What Is Normal?

**Note: This blog was written about a month ago, before my computer died. I
was recently able to recover it, and felt it was still worth sharing. Enjoy! **

I have now been in Mozambique for almost two weeks. Here’s a quick recap at
some of the unique experiences here that have suddenly become normal:

– Surviving a cyclone in an tent. I don’t know how you do it REI, but you
have my endorsement. (and not just because I can return anything I’ve ever
bought at anytime, no questions asked)

– Showering in the rain, and only when it rains. We started out not
showering at all, but it appears rainy season has officially begun 3 months
late. It rains everyday, and we time our showers around when it pours. Sometimes
the window of opportunity is small; grab your shampoo and get out there before
you are stuck with soap all over you and clear skies.

– Maggots growing between your toes… but not mine yet, thankfully (false,
by the time I left Kadesh I had had 7). We had a team wide worm removing
session yesterday. They bury in and continue to grow until you remove them with
a needle. Not the most pleasant experience, and not much you can do to avoid
them. I go barefoot at all times and haven’t gotten any; my teammate who always
wears who shoes had 6. Explain that.

– Beans, rice, or cabbage. Or beans, rice, and cabbage. Not much
surprise heading in to mealtimes. However, Sunday they threw a curve ball at us
and served fish (which I got extra of because some are hesitant to eat anything
that appears to be in a staring contest with you). And we had pancakes for
dinner with an open bar of sauces…peach, honey, maple, strawberry, pineapple.
Bring it on! I had at least 7 cakes and was stuffed.

– Waking up to ducks chewing on your tent; cats meowing or scratching your
tent; the rooster crowing; the boys playing. Did I mention this all happens at
the crack of dawn? Wide awake by 5am? Not back home I don’t!

This is life here, and it is normal. But then again, what is normal?

I’ve been on the road now for 6 1/2 months and I’m to the point where not
too much surprises me. It took a 24 hour busride to get here…so what. I’ve
been living on $4 a day since July… big deal. I have ants all over me when I
wake up and can’t really ever escape them… or the heat… or really feel
clean. Been there, done that. Suddenly the uncomfortable has become our normal.
And we are ok with it.

But there is a danger with suddenly being comfortable with being
uncomfortable. We can find our groove and rythm and fail to push ourselves.
When things are asked of us, we brush them off. The novelty of “roughing
it” has worn off. I can take anything thrown at me.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately (for some reason now rather than
at the midpoint of the race). I could easily sit back and let the rest of the
race pass me by, doing things like I’ve been doing them, smooth sailing. But do
I really want that? Do I want to be the same person I am now when I get home?
No. I don’t want to get home and transition back into “normal” life
back home like before just like I adjust to life on the road in each new
country. 

I want to go deeper in to God’s word and make fresh discoveries and find
new understanding; I want to press my team, push each other, call each other
into greatness, and go home with these 5 people my best friends; I want to be
real with myself, completely honest, about what I want with my life and the
direction God is calling me in; I don’t want this to be an 11 month break from
life, but rather just another phase of the bigger picture.

Most importantly, I want relying on God in everything to be normal. I want
waking up everyday and having a fresh excitement to read His word to be normal.
I want living life as one big mission field to be normal. That is one thing I
love about this month here at Kadesh – we don’t “go to ministry”;
life is ministry. We wake up and hang out with the boys and with John, we have
our alone time, we rest, we play. We live life.