I have not posted a blog since Costa Rica. WHY?!
I have since traveled to Panama where I experienced the beauty of the Chiriquí Mountains, evangelized in the coffee town of Boquete, and worked along side the lifelong missionaries of YWAM in their efforts to educate locals on sustainable agriculture, aquaponics, and the gospel.
I then jumped continents via a 4 nation, 3 continent, 3 leg, 3 day travel experience to Cape Town, South Africa. I spent the month training in my new leadership role, & saw natural beauty incomparable to anything I’ve ever experienced. I traveled to Durban to fall in love with the hearts of the orphans we took care of and was shaken by the mind-blowing inequality of city life, township life, and rural life.
I am now in month 6! In 2016, I have already visited, 6 nations. WHO AM I? I am currently in Maun, Botswana. On my 48 hour, 3 leg, bus adventure to this beautiful country we saw a full sized male elephant cross the road and blow its trunk. We are in the kind of town Jason Bourne disappears into.
Sitting here exactly half way through this 11-month adventure I am realizing that I am THAT guy. The guy that has not posted enough blogs, enough photos, sent enough prayer request emails, initiated enough Facetime calls, or communicated my appreciation for home, the people I love, and those that support me nearly enough.
However, behind the guy that you wish you heard from more is a guy who is overwhelmed. Overwhelmed in the best way possible, but overwhelmed all the same. Overwhelmed with the Fathers love. Overwhelmed by the world he is exploring. Overwhelmed by the rate at which he is growing and changing.
Overwhelmed in a way that leaves him not knowing how to communicate fully or clearly what he is experiencing. Maybe this is my “why?”
Most days are not a grand adventure. Most days someone isn’t healed. Most days the water isn’t running, the showers are cold, or the “ministry” only lasts for a couple of hours.
However, it is in the small moments that the true adventure is taking place. What is overwhelming is that the small moments just keep piling up. The never-ending deep conversations with a teammate or local. The inner spiritual, emotional, and mental stretching and processing. It’s in the discomfort, the small joys, frustrations, and epiphanies that this journey becomes difficult to explain.
The thing is, all of us grow in the small moments. It doesn’t matter where we are. And often it is difficult for us to feel known, seen, or understood in how we process life and grow with Christ.
I am learning that this is ok. It is ok because my Heavenly Father understands. He sees, He knows, He cares. He’s got me and He’s got you. Will you rest in that with me? Rest in not always needing to explain, not always needing to be heard. Rest in being fully where you are at, with who you are with.
Maybe being “that guy” is a wake up call to adjust intentions and goals? Maybe it is an opportunity to accept that the Lord has led us to become someone we didn’t intend to become? The only way we will know is if we ask. Ask Him something that you might not like the answer to.
Until next time, much love from Botswana – That Guy!
