May We Open Our Eyes
It’s funny how so much can be going on and that God can be doing an immense amount and yet I am still not quite sure how to formulate it into words. Each day here is consumed and yet I still find myself unsure of what to write about. Lately I have been thinking about life (broad I know). It’s been on my mind because in less than two months my day in and day out will be ubrubtly changed. In less than two months I will be back in America (for a time at least) and all of this will only be a memory.
But I refuse to believe that the adventure is over.
Going home is going to be beautiful, in the fact that I get to be reunited with those I love and have missed for the past seven and a half months, but I am bracing myself for a hard blow. Here my every day, my hours and the community around me in single hearted in the pursuit of loving Christ and loving people. I don’t even know how to begin to prepare myself for coming back into American culture… reverse culture shock. I am not saying that it is going to be hard because I can not live my every moment there like I am living it here, for I fully believe that there is opportunity everywhere one goes; but rather that it will be difficult being surrounded by a culture that pounds into you that you must be a person of sucess.
I fear the wight of expectation and I can already hear the burning questions, “so what’s next now that you have had your time in Africa?” For it is not a question as to what is next but a continuation of what God has already started. I do not intend for this adventure to end just because I may be coming back to America. And this time here is not a “year off”, as if it were a time for me to get some excitement out of my system so I can now go “settle down” and do what would be expected next.
For the Lord has put a fire in my bones- the life that He is graciously letting me live I feel is a taste of the abundant life that Jesus talks about- I feel like I am living the way that I was designed to live. I fear going back and having that fire snuffed out, and the passion stifled. Please all who read this beasr witness… that will not happen.
It sadens me to have fresh eyes to look at my home culture and to see the monotomy that we entrap ourselves in. Please I beg us all to open up our eyes. There is no less opportunity there than there is here… let us not be so confined to the expectations of “sucess” that we close our eyes to the cries around us.
If there is something I want to take back from the African culture it is the practice and devotion to hospitality, which especially apparent in the Xhosa culture. When we visit our beloved Xhosa friends who have next to nothing they will gather chairs from neighbors just so we don’t have to sit on the ground. Many times women will take in many people into their one room shack simply bacause their friend or family had no place to stay. We once had a birthday party for a woman and brought her a cake, she handed it out to everyone until there was one small sliver left for herself. Also, in African culture it is considered rude not to greet someone- they strongly believe that people are more important than task or time… meaning we are often late because we stop to chat with so many people (i love it). What would it look like if we lived like that? What would it look like if believers all over America took care of one anothers needs so that no one was without? What if we truly lived like people were more important that our schedule or our sucess?
We need to open our eyes. We should challenge one another to first be lovers of God and of people rather than pushing people towards goals, sucess and expectation. May we break out of our everyday, task oriented lives and simply love. Love everyone God puts in our path… it is possible everywhere it simply takes effort.
May we pursue Christ with all our heart, mind and strength. May our adventures of abundant life not be momentary experiences but a second by second life style. The adventure does
not end with leaving Africa…
