This month has been a lot of reflection. We’ve talked a lot
about what it looks like to go home. Of course we are trying to stay present,
but its really easy to just think about home since we’re so far away from
everything where we’re living this month. While we’re still giving all we can
to our ministry, we are aware that in just 6 days we’ll be stateside. Some of
us tried to ignore that fact for a while, but the truth is we will be home in
just a couple of weeks. And it takes some processing to ready ourselves for
that.
This month has actually been a really great last month. We
are doing some of the hardest work that we’ve had to do the entire Race, but it
keeps us from dwelling too much. Our free time is used for rest because we
really need it to get up and go again the next day. Its good to just be able to
be with each other. That might sounds strange to you considering I’ve lived
with these people for the past 8 months, but the truth is, it’s a choice to
really be together. We can all just stay to ourselves and turn a movie on as
soon as we get home from ministry, or we can choose to make the most of our
community. Life is all a choice.
Some of the bricks that we chiseled this month.
One night, we had a bonfire at our house. We really just
needed to relax and have fun and have a little God time. We built a fire in our
backyard and roasted bananas and apples with chocolate (best thing next to s’mores).
We had some fireside worship and just soaked in the presence of each other and
of the Lord. It was some much needed therapy.
Towards the end of the night, there were about four of us left
outside and we were just sitting around the burning coals. I looked down and
realized that they were in the shape of the states. We started pointing out all
of our homes and places we love in the states. It was funny how some areas were
much brighter than others. There were a lot of areas of darkness and little
patches of bright light.
We’ve lived the last year of our lives going into the dark
places and bringing light there. Its really easy to think that the rest of the
world needs light so badly and forget that our home needs it too. We’ve spent the
last 11 months moving every month, looking towards the next country, talking
about what life will look like there. Now, our next country is the United
States. Just because we’re going home doesn’t mean the places we are going don’t
need the light that we bring. I’d venture to say that home needs it even more
than any place we’ve been thus far.
When we hit JFK on June 26th, the 44 of us split
up and head every different direction. And every direction that we go, we bring
light with us. We are changed people because of what the Lord has done in us.
Its no different than arriving in a different country every month. Our job is
to bring the light with us, to carry peace with every footstep that we take, to
bring kingdom.
I find myself wondering, “what does it mean to be a light at
home?” I don’t have an answer to that question right now, but I’ll be finding
out in 6 days.
