Dec 07 – Flying Home
It is 9:00am Pacific time. We have just crossed into US airspace. Another 3½ hours before landing at LAX. Then customs, goodbyes and the five hour drive home. This will be my longest “travel day” to date. Considering time zones, we left Kurungu at 8:00pm Sunday night. It will be almost 49 hours. While I don’t necessarily enjoy this aspect of Hume International, I certainly don’t dread it either. In fact, I am beginning to truly appreciate it.
When surrounded by the right people, exhaustion and jet lag can be quite amusing. It is funny to watch people nod off mid-sentence, or sleep in the most awkward and uncomfortable positions. I see some of the most amazing hair-dos and smell some awesome body cologne. Breath mints and mouthwash become legitimate food groups. And who needs fluoride treatment when that natural film builds up enough to coat your enamel?
Seriously, though, this trip has impressed upon me the sacrifice and gutsiness of previous mission generations. Today I will have crossed an ocean and a continent in 11 hours. Yesterday I was happy to have travelled 100 feet in the same time span. Eighteen hours of bone jarring, teeth rattling, washboard roads is still approaching light speed when compared to horseback or foot travel. We at Hume have a three hour roundtrip to buy groceries for two weeks or so. The Maples have a twenty-four hour commute they hope will supply them for 12-16 weeks. I was irritated at dial up speed internet trying to IM with my wife half a world away, while the Maples struggle to keep a 1960’s era deep freezer operating via kerosene.
I am not struggling with “post trip guilt syndrome”, otherwise referred to as PTGS.
The fact that God has placed me at Hume to serve Him is His call, not mine. Honestly, I don’t miss my cell phone reception. I don’t miss smog and traffic and a five minute drive home after a movie (okay, so maybe that last one is pushing the truth a bit). There is great contentment and peace that comes from obedience.
The Maples have that peace, that deep-seated joy; and they reveal it in speech and attitudes. Is it hard for them to watch their youngest daughter grow up without friends? Do their hearts grieve for her loneliness? Do they miss family birthdays, celebrations, holidays? Is it hard for them to say goodbye to sisters for a three to four year span? Is there a little bit of jealousy for the comforts of civilization? The answer to each of these questions is absolutely, whole-heartedly, unashamedly…yes. Yet, as painful and difficult as these things may be, they, like the Apostle Paul, “consider all things but loss, save for the excellency of Christ.”
I began this post comparing travel times and distances. I close it with a request for you to pray for those who are so greatly removed from the comfort and security of family and convenience. Pray that God may reward them with peace in this lifetime and rest in the one to come.