Yesterday I woke up at 6AM in Manzini, Swaziland and began my trek back to Johannesburg, South Africa, hoping to arrive by nightfall.
The remainder of my day was as follows –
- 6-7AM: Pack my backpack
- 7-8AM: Make, eat and clean up breakfast
- 8-9AM: Take a minibus to an area of Manzini that houses a sea of other minibuses, whose destinations spread across Southeastern Africa
- 9-9:30AM: Successfully find a minibus that goes to Johannesburg
- 9:30AM: We’re told the bus will leave as soon as it fills up with 15 people
- 9:30-11AM: Sit on minibus until other passengers arrive (no air conditioning)
- 11AM-12PM: Ride on minibus until we reach the border crossing into South Africa
- 12-1PM: Stand in a multitude of lines at various Customs desks
- 1-1:30PM: Ride in minibus until we’re stopped by a police blockade
- 1:30-2PM: Get out of minibus on side of highway, bags are searched, get back in minibus
- 2-6PM: Ride in minibus (no stops, still no air conditioning)
- 6PM: Get off minibus and find a cab
- 6:30-7PM: Cab ride through Johannesburg
- 7PM Arrive to hostel!
A trip that would have taken four hours in a car took almost ten hours in various hot and stinky forms of transportation, and this fact got me thinking.
I want it now.
I want to get to Johannesburg now. I don’t want to wait. I don’t want to be inconvenienced. The World Race is full of waiting and opportunities to practice tremendous patience. Why is this so hard? It doesn’t seem to be hard for the Africans that experience this lifestyle every day..
I think it’s because in America, if we want it, we got it. In the words of Ariana Grande
“I want it, I got it, I want it, I got it
I want it, I got it, I want it, I got it
You like my hair? Gee, thanks, just bought it
I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it (yeah)”
While I don’t think any of us should necessarily model our lives after this song, it does ring true for many Americans. We want it.. and we can get it.
I’m not speaking exclusively to transportation, although we can jump in an Uber and get anywhere we want in a matter of minutes, but I am speaking to other aspects of the American life.
Do you want a date? There’s an app for that.
Do you want food delivered to your doorstep – your groceries, dinner or just a snack? There’s a service for that.
Do you want to be entertained? There’s a multitude of options just a phone’s click away.
There are very few things we actually have to wait for in America, but what is the consequence of this “I want it, I got it” era?
We’re avoiding the struggle, the pushing into the hard thing, the waiting. Waiting can be beautiful and when you must work hard and wait for something you deeply desire; it means so much more to you when you receive it.
The World Race is tough because the rest of the world does not function the way we do. I remember when I came home from my first World Race – I just stared at my washer/dryer the first time I used it. I had been bucket washing my clothes for so many months that I forgot how easy it was to set it and forget it. On the race, I had to carve out half a day for washing and drying. It was a strange feeling using that washer/dryer again, maybe one of the strangest I experienced on my return home. I often thought about my international friends when I simply threw my stuff in the washer and went about my day. Yes, that was certainly more efficient, but is efficiency always best? I’m not sure. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t plan on continuing to bucket wash my clothes when I get home.. I love my washer/dryer! But what other areas am I doing myself a disservice by making every aspect of my life quick and easy?
I think there’s beauty in the hard and in the waiting – and it’s free for all of us to embrace. This will look different for everyone, but my challenge is to remember a time in your life where you had to work hard for something. A time you had to dedicate time and determination to a task. I remember a time like this in Bolivia, when I worked at a Rehabilitation Center for women who had been victims of abuse and struggled with additions of their own. The entire month was a grind as day in and day out we struggled to communicate (language barrier) and break through to the girls in the house. Additionally, my team endured high altitudes, extreme sickness and a very cold climate. These factors didn’t stop us though and we showed up and pushed into our time with these sweet women every day. At the end of the month, I experienced a Christmas eve I will never forget when the girls finally took down their walls and embraced us with tears, vulnerability and openness. (See previously written blog). I will never forget this night and we would have never gotten there without perseverance and pushing through the waiting.
At 5PM today I’ll board a bus to Zimbabwe and arrive twenty hours later, but hopefully I’ll be all the more thankful for my arrival, and the team I will be visiting, because of this less than ideal twenty hours of travel.
I’m striving to live every day of my African life with thankfulness because this experience is truly a blessing. Even when it’s difficult, long, hard and arduous, I will remember that on the other side of the perseverance is something really special.
There is an aspect of beauty for us in everything.
Wifi will be difficult to find in Zimbabwe so it might be a few weeks until you hear from me again. I can’t wait to share all the lessons and adventures the Lord has for my squad and I in this new country!
All my heart <3
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4
