Filed under: Giving Back/Community Impact
Welcome home!
The trip to the airport was uneventful. The flight was easy. Customs lines were long, but not so long as to cause griping. I was so jazzed when I got home, I couldn’t sleep for a long time.
I thought about the children we helped. I thought about the friends I went with and how much better I know them. I prayed a little easier and a little longer than usual. Then I drifted off for about six hours. Sometimes sleep is fitfully, sometimes it’s peaceful. I slept thankful.
We made it back, all alive (perhaps more alive than before we left), no injuries, bodily functions functioning mostly as intended. And we would all go back again. Maybe not tomorrow, OK, not tomorrow. Not even next week, but everyone I asked (and I asked everyone) said they want to go on another mission trip. This does not surprise me one bit.
When you leave your comfort zone, God has more room to work in your life. It’s not that he won’t speak during the day-to-day, it’s that you can’t hear him as well against all that noise. God is a perfect gentleman, he will not shout or compete with lesser gods.
But man, he can work when we listen. He can show you more of what he intends you to be. He highlights how kind he’s been and where you or I have left the path. He shows us a vision of what our lives can mean to others and how great love really is (and the commonness of hate and selfishness). Sometimes he offers more adventure to a dull existence, sometimes it’s more compassion to one who tends to look the other way. Sometimes God wants us to hear old words in new ways, or remember what’s really important. Everybody gets a custom-made lesson from the Father that loves us beyond our wildest imagination.
God always shines the light on stuff we need to stop ignoring. It’s just easier to see that light in foreign places than in the familiar.
Over the next several days, I’m hunting time to rethink some of the memories from our team’s Guatemala trip (the first mission trip for K&N Management), and relay those thoughts to you. You know about the Ferris Wheel and the Club Level of our hotel, but you don’t know that Sarah can spill a 16-ounce beverage on a tile floor and hide it from a chaperone–such skill is so rare these days.
Finding time to tell you stories is also a skill. It won’t be easy to find that time. For one, many memories compete for attention. You know nothing much of the harrowing mountain climb to the edge of insanity last Sunday. Nor have you heard about the rather dull church service, attended by those left down the hill, that turned out to be kind of important. You don’t know about tumulos, textile traders, or whole fried fish eyes. You should know about these things. Each one has many facets and parts running through it.
Some of my parts are not sure what’s been run through them, but they do not like it. My body is tired and angry, but I’m glad to be home.
We got home Thursday night, and Friday I stopped by the office to a welcome home that made me feel important. I was not expecting it, and I don’t think anyone else on our team was either. We work for and with people who are, at their core, kind, loving, and encouraging. I thank God every day for them.
By Friday afternoon, I was back to listening and helping people beat their problems and find some peace. Saturday, I was able to rest, and today (Sunday) introduced me to a couple of emergencies. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t depend on God to work through me to help people. (I hope they feel his hand comforting them now.) Seriously, I do not know how so many people handle life’s pain without being able to give it to the God who cares. I sure can’t do it, and I sure like seeing him work.
We saw him at work in Guatemala. I see him working here every day. Unlike me, he never gets tired and he never makes mistakes.
Today, I started working on our next trip instead of watching football. I know, it’s out of character, but I couldn’t help myself.
I’ll get back to telling stories about our trip soon enough, but for today, I have to look forward. We have a stunning opportunity to demonstrate God’s love to others. Let’s not hold back.
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