The children in Swaziland literally have nothing but the clothes on their backs, hopefully one meal a day, and each other. The trash that is scattered everywhere becomes their toy store. One of the first things we were told by our contact was to burn our trash because if we don’t the children will go threw it and try to eat it or play with it. I didn’t realize how serious of a problem this was until I stepped outside one day and was greeted by a child chewing a used tampon applicator. I couldn’t believe it. What do you do? Take away it because its gross? Or let him keep chewing on it because its all he has at the moment and it appears to be bringing him joy? I found myself in these situations almost daily. I began to feel disgusted at how much stuff I have, both on the race and at home. Do I really need 3 tank tops? And how much food I get to eat every day. It has been hard at times with food on the race. Every month it seems that I am spending more and more of my own personal money on food because I’m “not getting enough” on the World Race budget. But, in Swaziland I realized how even on the World Race budget I get way more then every child and probably every person I passed. You hear about poverty all time in America but to be face to face with a child chewing on a tampon applicator it became a real crisis, a cause I now want to somehow be involved in. In that moment I realized that I wanted to return to Swaziland one day with a tangible to skill to help this country out of the death its in. Some estimates say that by 2050 the population of Swaziland will cease to exist. This is largely because of the HIV crisis here, which in turn feds into a lifestyle of poverty for almost the entire nation.
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One night in Nsoko there was an incredible lightening storm. I have never seen anything like it before. There wasn’t any rain (at this moment), wind, hail, or any other typical storm qualities- just lightening all around. It was beautiful. It would be darkness and suddenly a lightening blot would come and just lit up the entire sky. I honestly didn’t know what to say. I just stood there with a few fellow racers in awe. Around me others had their cameras out, attempting to capture the spectacular site in front of us. And some did get a few pretty awesome shots. But, no matter how incredible the picture was, it just did not compare to being there in person. The picture just could not capture what I was feeling. Through this event God has speaking to me about His holiness and His character. No matter how hard we try to define Him, no matter how much we study the Bible and study books about the Bible, we will never fully understand Him. Part of what God’s holiness encompasses is mystery. He will always remain mysterious to us as we walk on this earth and have only a human capability to think, feel, and understand. Sometimes this thought that we will never fully know God frustrates me, but recently I have been finding comfort in it. I know it’s cliché to say that “God works in mysterious ways,” but it’s truth. That is part of God: mysterious. Even though we will never understand and know all there is to know about God doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to. Even though there was no possible way to represent the lightening storm in a picture, people still tried. And got some amazing pictures. God can still reveal himself to you in amazing ways, and you can see a new aspect of holiness, if you want it and are searching for it.
