Still Processing it All
“Overwhelmed” is a good word for it. “Stunned” would be a close second. And the “it” in question is a recent jaunt that I took into Sudan.
I got back a few short days ago. One would think that by now I’d have some sense about what it all meant for me, and about what difference if any I might have been able to make there in that remote and beautiful and frightening and hopeful place. But the simple fact is that I do not even know where to begin.
Well . . . perhaps that is an overstatement. I could begin by talking about the joy it has been to travel there with people like my dear friends Mike Lander and Dick Ackley. Talk about jewels! And then there are new-found friends like Roger England and Ward and Mona Filgo. Traveling there with these wonderfully gifted and Christ-like people was a real joy.
I could also go on and on about the missionaries whose critical work in the quiet villages of Sudan will indeed reap eternal rewards. They are making a difference. They are absolutely wonderful people. Sometime in the very near future I’ll tell more of them, give you some of their own blogs, etc.
But right now I’m still trying process all of that. Just as I am trying to process the Sudanese lost boys whose lives had been so wrecked by strife and yet who are seeking to rebuild their own lives and the lives of their people–and in ways that look amazingly like what Jesus might choose to do.
To say I’m happy to be home with my girls is an understatement. But somehow or another a large piece of my heart is still somewhere in the bush of southern Sudan. As I figure out how and why I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, however, remember to pray for Mr. Ackley and the others who are still there.