We’ve gone nearly 3,000 miles,
had a top temperature of 118 and a low of 54 (Fahrenheit), gone as high as
10,000ft and as low as – 186ft, seen some amazing sights, and met some lovely
generous and kind-hearted people. We’ve seen houses that are stupidly large,
stepped inside shops that have far too much choice, been to restaurants that
serve such large portions you could feed off them for a week, and driven on
roads that were so long and straight they must have been built by Romans on an
away-day!
Everything in America is larger
than life it seems, even the fruit is massive (a definite point in its favour
from my perspective!), and its been fun rediscovering the places we knew from
living out here, and also discovering for the first time a bunch of places new
to us.
As well as special times with
family and friends, the trip has also given space to reflect, and those have
been precious times, the outcomes of which I have sometimes shared in the
blogs. It has been an interesting experience coming here so quickly after the
CRED trips to Rwanda and Ethiopia, and whilst I’ve had a good time the trip has
confirmed that I don’t think I could cope with living here again. There is too much that doesn’t sit
comfortably with me anymore, having visited so many countries and projects that
are at the other end of the income and lifestyle spectrum, and I fear that I
would either spend my whole time rebelling, or I would get sucked into the
consumer way and lose the focus of my calling. But, as we aren’t planning on
moving back here, that is just an observation, not a cryptic hint at anything
else!
I can understand why the founder
of Compassion International, one of the biggest child sponsorship programmes,
nearly had a nervous breakdown when he returned from his first trip abroad to
Africa and went shopping at the local supermarket. The overwhelming amount of
choice and the quick mental calculation of how many Africans that he had just
been with could be fed, watered, and given healthcare just from that one store
was the spark that prompted him to set up Compassion, and that has driven the
passion behind it ever since.
We visited the Aquarium at
Monterey Bay this morning. Having been out on the water yesterday and Monday,
seeing the sea-life from on top, it was fascinating to go inside the aquarium
and see the same ecosystem from below the water line. So many creatures all
living together in a balanced system; some very visible, some hard to see, some
big, some tiny.
The ones I love the most are the
jellyfish – they look so graceful as they pulse along, tentacles trailing
behind them. Some of them are so small and translucent they’d be really hard to
see, but still they are a work of beautiful creation.
As I watched them swim slowly
around, they reminded me that nothing is too small for God to know and care.
Sometimes amongst the largeness of life, it’s easy to feel very small and
insignificant, but we are never that in God’s eyes. He knows all the jellyfish
and plankton and other minutiae of life, and if He knows all that then He
definitely knows us, and loves us, and wants to live life with us if we’ll let
Him in.
A lovely last thought before
flying home – thank you Monterey for providing the aquarium that prompted it!
Now back to the UK, and see what
is on the to-do list
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