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Christmas greetings from Charlottesville,
Virginia!
This Advent season my reflections are very
much in a ‘journey to Jesus’ mode. I think of those eastern astrologers
loading up their camels to follow a quietly shimmering sign they’ve never seen
before, not sure exactly where it will take them, but knowing that the journey
is God-driven, God-guided. Bill & I are on an unexpected journey of our
own. We came to the US in May for ‘home assignment’ (missionary furlough),
thinking we’d be here through December, then back to Kenya in January to resume
teaching at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology and St. Paul’s
University. But it’s become clear that for personal reasons we need to stay
here for the indefinite future.
For many people this might feel like coming
home. But after 17 years overseas – 4 in the UK, 8 in Ethiopia, and 5 in
Kenya – this is an unfamiliar path for us. Our work, friends, community,
possessions, and family memories are all in another country. Now we’ve loaded
up our camels for parts unknown. We’re grieving the losses of things left
behind. We’re settling into a new community, meeting new people, learning where
to shop, looking for jobs, all in an environment that feels exotic to us. My
head is spinning. Which is one reason I haven’t managed to write you an update
since we arrived. Another reason is that our situation is constantly in flux.
Not sure yet where we’ll end up or what it will look like, so it’s hard to know
what to tell you.
Those of you who’ve been through a major
transition at mid-life can probably imagine just how to pray for us now. The
long list of needs includes:
- New friends and community, a sense of being at home in a new context
- Progress in the in-depth counseling process we’ve chosen to go through
- New careers which somehow connect with our training and experience
- In the meantime, part-time jobs to fill the financial gap
- A good used car to purchase – if any of you on the US East Coast know someone who’d like to sell a 5-year-old Toyota Camry or Honda Accord, less than 100,000 miles, at a missionary discount price, I’d love to hear about it!
- Faith, patience and energy to walk the journey
During this transition time, we each remain
members of and under the care of our mission agencies, me with SIM
and Bill with The Antioch Partners. We’ve already communicated with our
regular donors about the logistical details. If you’d like to give a special
gift to help with transition expenses you can do so here for SIM or here for The Antioch Partners.
I keep thinking that when those curious
stargazers finished their long and mysterious journey, they ended up exactly
where God was. Born in fragility, messy with the reality of human existence,
newly arrived to engage with his broken human creatures. My prayer is that our own
God-driven, God-guided – yet puzzling and unexpected – journey will also bring
us face to face with Jesus. I’m holding onto the hope that when we reach the
end, wherever that is, we’ll discover that God is already there.
Emmanuel. God with us.
