First, I am sorry that I have not been blogging more. I usually love to write and I want to share what God is doing in me and through me. It’s selfish to keep those things to myself. But it has been a real struggle for me since I have been here. So much has been going on inside of me. I have been feeling on a deeper level than I ever thought was possible. It’s hard to put my heart into words but my heart is what I want to share with you. 
It feels just right, nothing about it seems radical. The people here are incredible. They have welcomed us with open arms. Each of them has become so much more than someone I met on a trip around the world. They have become friends. They have become family, we laugh together, we share our hearts, we are quick to recognize when someone is having a bad day, and quick to put our own agenda on hold to help. Everything is slower and everything usually requires more work but the way everyone works together and spends time together makes the immediacy and luxury I have become accustomed to, less and less appealing.
The first Sunday I spent here I said to Bonnie “I don’t know how I’m going to be able to leave this place” and she said, “Think about how much sweeter heaven going to look as we travel around the world. In heaven all the people that we have grown to love will finally be in one place.” How beautiful is that.
So as I sit here reflecting on my time here and the people I am going to say goodbye to in just a few days I try to picture the day that we will all be reunited, the day that all the people who have impacted me beyond explanation will all be in one place with our Dad… the one who ties us all together. I can’t even fathom what that is going to look like. It’s going to be AMAZING.
But I can’t help but thinking I wish they could meet here. I wish I could bring all the people I left at home around the world with me, I wish they could experience what I am experiencing first hand because I know it has shown me a way of life that brings me more fulfillment and joy than I have ever had.
I don’t want anyone to miss out on the joy that comes from loving your neighbor, living life a sacrifice, and from slowing down enough to really get to know the people you encounter ever day. I know not everyone is called to missions or to ministry but everyone is called to love and sometimes I think that word has lost its meaning. I think we would all agree that love makes people do crazy things. But the awesome thing about it is that those things only look crazy to the people on the outside. Because to the ones that are in love they make perfect sense.
That’s how I feel right now. So many things that looked so crazy to me seem to make perfect sense now and when I try to explain them to people looking from the outside and they don’t respond the way I want them to, I get frustrated… not because I want them to agree with me or because I have to have their support but more because I feel like they are missing out.
I have fallen in love with the people, the children, God’s children, my brothers and sisters… and there is not anything I wouldn’t do to help them out. It’s a great feeling and my prayer is that my experiences will encourage other people to love more and love harder wherever they are at, so that we can share the joy and excitement, and so that we will be willing to go to extremes to love each other the way our Dad loves us………no matter what that may look like.
