I remember the day my older brother, Ford called me to tell me that he had become a Christian. I was living in China, when he called. He said you were right and I was wrong, I’m a Christian. Then the phone cut off and I couldn’t reach him for another day.
I spent the rest of the day in a dream-like state. Life simply didn’t feel real. As far as I could tell there was no indication that this was coming and for 15 years he and I had debated and argued and in the end God moved him to a place of readiness and showed up for him in a way he could receive and understand.
So here I am in Atlanta, with the first session about to start and it's a similar feeling. I’ve run into some squad mates, said many good-byes, been prayed over, turned over responsibilities back home but it still doesn’t seem real. Perhaps it’ll hit me when my loved ones are no longer a phone call away, or day 3 when it storming and thundering in Bangkok or week 3 when it dawns on me that this is life and I’m not going home anytime soon.
When you experience something unlike anything before all your brain knows to do is draw on past experience to try to understand what’s happening. It does not know how to process something new and unlike anything you’ve ever known before. Life is about to change in a radical way and there is no way to truly prepare for it. But I'm as ready as I'll ever be!
