Out of Africa

I think I am finally getting my head wrapped around the fact that I am back on US time.  WOW.  I guess that's what you call jet lag.  don't like.....  sleep has not been easy these last few days.  Bed by 9:00 or 8:00 or 7:00, up at 3:00 or 4:00. Napping at weird hours in the afternoon and early evening.  Stomach issues that are a little understandable considering the eating habits of the last couple weeks. Still having trouble with just about everything I put in my mouth. May never eat chicken again.

But what an amazing trip.  I could just stop typing this now because no matter how many words I put down, how many pictures I show or how many stories I tell, nothing will ever be enough.  There are simply no words or pictures that can explain my time in Zambia.  No words or pictures can explain how those people made me feel, how they looked at us when we came into their village, how they welcomed us into their world, how they loved us with true, undeserving love, how they showed me how a true Christian should live.  There are things I experienced that will forever be etched in my mind.  People and views and words and songs that I will never forget.

Since coming home, I have had a wide assortment of thoughts and feelings (lack of sleep or strange sleep patterns do this to a person). I have learned so much about myself and the world around me. .  Things I hope I never forget.
Here are 20 of the things on my long list:   (in no specific order)

1).  Hug your toilet on a daily basis.  I mean seriously....go hug it.
2).  Eat your veggies....these are precious resources
3).  Conserve energy.  It may not always be available
4).  Take your kids to get a Happy Meal.  (I know it's not healthy but once won't kill them.)
5).  Take your job (whatever it is) seriously and be dedicated to it.  Not everybody has one.
6).  Hug your toilet.
7).  Enjoy a long, hot shower.  I mean really enjoy it.
8).  Touch a tree
9).  Listen to the music....really listen
10). Kiss a snotty nosed kid on the head....you won't die.
11). Hug your toilet.
12). Pray for any missionaries you know(or don't know) their sacrifice is huge
13). Look people in the eye...really look
14). Smile at somebody...It might be the only one they get for a while
15). Be thankful for every single solitary thing you have and remember where it came from
16). Take absolutely nothing for granted
17). Play in the rain and mud
18). Eat strange berries from a tree (under the guidance of a professional)
19). turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth.  Water is precious
20). Hug your toilet


But I think the most important thing I learned was that people are the same no matter where they are.  We are all doing the same thing.  Surviving from day to day. Now, it may be in a completely different way and in a completely different country, but isn't that really what we are trying to do?  Just survive?  Somebody in Sunday school today said that life is life and living is living.  We may do it differently but it's still living.  And no matter how different they live or how different the country is, we have one God that loves us; one God that we can live for.  The same God that loves me here in little Kings Mountain loves those beautiful people I met in the remote villages of Zambia, Africa.
I think that's pretty cool.