Choices...

First the good news: By the grace of God, I was accepted into every graduate program I applied to. This includes the Executive MBA program offered by Baylor, and Urban Planning programs at Oregon, Kansas, and Texas. The bad news: I must make a decision by April 15th (The UT deadline), and as I'm fond of telling David Medina, "I don't know what I'm going to do five minutes from now; how am I supposed to know what I'm going to do next week, month, or year?" In other words, I must do that thing that I fear most: make a commitment.

I plan to swing by the UT campus next week to sit in on a class and talk things over with the graduate advisor there, then I fly out to Oregon on Thursday night to look at the program in Eugene. Eugene is the self-proclaimed "The World's Greatest City for the Arts and Outdoors" - apparently, it is a combination of Renaissance-era Florence, Italy and Glacier National Park, only with a lot more hippies. Truth be told, I'm a little afraid that I may fall in love with the area, marry a local and live there the rest of my life - someone would then have to cart my corpse back to Texas when I die, and that would be inconvenient. As for Kansas, their deadline is a tad later, so if I visit, it will be in May, but I hear Lawrence is a nice city, and I've always wanted to live in the Midwest...

The choice I have is the same one I faced at the end of high school and at the end of my undergrad at UT - do I leave my family, the many friends I've been blessed with, a job I love and a city I love even more in order to pursue an adventure that will help me grow professionally and personally? The last two times I was faced with that decision, I stayed here in Austin, and in all honesty, I don't regret it (Honestly, Vince Young alone probably justified it.). If I stay in Austin, I would still be studying at an excellent school (possibly Baylor, probably UT), and may even consider moving closer to downtown for awhile.

If you remember, keep me in your prayers these next couple of weeks - I really need God's wisdom in all of this. As always, I welcome all advice and words of wisdom, so feel free to call me, email me or leave a comment below.

More to come...