Ever since I began thinking about going on this trip, I have come across a million reasons why I shouldn’t go; a million reasons to stay in America. A million things that I simply could not live without. It’s crazy, isn’t it? How overbearing worldly possessions can be? How hindering all of our stuff really is? If I had nothing, how easy would it be to simply walk out the door and fly to Africa for a year? If you are wondering what kind of “stuff” I’m talking about, just take a little stroll through WalMart. My friend, Jonathan, and I did that one day. My poor, poor friend Jonathan. Everything we looked at, everything we walked passed, was another thing I was going to have to live without for a year. Ice cream, cheerios, dark chocolate hershey kisses, prescription strength deodorant, ADA approved toothpaste… the list goes on.
At first it was just “stuff” that was holding me back. Once I started to overcome that hindrance, it started to go a little deeper. I started realizing all of the events that I was going to miss. The Super Bowl, Skylar’s senior soccer season, Skylar’s 21st birthday, my birthday, a summer on the lake, Thanksgiving, a million chances to see friends and a million chances to spend time with my family.
After I started coming to terms with the stuff and the events, my hesitations turned towards the things that I would be encountering. Poisonous snakes, spiders, Yellow Fever, Malaria, Typhoid, hunger, pain, suffering… How am I ever going to survive? How does anyone survive? And that’s when it hit me: Yes, I am leaving behind a million things, yes I will miss out on a lot, and yes, there are a million ways to die in Africa and in the other remote places of the world. And yes, I will miss all the stuff and all of the people, and yes I will still be worried about my teeth rotting, and possibly having to eat a tarantula in Cambodia, but I’ve learned that there is only one way to truly live, and that is by following Jesus Christ wherever He might take me. So fears and hesitations aside, I am going to follow.
