Sometimes in life you feel like you are marching to the beat of a different drummer. Now mind you are trying to stay in step with the rest of the band but somehow you seem to be lagging behind or half a step ahead. If you ever have been in a marching band or marched with a drill team you know that being in step is key.
Recently a group of us have been getting together to play soccer. Some have played soccer at different levels and some like Joe and I have never really played before. Everyone is gracious for us newbies but every once and awhile when the ball is coming for me I reach out my hands to catch it, which is a not allowed in soccer. I played basketball and softball, the coaches drilled into our heads CATCH THE BALL so sometimes that training from over 20 years ago comes out.
Joe and I have been here for almost 8 months now. Which is hard to believe in some ways and in some ways it seems like longer. We have truly loved our time here and consider our flat in Wilro to be our home. We are forming our community here; some who look like us and some who do not. We are enjoying planning for the future and being a part of what God is doing here on the Africa South Field. At the same time I miss home. The other home, the one that doesn’t really exist anymore. I miss our “framily” and our church community. I miss being able to call my family without doing time zone math. And all of that is natural; it is a part of the process of learning to live outside of your passport country.
I have been realizing that lately I have been going through the frustration/ disintegration/not so fun stage of cultural adjustment/shock. Now one could partly blame the pregnancy hormones; which I am sure don’t help matters much. But it is more than that. I feel like I’m a few beats behind everyone else in the band; that I’m playing basketball on a soccer field. That there are some things that I should just know how to do or understand why they happen that way, but I do not. And/or that I should be further along in this or that. The wonderful thing about this just being a stage is that it will pass. But until it does I have to remember to be gracious with others around me, with Joe, and the one I struggle the most with being gracious with, myself.
I also have to remember that the God who was with me in Kansas City, is with me in Johannesburg, He is marching right beside me and He is trying to show me how to get in step if I will just follow Him. That is true no matter what country you live in, no matter where your passport is from. I am so thankful to be serving a God that is with us, that never leaves us or forsakes us. A God that is with us where we are, but is always calling us to be more like Him.
In other news: We will hopefully find out this week if our Jelly Bean (what we have been calling our Little One) Is Blueberry or Bubblegum flavor J. And we are gearing up for the Africa Regional Conference that will be hosted here in Johannesburg.
Until next time: Remember that the umbrella is only useful when you remember to take it with you when it is raining. Otherwise it is just a weird dust collector.
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