reflections

yes i am safely at home.
It is good to be back, but I wish I would have had more time there.

When thinking about what I have learned on this trip several things comes to mind. I saw a lot of things that challenged me, exited me, blessed me, encouraged me, and discouraged me; many things that were hard to organize in my limited western brain. I would like to think that I have benefited from this knowledge gained. That my the gap where my ignorance once existed will not only be filled with confusion and bitterness but also with truth. So I pray that I remain always awake to God's voice and always ready for him to mold me more into the man He wants me to be.

Africans live in a much more real way. I am not just saying that because I have been immersed in a culture that is new and exciting and I am completely infatuated. But in reality Africans know the truth about life and death. They have seen the gift of life given and taken away and know the futility and vanity of trying to predict and control it. The beauty of this knowledge is that it is completely liberating. When the inevitability of death is no longer ignored an element of the fear it uses to hold us passes away, and that is when we begin to live full lives. That is when we smile with great happiness taking advantage of the preciousness of our emotions and feelings and experiences and time here on this earth.

Africa has been a great reminder to me that this world is not my home. I am called to a much better place. I have made it my prayer and purpose to live, "ready to go." I will never truly fit in here on earth; not in Africa, not in America, not anywhere. There is an instilled longing in me for something more something greater and that is the presence of God. The times on this earth well I begin to get a sense of what it is to feel at home are the time when I am engaged in fellowship with others that is glorifying to God. Fore that is our hope and promise that we will one day be united with all believers glorifying our God. I am eagerly anticipating that fulfillment.