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| Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods The iconic symbols of home for me! |
But the bigger message I have been getting this week is that I am going home to Tanzania. Odd sensation given that I really have only been there for a few weeks of my lifetime. How can it be home? I have no family there, I don't really know the language or the culture. What makes a home a home?
My friend Nathan came up to me at our last small group and he said to me. "Lindsey as we were praying for you tonight, I could just see you in Tanzania, all smiling and happy. It was like you were home. Tanzania is the home you haven't had yet". I can't even describe the impact those words had on me. Those words flooded me with confidence and assurance that I am moving forward in the right direction. Sure there will be challenging days with cultural faux paus, the frustration of not having the conveniences of running water and my smart phone, of feeling like I don't really understand what is happening around me. Yet, I have nothing to fear because I am choosing to walk into this community and call them family. Yes, I will be going home because that is where my heart is.
It is also great how God reinforces a message even in silly social miscommunications. Like the other night when Kara and I went out to fondue, our conversation with the waiter went something like this:
Waiter: "So what is the occasion you are celebrating tonight"
Me: "We are both moving and this is our last hurrah."
Waiter: "Oh, where are you moving to?"
Me: "Kara is going to Boston and I am going to Tanzania."
Waiter: "Oh that is nice." His tone is such a way as that is the most routine thing for people to up and leave to go to Africa. As he leaves our table he says to me, "There is no place like home."
My response, which I don't think he heard: "Sure, if you call going to Africa, going home."
Kara and I just look at each other perplexed and amused and start laughing. Well, I guess I like the way he thinks.
A short while later, he swings by with some flyers and states "I don't know if they have a Melting Pot in Boston or in Kansas, but if they do, you can sign up to be a club member and get coupons and discounts."
He leaves and I look at Kara, confused. "Kansas? Where did he get Kansas?" At this point it clicks - he thought I had said I was moving to Kansas, not Tanzania. Hence the reference to Dorothy's most famous line from Wizard of Oz. Oh man, Kara and I had a good laugh over this. How does the word Kansas even sound like the word Tanzania?
But, even so, it was an uncanny conversation in light of everything else that has been going on this week. I appreciate God's grace in the midst of this big transition and helping me sort through all my feelings and emotions about the unknown future. These minor interactions have been the gentle light reinforcing the path I am on. I am embracing the ruby red slippers, clicking them and look ahead to Tanzania and saying: "There is no place like home. There is no place like home. There is no place like home!"
