I have not been home in over 250 days. And tomorrow I fly home.
I wish I could tell you a quick and powerful lesson that I leaned over the last nine months. I wish I could say, “I learned ______ this year.”
But it is just simply not that simple.
I sit here perplexed at the experiences I have just had, the life I have just lived. And I find it impossible to fit into ______.
I have traveled to three different continents, planted myself in three vastly different cultures, met so many people, thrown up in toilets all over the world, built life long friendships with my teammates, I’ve doubted my faith, yelled at God in rage, wished this trip was over, been humbled, been exalted, eaten close to 100 kilograms of rice, jumped off cliffs, swam in the east and west side of the Pacific Ocean, I’ve showered out of buckets for months, I’ve worked for nine months without a paycheck, learned how to say “thank you” in three languages, danced with children, cooked with mothers, built churches, provided medicine to distance villages, eaten fresh coconuts on the South China Sea, swam with water buffaloes, found out I was allergic to mangos, taught English classes, led VBS, learned to love people, learned to deal with difficult people, I’ve learned how to sleep anywhere, how to cook rice 100 different ways, how to make fried chicken over a fire, I’ve seen hopeless people, homeless people, dying people, lonely people, abused people, hurting people, lost people, I’ve fed the hungry, given clothes to the naked, prayed for the sick, I have learned about Clayton, discovered the man I want to be, made my faith my own, I have learned to live free.
But still more important than all these combined, I have experienced God. In searching for God, I am only met with more searching. And I mean that in the most joyful of ways. There is so much to HIM, that the more I find the more I must keep searching.
I, Clayton, have absolutely nothing to offer the world, but through HIM I have everything to offer.
In everything I have seen, felt, tasted, experienced, I can truly, truly say, there is none like you Lord.
This has been the journey of a lifetime. It’s been MY journey. And the best part is, this is only the beginning.
A WORD TO MY READERS
If you already this deep into my blog I am safe in assuming you are one of my regular readers or one of my supporters, or both. Or perhaps you just stumbled upon this one blog and happened to make it this far down the page. Whatever the reason may be, you are still reading this, so I have a word for you.
The list of experiences above does not even come close to describing all of my experiences and stories, but I believe I listed enough. I would love to explain it to you in detail someday if you’d want to listen. Regardless, PLEASE know that absolutely none of this would be possible, and I mean zero, if it were not for you. YOU have made this journey possible. Every penny, every prayer, every encouraging email, HAS made a difference in my life and made this journey a reality.
I want you to understand that my life would be entirely different and I would have not had these experiences if I didn’t have you. My heart is so, so thankful. I hope so much, that through the way I live, talk, and act, you can see the impact YOU have had on my life, and the man I am today because of it.
So again, thank you.
