My boogers have been full of dirt here recently. Probably has something to do with the dirt that sleeps on the ground, and is awakened with every breeze. In Africa, there is always a breeze. Literally always. So, you are safe to assume that the dirt doesn’t get much sleep. As most friends do, my friends and I were discussing the sudden change in the color of our boogers, and how brown they are now. Seemingly overnight, all of our boogers decided to change it up on us. At first, I was really grossed out, thinking that I had acquired some weird disease that everyone back home had warned me about. That maybe, just maybe, Africa was rotting me from the inside out, my boogers being the first to go. Pretty soon, I was ready to tell my leader that I was most likely going to die within days, and that she had better go ahead and quarantine me. Before I called disease control, I realized something pretty groundbreaking.
Africa is rubbing off on me, inside and out.
I have the dirtiest feet OF ALL TIME, my clothes always have a red dirt film on them, the bathroom floor is always weirdly wet for some reason, ants wreak havoc on our kitchen counters and in our bread cabinet, and cold drinks are a luxury afforded to us only about once a week.
But I have never smiled for so long that my cheeks cramp up. I’ve never seen someone get so excited about seeing a watch. I have never met little girls so honored to put braids into my hair. I have never witnessed more sunrises that make me think I’ve seen heaven. Never have I been so hungry to spend time with Abba. Never have I been so excited to sip coffee with Him at 5:15 every morning. Never have I gotten up at 5:00 every morning, and been giddy about it. Never have I seen community the way that I see it now. Never have I been so awestruck at how relentlessly God chases me and my heart. Never have I seen so many stars in the sky. Never have I been able to look at the Milky Way while I worship by the porch light. Never have I seen the hands of Abba.
Until now.
I felt a lot of pressure to make my first piece on the World Race something really special. Something that encompasses everything that it is, and everything that Abba does here. But all I can think to say is that, my boogers are dirty. They wreak of African soil. They, along with everything else on me. And my soul? Completely stained by an obsession for Jesus. Tattered with truth in His word. Soaked with mercy that is new with every single sunrise I watch with Him. Never have I felt so much joy. These are my “good ole days.” These moments are everything 14 year old me prayed for, when everyone around me didn’t believe I was capable. That I was too young and too female to be called by God for something so radical. That I wasn’t strong enough or brave enough for the big scary world out there. Well, they were all right about me. But my goodness were they wrong about my God. Because He has called me to have the honor of dirty boogers in my nose, and the privilege to carry His name all the way to Swaziland. So, this is me. Madison Green. Dirty boogers. Completely unqualified. But absolutely kicking the devil’s butt.
