It is week 3 in Cambodia and we have without fail had rain every single day.
Today(last week), as it began to downpour I eagerly came out from under the table I had found a small private area under. Yes, I know that sounds weird, but if you’ve been on the race you know the struggle.
Anyways.. I came out from under the table and quickly jaunted outside to show my sister (who was on face time) the rainy Cambodian scene from our beloved porch.
Every time it has rained, the ladies on my team and I have wanted to go and dance in it. But every time it has rained, there was some sort of conflict. Either there was class, a meal, or something more pressing than dancing in the rain. We always said, hopefully next time.
So as the days counted down on our time in Cambodia, we were unsure as to whether dancing in the rain would become a reality or not.
Today (last week) as the rain hit the tin roofs, I said goodbye to my sister and went to put my computer away. I’m was talking about the things that still needed to get done before we left, specifically painting the mural I started, when Bliz asks if its pouring out.
It is, you could hear it clearly from the open window we hung all of our clothes out of. Michaela, came out of a restful sleep and questioned “its raining!?”
“Yes, its raining” like every other day we’ve been here…its raining.
“Lets go dance!” she said with seriously the widest grin on her face. We all realize there is nothing standing in the way of us spending time, dancing like fools, in the pouring rain, in Cambodia.
So we did.
We ran around putting on clothes we were willing to sacrifice to the inevitable mud that would come as a result.
Before the rain had the opportunity to stop, we bolted upstairs to see if the guys wanted to participate, to which we got the “you guys are slightly ridiculous and nutzo” look. From there we were on our way. We teetered down the winding stairs and started to open the front gate, when our ministry host’s wife questioned what we were up to.
“We are going to dance in the rain!” we shouted.
She just started to laugh and gave us the “you guys are slightly ridiculous and nutzo” look, and helped us open the door.
We got outside and the warm rain started to soak us. Then Bliz, how wonderful she is, started to run.
We ran in the rain, through puddles, down the street to a dead end… where we ran into a handful of our students. We waved and ran up to them, and asked if they would like to join us. To which we got the “you guys are slightly ridiculous and nutzo” look…again. But we eventually convinced the smaller kids to join us.
We splashed in the puddles, played games, danced, and did a lot of laughing. We had kids and adults peering down the street, slightly confused. We had a toothless grandma grinning from ear to ear as she watched us. We had our middle schools second guess whether they wanted to join in the excitement.
In that moment I just felt happy. I didn’t feel like there was something to be done, or a checklist to accomplish. I didn’t feel like I was wasting my time or in fact being ridiculous. I felt God smile. It felt like he was grinning ear to ear like that toothless grandma, finding joy in us finding the joy he wanted to send our way.
God gave us the opportunity to build a relationship outside of the classroom, outside of us as authority figures, outside of the box we tend to place him in. He gave us the opportunity to move, laugh, and be joyful. To find joy in what he has given us, whether its rain, laughter, kids, smiles, or “you be crazy” looks from the parents down the street.
Often I think about how I am on the World Race and there are these expectations for what will happen on this journey, but sometimes we need to step back from the expectations and just enjoy the rain.
