In my first few months on the race I wrote a lot of blogs about WHAT I was doing and WHERE I was going. After several country & continent changes, hundreds of prayers, quite a few impromptu sermons, and countless encounters with orphans and beggars, I fell into a routine- well, as much of a routine as you can have while traveling the world. Either way, ridiculous became my normal and the things that were mind blowing at first just didn't seem worth writing about anymore.
A few days ago, as I was sweating in an African internet cafe with the shop owner blaring Why'd You Come in Here Lookin' Like That? by Dolly Parton behind me I realized… THIS IS FUNNY. On my 10 minute walk to internet that day I was yelled at, whistled at, hissed at, clapped for and almost run down by several vans and motorcycle taxis. That night one of my team members spent $20 dollars on a pint of snickers ice cream because he needed a taste of home and he got flustered and couldn't work out the exchange rate in time. The day before I taught a class of 30 adults how to budget and the day after I spent my afternoon feeding and playing with orphans. Right now, I am typing this blog by candlelight because consistent electricity in Africa is about as rare as unicorns and leprechauns. (Unfortunately, it is probably still a lot easier to come by than cheese or lean meat)
My point being- this week Dolly Parton gave me a wake up call. She reminded me that even after 7 months, this is STILL interesting. I might forget it sometimes but the truth is, the novelty can't wear off THE WORLD. Half the time I might be tired and sweaty and homesick and I might day dream about air conditioning and American food and texting but 5 months from now, you can bet I'm going to be day dreaming about THIS. Someday this routine I've fallen into is going to be a distant memory and while I'll want to remember the intense life lessons that God is teaching me, I'm also going to want to remember the little things: sweating dirt, the cultural and language barriers, cramming 30 people into 12 passenger vans, the mzungu prices, the full carb diet supplemented by roadside chicken leg stands, the plethora of spiders, geckos and mosquitoes, the cold bucket showers, the expensive phone calls home, the insane team dynamics…
I'm going to want to remember it all. I'm going to want to remember that THIS was my life.
Guarding 30-40 packs on travel days.
Visiting Dracula's castle in Romania.
Halloween bonfires in Transnistria & going a little stir crazy on 30 hour train rides.
Waking up in the Himalayas & dodging monkey stampedes in Nepal.
Preaching in remote villages and cuddling with special needs orphans in India.
Watching the sunset in the Serengeti and rolling through the waves of the Nile.
