I sat in the window seat about 11 rows back on the left. My mind racing through memories as I categorized my life and tried to put in perspective the step I was taking. My flight was from London to Dakar, Senegal, my final destination… or my first. I considered the years of youth spent in my "backyard" and how coming into college my box of life was primarily lived in Northern MIchigan. I thought of my trip out west with my buddy Zach to Minneapolis…I thought about the couple of times I had driven south through Chicago and tried remembering the times when I was young that I went out East to Detroit…Those were my parameters of exploration and my box didn't seem very small until I started bursting through it…but those were days left behind. Today I would end up in a different country…different continent…filled with millions of Africans that were 99% Muslim…near the Sahara desert.
I tried to prep myself for what I was about to fly into but decided that I didn't even have a clue of what to expect. This was so far out of my realm of experiences that I figured it was time to just start being open to all things new. Just then a stewerdess on British Airlines handed me my dinner which included some wine. I looked at it and took a sip even though I had never had wine before…
warm…hmmm this must be why people…wait I'm sweating? That's ridiculous! Why am I so itchy…ohhh you gotta be kidding me…
I rushed back to the bathroom to the realization that I was breaking out in hives and was allergic to wine…or at least this kind or at this elevation! I scuffled back to my seat wondering what customs people would think of the diseases I might be carrying from America into their country…
I had spent months preparing for this ardous adventure and now I stood at the precipice of a decision to student teach in Africa that would surely change my entire life. For now I was just trying to figure out which emotions to pick…Excited! Fearful? Cautious? Peace.
With adrennaline steam rolling my body I chose to react with what was at the depths of why I was there…trust.
I stepped onto the tarmac and immediately the smell of Africa started saturating my pores. I wasn't yet aware that this scent would later consume such rich memories. I was entering a new world of garbage, sand and concrete. It was filled with never-ending noise and an anxiousness that pervaded the faces of the average passerby.
My foot had landed and there was no going back. I had taken a step away from my strength and towards His Spirit…but at that time I couldn't have verbalized what step it was…all I knew was that it was a step that needed to be taken.
…to be continued
