No Turning Back

One of things I've had to learn here is how to cross the road and walk down the street in general.

Scene 1: The streets here are busy. Especially when you get near the market. The streets are lined with fruit stands, juice stands, and people selling just about anything you could imagine. This is also where the bus station is. You have to dodge

Donkey carts,                                               wheelbarrows,
                                           rickshaws,                                  
                                                                                                 tea ladies with their stands,                 buses,               
                       cars,                                             other people walking around                and the occasional begger

 all while watching to make sure your feet don't fall into a pothole or walk you into a pile of trash! Since this can be difficult, I've devised a plan that gets me through safely most of the time. I find a person in front of me who is heading in the same direction and stick close to them. This way, I can just concentrate on following that one person.

Scene 2: A couple of times a week I find myself crossing a very busy road that is almost equivalent to a highway. Sometimes, it reminds me of the times we'd cross Highway 34 during cross country practice, where there was no light. We'd dash across to the median, then wait for an opening on the other side. Some of us (me) were more cautious than others who would dart at the tiniest break. It always scared me a bit, but the few times we did it were usually to cut some length off of our run, so I found it worth it. (If you're reading this coach, I confess! We were pretty good at finding ways to make our runs just a bit shorter.)

Wow, that was a bunny trail all the way to Loveland! Anyways, back to here... When someone else is around who is also crossing this busy street, I've learned to go with them. I can't hesitate, or my opportunity will be gone, and then I have to wait for a really long time for a big break or to get up the courage to go at a tiny one. So mostly, I just try to cross with someone else and trust that either, 1, they can perfectly calculate whether there is time to cross, or, 2, that there's safety in numbers and that a car is more likely to slow down if they see two people crossing the road.

When I was thinking about all this as I walked (stalked?) through the market the other day I realized that it was a lot like life. Everyone goes their seperate ways, milling around with plenty of distracting things out there. But I must learn to follow Jesus, to cling to him each step of the way because my life depends on it. It is really about each step and being with Him. Just like in the market, I can't take my eyes off of the One who is doing the leading. And I have to go with His timing and not hesitate. He won't just keep cruising along without me if I don't get across the street with Him, but it's the best option if I go with Him, because I know His timing is perfect. If I look around instead of at Him, being one step off could mean that way gets blocked by a different hinderance. Walking through life by myself just isn't an option. Sure, I could maybe make it through, but it'd be pretty difficult and stressful. So, as the hymn goes:
"I have decided to follow Jesus,
No turning back, no turning back."

The Eye of the Beholder

Today I was just struck by the beauty of the world that we live in.  I mean, take a minute to look outside. It might be brown, green, or white, depending on where you're at, but isn't it beautiful? Here's a few pictures of the landscape I was looking at when I started thinking this.

Now, maybe you're thinking, "Is she crazy? Has just 2 months in Africa made her forget what is really beautiful, like the mountains in Colorado?" I know that these pictures show mostly sand and if you look closely you'll see all the trash too. But the trees in the first one are quite nice, and look at the gorgeous blue sky in the second one. The sky is always blue like that around here, in fact, I'm pretty sure I haven't seen a cloud since I was on the plane ride here. And as much as all that sand bothers me when it gets everything dirty, I have begun to see it as beautiful. I still miss scenes like this sometimes:


"My" mountains at sunrise

This is captivating. Well, maybe not the picture itself, but if you've ever seen the sun rise on the Rocky Mountains you can understand the full glory of what this one snapshot reveals. But I don't think that God, while making Earth, said, 'Let's put all the pretty stuff here, here, and here. And whoops! I didn't leave anything for Kansas or the Sahara, guess they'll just be kind of plain.' He made the whole world beautiful.

I'm in awe of the fact that when I just take the time to look for the beauty surrounding me, I find it. Maybe it's because beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and you have to be ready to behold beauty it to see it. So look around you, and stand in awe of the One who made the earth beautiful. 

I Believe in the American Dream

There is an English school not too far from where I live. Twice a week the students have a club where they can go and speak about different topics in English. Most of these students are around my age and I have started going to get to know some locals who I can actually speak to (I hope that my Arabic will improve, but so far I can only have a very short conversation with most people I come in contact with.). I'm the only native English speaker there and they are thrilled that I have started coming. They have a variety of topics that they talk about and I love hearing their perspective and they love to hear about America, or what I, as an American, think about things. These meetings always get me thinking critically, and today was no exception.

I used to think that I wanted no part in the American dream. I'm quite content with not being rich, or even necessarily well-off. My joy in life comes from knowing Jesus, not from having the perfect things, being in a great position in my job, or even being a good person with good friends. These are all things that, for the most part, I could care less about. They will never be my goal in life. But today my eyes were opened in a new way to what the foundation of that "American Dream" is, and how much it is a part of me.

One guy at the club is quite vocal about how he dislikes his country and really wants to be American. Today it came up that many of these young people really have no hope for their country. Most of them want to get out so that they can have better lives for themselves. They say that nothing will really change because there are so many problems and that no one will ever come around to fix them. This sits in direct juxtaposition with how proud they are of their country and how they think it can be the greatest country in the world. Now, I started thinking about what I thought about America. Do I love it? Absolutely! I did not move away because I was disgruntled. Am I always happy with the way things work there? No. The government has it's ups and downs, and sometimes I can be quite upset with it and even the citizens as a whole. I think that most Americans have the same view point. So what is the difference in thinking between me and them? It's the American Dream that I have. Not the American Dream that I can have a nice house with a car and 2.3 children, but the American Dream that I can impact my world.

A common colloquialism going around currently is "Be the change you want to see in the world." It something I tend to live by. If I don't like something that is going on, I must be the one to influence it and change it. I can't wait around for someone else to do it. The people here agreed with that last part, that they can't really trust anyone else to change things. But they don't believe that they can be that change. It's really sad. These are definitely the people that have some of the highest education in their generation here and they are the ones who could lead their country, but they don't believe that it's possible. They don't think that they could be the one to start turning their country into what they want it to be. Maybe it's because they don't have examples, and, granted, their government does not work like ours and has more problems and they have different circumstances and obstacles to overcome. It shocked me though, that none of them even seem willing to try. They don't believe that they could change anything for the country and so they'll work towards leaving it, obtaining a better life for themselves, and leave the country they are proud to be citizens of to its own demise.

I never realized how American my thinking was until tonight. I wish I could make them see that they hold the key to their country's success in their hands if they are willing to fight to find where to use it. But it's just not their way of thinking. Instead, I will work at being the change I want to see and hope that maybe they will begin to work for the future of their country in their own way. I will hold tightly to the American Dream that I can change do anything I want and change my world.

Well, if you made it the end of this post, I'm impressed! I realize that it was an essay, or maybe just rambling thoughts. My next post will be lighter and more fun, I promise!