stairwell accompaniment:Bob Dylan

We are settling back in to this place we call home as much as we'd like at this point. It was a peculiar situation to arrive back in The Homeland of Excess in time for celebrations of an uncanny patriotic independence in the cultural way only Americans can celebrate.

My brief stints in the role of foreigner has truly warped my perception of allegiance. It seems that even the church often pledges its allegiance to a thing we hold too tightly to and should not. I continue to try to ask the hard questions and hope for the bigger thoughts in an often single-minded place.

We've been spending time with family and taking time to visit with good friends. Cleaning out our possessions and weeding out things and stuff. Keeping the windows proped open and enjoying thunderstorms through them.

I've been asked if Africa changed us? Will we return? I am convinced that no one encounters poverty of that magnitude and walks away the same. How exactly it has changed us will honestly be played out in coming days, months and years. The true effect is seen in actions and not emotions. How we feel about our experience is trivial in light of what action we take in response to it. What does Africa mean to our money, our prayers, our time and our comfort? I suspect that we will meet Africa again in future days. I will humbly leave it at that.

For now God has graced us with a short period to rest our bones, look for Him in unexpected places, find our hearts mended in brokenness and ...celebrate a wedding.

More than most times I am hopeful for our future in spite of the awareness that we are the people who live in expectation. For great things. And even greater things. The excitement that often catches me by surprise. On the horizon and slowly growing larger.