Goodbye Cape Town and Hello to Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Cairo and Istanbul! I flew out of Cape Town on the night of April 26th and rejoined my fellow GlobeTREKkers, Kara and Sarah, in Kenya. From there we ventured through Ethiopia, Egypt and now Turkey. It has been really hard for me to say goodbye to South Africa because it has become such a part of me over the past six months. God has used this place in a special way to teach me about life, myself, and other people. I know how vague and sappy it sounds to say that a place has really changed your life, so I want to elaborate a little more and tell you just a couple of the ways that my life has been enriched by my time here.
1) Present-future thinker over a past-present thinker. Too often I am a past-present thinker--where what has happened in the past, or what I did in the past, determines how I respond in the present. For example, if I messed up yesterday, then I live out of shame and a need to compensate today. I guess it basically comes down to some form of legalism. However, as a present-future thinker, my past is covered in Christ. This shapes my choices in light of my present identity in Him and what His plans and purposes are for the future. I may have made a bad choice yesterday, but right now I can make the right choice with Him.
2) The multi-dimensionality of life! I have tended to define mission and the Christian life too narrowly--it is about Bible reading and having DMCs (deep meaningful conversations) and doing unpaid work for others and cleaning toilets and other similar things... you get the gist :) But it is very depressing, discouraging, and disillusioning to define Christianity too narrowly and then confine yourself to only that. Anyways, I have come to appreciate how mission and gospel encompass and elevate all areas of life. My mentor, Caryn, played a big role in that as I saw her surf with non-Christian friends, diagnose and pray for patients at the health center, take time to talk to people, just laugh and have fun with friends, and be interested in everything from medicine to linguistics to culture to good books to surfing to... you name it! And in all of this, God was at the center in a foundational, joy-giving way--not in an awkward, tacked-on way. So now I leave Cape Town with a renewed understanding and a greater excitement for life coram deo.
These are just a couple of the lessons I've learned in Cape Town. There are more, but I won't burden you right now with an entire 6 months of soul work :) It feels so good to be back with Kara and Sarah and to face a couple new adventures together before my feet hit 'home' again. My runners and my traveling bags are getting rather dilapidated, but now they just need to last for one more flight! See you tomorrow, Canada :)
1) Present-future thinker over a past-present thinker. Too often I am a past-present thinker--where what has happened in the past, or what I did in the past, determines how I respond in the present. For example, if I messed up yesterday, then I live out of shame and a need to compensate today. I guess it basically comes down to some form of legalism. However, as a present-future thinker, my past is covered in Christ. This shapes my choices in light of my present identity in Him and what His plans and purposes are for the future. I may have made a bad choice yesterday, but right now I can make the right choice with Him.
2) The multi-dimensionality of life! I have tended to define mission and the Christian life too narrowly--it is about Bible reading and having DMCs (deep meaningful conversations) and doing unpaid work for others and cleaning toilets and other similar things... you get the gist :) But it is very depressing, discouraging, and disillusioning to define Christianity too narrowly and then confine yourself to only that. Anyways, I have come to appreciate how mission and gospel encompass and elevate all areas of life. My mentor, Caryn, played a big role in that as I saw her surf with non-Christian friends, diagnose and pray for patients at the health center, take time to talk to people, just laugh and have fun with friends, and be interested in everything from medicine to linguistics to culture to good books to surfing to... you name it! And in all of this, God was at the center in a foundational, joy-giving way--not in an awkward, tacked-on way. So now I leave Cape Town with a renewed understanding and a greater excitement for life coram deo.
These are just a couple of the lessons I've learned in Cape Town. There are more, but I won't burden you right now with an entire 6 months of soul work :) It feels so good to be back with Kara and Sarah and to face a couple new adventures together before my feet hit 'home' again. My runners and my traveling bags are getting rather dilapidated, but now they just need to last for one more flight! See you tomorrow, Canada :)
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