I don’t think there is ever as much anticipation in our lives as the moment when we get to go home after having been away for a long time. As we draw near to the town, the building or the room that our hearts call home, there is that great expectancy that rises up from somewhere in our gut and overwhelms us. I have used the word “home” to describe many places along the journey of my life so far but there are two places specifically that hold a special place in the world for me. In the past few weeks I have had the chance to “come home” to both places after a long time of being away.
The place that in my childhood memories is known as home is the small village of Faradje, which is in northeastern Congo. I hadn’t been back to Faradje in ten years but a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the village for a few hours to assess the needs of people after recent attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army. As the small Cessna airplane circled the town and made the final approach to the dirt runway, my heart was racing in anticipation of what lay ahead. What would it be like after so many years away? Would people be excited to see me? As I exited the plane and began to greet people I was overwhelmed by the sense that at long last I was able to come back to a place I was familiar with and that was familiar with me.
We took the time to take a short tour of our old house and as I entered my old bedroom I could almost sense the morning sun beating in through the windows to wake me from my sleep or the afternoon rains railing against the house in that seasonal wonder that changes everything from brown to green. I could remember the goats outside bleating to one another as they ate all of my dad’s fruit trees and the evening cooing of the doves and cookals. The room was much smaller than I remember but just the same, it was a place of memory.
Similarly, when I knew we would be spending some time at my parents’ house in Entebbe while we plan for our next project in Congo, I was expectant at the prospect of going home. Entebbe is home, not so much because I have any particular attachment to the town or the house, but because I know that my mom has spent hours painstakingly cleaning my room of all the cat and dog hair that might set off my allergies and my parents will be content because I am home. It is home because I am in the arms of love.
These journeys home have made me think yet again about the greater journey home that I am on. As I think of that final home that I am looking forward to, my expectation is so much greater. It is the expectation that there will be justice and peace and all the things that make me long for the homes I have now will be filled in that one final destination. I will have a house where I won’t think of the beauty within or of the view, but it will be a house where I am in awe of the one who prepared it for me because it is only with him that I will finally feel fully at home.
In the work that I am doing I am constantly reminded of the broken world we live in. There are the lives ruined by war and the lives stripped of dignity by poverty, and in all of it there is a longing for something, someplace that is free of all this destruction and brokenness. There is a longing to go home.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
When We Get What We Don't Deserve - Grace
Sometimes we get what we don’t deserve. We try our hardest to accomplish a goal but in the end our efforts are empty, and yet, somehow from the reaches of grace, our goal is accomplished not by our efforts but by the wonders of Him who works out everything according to his purposes and plan. I have been amazed this past week, not at all by the works of my hands, but by the wonders that God has accomplished in the work that was before me to accomplish.
I began the week loading up trucks full of our hygiene kits to distribute to over 5000 people north of here. The morning was chaotic, with confusion over the type of vehicle we had chosen and the number we needed to carry our load. After several hours of loading, we had seven large trucks loaded down with the kits and we hit the road. A few of the trucks took longer than expected to arrive at our destination and at one point we thought we would have to delay our distribution while we waited for them to arrive the next morning. But then, just as we were making plans to postpone the work, the trucks arrived and our plan went on as arranged.
We awoke early in the morning and laid out our two distribution sights with some rope while people began to arrive by the hundreds. By 9am, as we began our program for the day, there were several thousand people gathered waiting for their kits. We had two sights operating simultaneously and as we began there were moments of chaos as the people who had gathered jostled on another to be allowed in to get their kit. After some adjustments to the way in which we were allowing people into our roped off area things began to go more smoothly and once people realized that they would each get their kit everyone calmed down and the day continued without much trouble. By 3pm the distribution at both sights was finished.
I cannot even begin to describe what a miracle it was to distribute all 5000 kits in one day, let alone with time to spare. There were plenty of opportunities for people to become upset or to cause trouble at the distribution. Whenever there are large masses of people all eager to get some much needed supplies the situation is quite fragile and the mood can change very quickly. Thankfully, in answer to prayer, our distribution went extremely well.
I began the week loading up trucks full of our hygiene kits to distribute to over 5000 people north of here. The morning was chaotic, with confusion over the type of vehicle we had chosen and the number we needed to carry our load. After several hours of loading, we had seven large trucks loaded down with the kits and we hit the road. A few of the trucks took longer than expected to arrive at our destination and at one point we thought we would have to delay our distribution while we waited for them to arrive the next morning. But then, just as we were making plans to postpone the work, the trucks arrived and our plan went on as arranged.
We awoke early in the morning and laid out our two distribution sights with some rope while people began to arrive by the hundreds. By 9am, as we began our program for the day, there were several thousand people gathered waiting for their kits. We had two sights operating simultaneously and as we began there were moments of chaos as the people who had gathered jostled on another to be allowed in to get their kit. After some adjustments to the way in which we were allowing people into our roped off area things began to go more smoothly and once people realized that they would each get their kit everyone calmed down and the day continued without much trouble. By 3pm the distribution at both sights was finished.
I cannot even begin to describe what a miracle it was to distribute all 5000 kits in one day, let alone with time to spare. There were plenty of opportunities for people to become upset or to cause trouble at the distribution. Whenever there are large masses of people all eager to get some much needed supplies the situation is quite fragile and the mood can change very quickly. Thankfully, in answer to prayer, our distribution went extremely well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
