My alarm goes off at 7:00 am. It's another travel day.
I roll off of the top bunk and hazily pull on my traveling clothes – sweat pants, a tank-top and my fleece. Brush my teeth, throw my hair in a knot, stuff the last of my things in my pack and drag it outside, ready to head to Uganda.
I walk to the shack next door, grab some mandazi and eat it with the peanut butter I always keep in my purse just in case. Another African breakfast.
Waiting for our bus to arrive, I remember my goal to take more photos with my squad mates. I obligatorily grab my camera and snap a few sleepy-eyed pictures with some friends.
Grab my seat next to Ash on the bus, pop some dramamine, put my headphones in and fall asleep within the hour.
Stop. Pay to use the bathroom. Grab a drink. Back to sleep.
Border crossing. Grab my passport and the cash for my team's visas. Fill out the exit documents and get a stamp. Walk across the border. Fill out the entry documents like a pro. Gather my team. Pay for visas. Get a stamp. Officially enter my twelfth country in the last eight months.
Roll up to our hostel in Kampala around 2:00 am. Check in. Fall into my 47th bed of the race. Sleep.
Wake up. Buy bus tickets for my team's travel to ministry. Hit the ATM. Call my contact to confirm we'll arrive tomorrow. Gather the team for a meeting. Check. Check. Check. Check.
Take another bus. Arrive in another city. Say hi to another contact. Drive to another "home" for the month. Unpack in another bedroom. Sleep in another bed. Attend another church. Smile for another camera. Do ministry at another school. Preach at another crusade.
Until… the Lord woke me up.
And He reminded me:
I have dreamed about Uganda.
For five years…
I wanted to walk here.
I wondered what it was like.
I wished for the reality of visiting… someday.
And now,
here I am.
God Gave me my dream.
But I forgot. I forgot that Uganda was my dream. I forgot that I'd ever even prayed to come here. After eight months on the race, it had become just another country. Just another border crossed, another stamp on my passport, another place to unpack and say hi and smile for the camera and do ministry. It was one more month and one more country to cross off my list of "11 in 11."
No. Uganda was just something to get through.
But I refuse.
I refuse to become jaded and calloused and so used to this lifestyle that it becomes just another day.
Because whether I'm in Guatemala or Cambodia or Uganda in the United States, there is wonder in every moment the Lord gives me.
It's never just "something to get through."
There is beauty. There is delight. There is purpose.
So I'm going to live in the wonder of each day.
I'm going to appreciate the beauty of the people and the creation I'm surrounded by.
I'm going to delight in the good gifts my Father loves to give me.
I'm going to walk with purpose.
Because God cares enough to give me the things I dream about.
And I will not squander them any more.
