monday morning thoughts.

This morning during my quiet time, I read from My Utmost for His Highest. He used an analogy of a harbor, and talked about how we grow in spiritual discernment by not wading by the calmness of the dock, but by cutting the rope and floating out into the squalls at sea. And our spiritual sluggishness comes when we know that God is calling us to do something and we don't do it. But as we brave the storms of life, responding in obedience and fixing our eyes on Jesus, we grow in knowledge of ourselves and of God. 

I kind of feel like that's where I am at right now. I'm out to sea. And for me right now, that sea is called Africa. Sometimes the water is calm and the sun is shining, and me and God are just floating along. But then, by the definition of a squall, the wind and rain come out of nowhere and I'm caught in a violent storm. And I don't know where I'm going or what the outcome will be, but I am doing my best follow the purposes of God, and thus be more spiritually discerning. And there are situations where I need to beware of paying attention to what I once was, when God wants me to be something I have never been. As I reflect on this, I know that there are situations where I need to break free from the safety of the harbor and trust God more. Where I can step out in obedience. And I pray that the Lord would give me the boldness to do so. 

I spent the morning working on my talk for tomorrow night. It's on "I AM the Good Shepherd." Keeping in mind that the Bible is universal and that truth is always truth, I am still finding it hard to make practical and relevant applications considering African worldview. But I am encouraged that the Word of God does not return void, and having Jesus as our shepherd is such a powerful, life-changing, and beautiful thing. The fact that he knows us so intimately, AND leads us, AND protects us, AND that we can know him, AND that he lays down his life for us.  The fact that Jesus is our shepherd is so humbling to me - in the OT lambs were sacrificed for the sake of the Shepherd, but here the roles are reversed and the Shepherd is sacrificed for the sake of the lambs. Overwhelming.

I've been thinking about home a lot today. I thought about Dad this morning when I was doing my quiet time at breakfast -- because he always does that. Then I was going through my suitcase and saw all the stuff I packed that I haven't used yet or didn't even remember that I brought, and I thought about mom :). Then life in technicolor by Coldplay came on my itunes and I thought about Andrew. I'm so blessed by your lives and I will be so happy to see you all in 21 days. I love you guys. 

oh and just a little correction: Sarah and I aren't going on our safari this week. Unfortunately. The reason being, is that the guy from Kisoro (in the province where we will be spending a few days our last week here) is coming up on Thursday and we are meeting with him to talk about what we will be doing there. But Brian and Renee assured us that we will be able to go on a safari, probably the last week we are here - we'll split our time between Kisoro and the game drive. So that's fine... I just need to see a lion.