept: Christians aren't called to be rich. They are not. It is not biblical. The kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor. And this, right after I have purchased a very nice car, secured health insurance, both things I "need," but not really.

I'm not overcome by guilt, I'm not going to rush out and join a simple living community. I'm not going to give away all my clothes, but I'm going to stop purchasing them. I have ENOUGH.

What I am going to do is to search for the hold that Brand Jesus (not the resurrected Son of God, but the symbol of the religion I have purchased through my American consumerism) has on my life, and eradicate its traces. If you want to know more about Brand Jesus, buy the book of the same title by Tyler Wigg Stevenson. It will not make you comfortable. Like Irresistible Revolution, it will comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. It will open your eyes and you will probably have to wrestle with its contents, like I did. But your response will probably not be to write a 20 page paper on it. Your response will be more introspective and have more to do with self-discipline. Yours is the better option, trust me.