As Time Goes By...

A blog I wrote in Casablanca, please read on!

DAY 16 Sunday June 20^th 2010

Well here I am at last, sitting in the Casablanca airport, between two worlds missing one and longing for the other. There is no other place that has the ability to break my heart like Africa. I realize now as I leave that my thoughts are constantly turning back, to the poverty, the pollution, the children, the way the sand and sea smells and the way the slums cram together humanity in the most broken way. All I can turn to is Christ, because every good thing I have seen, every moment of hope and joy in this land is clearly because of him. He is the one who gives strength to the woman, threatened by abandonment to rely on more than just the temporary. He is the one who lifts up the hands of the father who feels useless to provide in prayer and who gives him hope. He is the one who gives laughter and smiles to the small child who knows little of life but trash and dirty water. In every instance he is there and gives comfort even if it’s through the help of a stranger.

As you walk through your lives as you live each moment in your comfort I can tell you without a doubt many people here have more than you. They have faith that moves mountains, they have hope that gives them joy, they have trust in something infinitely more fulfilling than material possessions. They hold on to One who is ever constant and good. Should we call them poor? Yes in one sense, but to those who hope in Christ in this land of brokenness it is clear that God has defied all circumstances, entered into their broken lives and made them whole, perfect and joyful despite their condition. What God could do such a thing? What God could make what I thought was hopeless the biggest encouragement my faith has ever seen? What God could make a life I would say is barely worth living the happiest of all? God does more than provide for material possessions, he provides for the heart. As I look at my life I have so much, a family, education, a place to stay and an abundance of food, yet in his wisdom God has planned to give me something greater, a chance to be saved from the fickle life of materialism. There is nothing fulfilling in being the most successful, the most beautiful or the most intellectual, all those things prove empty over time, when we are honest we know that this is true. Yet if you give Christ a chance to show you what life is worth and what putting your trust in him means then come what may, death, poverty, sorrow and pain you can never lose everything because you have a constant, you have a savior from all things who loves you.

Soon I’ll board the plane and leave this continent, soon I’ll be back to a more familiar place, in a land where most people look much like me, yet I hope that you will know that I am changed.