Precious Memories

ADRA Africa Regional Office

Here's what my office looks like. Not sure how much longer I'll be working here though :(

Sayin' Goodbye

Leaving but not letting go and still believing that we’ll meet again. Even though the odds are against us, we wait, we trust, we hope. What tomorrow holds we’ll never know. But with each day comes a glimpse of tomorrow – an opportunity to shape tomorrow. With every separation I leave a part of me. All that remains are thoughts and memories of those we love and cherish. In those thoughts and memories lives a hope. A hope that you’ll meet again. A hope that even though we’re far from each other we can still care. The limitations that come with distance make it almost impossible to wipe out the tears that trickle down your face when times get rough.

Standing at the cross roads we wave goodbye. Heading into a future that reserves surprises beyond our wildest imaginations. Here I stand in that future. But hopefully this isn’t the end. For the course that I charted from the start is nothing compared to where I now stand. What’s next? I think hard and coin beautiful answers. But deep down inside I feel uncertain. I’m afraid. Sometimes I think I’ve stopped to believe. Do we leave because it’s God’s plan or is it simply destiny taking its course. The older I get the more question marks I get. The more I leave the more I feel numbed to this pain that once seemed unbearable. The more I leave the more I learn to love. To love beyond human limitations. To love and to give. To love and to sacrifice for people like me – members a family that was separated from ages past. Relatives of different skin and eye color. Brothers of different cultures. Sisters with brown, green, yellow, blue eyes, a mere reflection of years of pain, all tucked inside. Mothers and fathers that have all their lives struggled to meet their basic needs.

I leave and it hurts. But wherever I go, I meet family. People who like me have been scarred by the reality of sin. People who, like me, have experienced the pain of saying goodbye, often with no hope of ever meeting again. I also meet brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces, mothers and fathers, who have never experienced what it is to be loved or to love. Perhaps that is what You have called me to do. I don’t know for sure. Perhaps I will never know. But I leave and even though it often hurts, I continue to love. To give of myself. “…For it is in giving that we receive and in dying that we’re born to eternal life”

So Afraid

Take my heart, and wring it out
In Your hands and watch it all collapse
Take Your Love, and drive it in
Into my soul, and never leave again

Cuz I am so afraid
That Ill find myself alone
Looking for a savior, looking for a home
I am so afraid
That Ill find myself alone
Lookin for a savior, Lookin for a home

So dont leave me here alone
Dont leave me here alone

All Your hope, and all my pride
All this time to watch it all collide
When everyone seems to say,
You can work it out
Under my skin, Im shaking
And I cant get out

So dont leave me here

This is not what You said
Its all in my head
When I throw my anger at You instead
So dont give up on me
I want to believe
That Youll never leave me
But I am so afraid
That Ill find myself alone
Lookin for a savior, lookin for a home
I am so afraid
That Ill find myself alone
Deep into the ages, deep into the foam
I am so afraid
That Ill find myself alone
Lookin for a savior, lookin for a home
So dont leave me here alone
Dont leave me here alone

Bebo Norman

Lord I don't know...

You are the author of knowledge
You can redeem what's been done
You hold the present and all that's to come
Until your everlasting kingdom
Lord, I don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt
You are the God of tomorrow
Turning the darkness to dawn
Lifting the hopeless with hope to go on
You are the rock of all salvation
Lord, I don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt
Oh, Lord, you are the author
Redeeming what's been done
You hold us in the present
And all that is to come
Lord, we don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead us to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt
Music by Peter Furler / Lyrics by Steve Taylor and Peter Furler

ADRA Africa

So it's been a long time since I've updated my newsletter and by now I'm sure there are very few of you out there reading it. I guess I have an excuse for the long period without posting...well, kind of. To make the long story short, there basically wasn't much happening around here and I had very little to write about.

I'm back to Africa and it's great to be back to the mother land. Living at home/with my parents has been hard to adjust to, however. After living alone for a while there are many things that I've had to start getting used to again. But I'm doing alright. It's called adaptation and humans are usually the best at it.

Well, as some of you already know, I'm working at the ADRA Africa Regional Office. I don't really have a title. My work is mostly centered on translating report and developing PR material. Since there's only the Regional Director and me working here for the moment, the job description is often too flexible. As a matter of fact, there isn't a job description.

I got a call to go back and work in Sri Lanka as an Assistant Project Director. The offer sounded great and I took it up. Still working on visa and all the paper work that comes with it. I still plan to head back to school in August. This time for real. Motivation: seeing Sendy soon. I know what you're thinking...

Soon I'll be uploading some photos of my activities here in Kenya. Nothing too exciting though. Glad I'm not dodging bombs and bullets anymore.

Bye for now