O Reader, I Am sorry.
I want to write more. I really do. And I do (are you surprised?) have so much to say.
But my brain, it would appear, has gone to bed. And shortly– Very Shortly– I must go, too.
We are getting up at five in the morning; we are leaving for the airport at quarter to six; we are going to Africa.
We will be away for sixteen days, visiting Kenya and Tanzania, spending time with our sister church in Nairobi, loving children in an orphanage in Moshi, and enjoying a handful of days on a safari.
It has been a long time coming, and I’ve wanted to write about it here before now. But always something is more pressing, and this space that is meant to deliver news has more often than not served to amuse me or distill my weary soul. I have not been faithful to write about Africa.
So I will say this: I want Africa to be beautiful. I want it to be like those breath-taking scenes in Meryl Streep’s movie. I want to wear clothes like she did. I want Robert Redford to fall in love with me.
I do think that Africa will be beautiful. But I also think it might be hard. It will be hard to see Kibera, the largest slum in Africa and therefore, possibly, in the world. It will be hard to be jet-lagged, to be guests, to be living in a culture whose traditions and expectations are so different from our own.
I have packed my suitcase, and nothing in it looks like anything I’ve ever seen Meryl Streep wear, whether in Out of Africa or no.
I do think we will learn a lot on this trip. Just seeing new places and cultures are education to an open mind. I’m looking forward to meeting the women of Beacon of Hope, to seeing my children interact with theirs, to being (for the first time in Such a Long Time) in the minority. The Church in Kenya, Tanzania and, indeed, all of Africa has obstacles and hardships So Very Different from the ones we have in the US, and I want to see those and begin to understand them. I want to see how God works in such difficult situations.
And there’s one thing more I want to see. I’ve heard about my God in Africa. I’ve heard it from my parents; I’ve heard it from Oscar, the pastor of Nairobi Chapel, and from Kyama, another pastor from there; I’ve heard it from members from other teams from our church who have made this trip before me: somehow in the midst of Suffering and Poverty the likes of which We Do Not Know, the Joy of the Lord is stronger than life, and it does sustain, and it is real, and I’m going to go see it for myself.
I have to admit that I’m not a little bit afraid of that, but I want to see it anyway.
I do think Africa will be beautiful. I am Really Hopeful that we’ll see a lion (at least one) on our safari (Emma Grace hopes so, too). But I have a Strong Suspicion that the most beautiful thing on this trip will be my God, for Whom Africa is not a dark continent, is not a strange place, does not have insurmountable obstacles or incurable diseases.
Yes, I do think I will see Him on this trip, and I will see Him in a Whole New Way. And that, really, is why I am going.
I will try to post from over there, but electricity and internet cafes are, apparently, spotty. Still, I will try. I guess that’s called keeping you posted.
*wink*
