To Be Known

To be known by another human is a good thing. To be known by God is great thing. One is a conquest, the other a promise.

While getting to meet so many humans over the past three months, yet really knowing no one, a great desire to be known once more has been planted in my soul. Twenty-six guests arrived at JT yesterday, some were neighbors and already knew each other and some were strangers. Last night as I got up from the dinner table to head back to my room and watch TV, I was shocked that no one else was getting up. Even when the mosquitoes came out in full force, families stayed. Strangers began to become friends. It was awesome.

Today was my day off, and per usual on my day off, I woke up super early. There is something about not having to be anywhere on my day off that shoots my body out of bed. It wants to get started doing nothing. Ha! Awkwardly coming to breakfast in my casual clothes, I sat down next to an American family living in India. They were so interested in getting to know me, and if you know me at all, I love getting to know people and talking about my life and how God has brought me to certain seasons in it. I talked and I talked and I talked. The kids were asking me all sorts of questions and sharing about their life in India. I talked so much, I hadn't taken more than four bites of my breakfast by the time the staff started clearing tables. It was awesome.

Shortly after, everyone was gathering at the pool, and I decided to join. Kids were screaming and sliding down the water slide. Dads were competing in some type of water resistance training. Moms were gabbing. I was in the middle of it all. Literally, I was standing in the middle of the shallow end, holding someone's daughter, and talking to the moms while laughing at the dads proving themselves with each dive. We had water relays, complete with cheering each other by name and squealing and lots of water swallowed. There was conversations about the beginning of romances that turned into marriages that turned into overseas missions. About birth control and God's sense of humor. About maturity and prayer and listening to God's voice. Again, people were sharing their lives, rubbing souls together, and becoming more than acquaintances. It was a pool party, and it was awesome.

My afternoon was spent with the usual bakery, book, and buying peanut butter. On the way home, as soon as I got out of the city, traffic got terrible. Usually on the main road from JT to the city, there will be very little traffic hiccups. Your occasional semi turning off the road that backs things up for half a minute or so, given that the road is one lane each way, but other than that, it flows quickly. Everyone usually passes the slow moving food carts and cars. But this was different, and I knew it after about a minute of idling. People coming the opposite direction were covering their mouths and looking back in the direction they had come. Something was wrong. I had seen an ambulance right when I was leaving the city, headed in, and now I knew why. I crept past the scene. All I saw was a police car parked in the middle of the road, a skinny woman in regular clothes directing traffic, by-standers staring, and a cop with a household broom sweeping red water into a ditch off the road. The entire road was covered in watered-down blood. My heart skipped a beat as I was waved through by this citizen-turned-police woman. I was playing Justin Bieber in the car as I left the city, and now somehow listening to a pubescent boy wail about his relationship conquests just didn't seem appropriate anymore. I turned on Needtobreathe's "Slumber" and kept rolling the scene over in my mind. Was that person gonna make it? Who was it? Were they known by other humans?

To be faced with the beauty of relationships beginning and the horror of sudden tragedy in the span of a few hours brought me to God with a lot of chatter. He said, "You're known." He knows me, oh so intimately. He knows that person in the wreck on the road. He knows the children I held in the pool. He knows the moms and dads serving Him in far away lands. He knows you, like really knows you. I gotta keep talking to him. I gotta know him more. He is awesome.

Friends & Future

Chan Puan Sawadee Ka! (Hello My Friends!)

 

It's been a busy month here at JT! We have had massive ebbs and flows in guests, and I got to travel to Cambodia to see my best friend. In the words of my favorite band, "The days turn into to months the months into years, so just for a moment, let's be still." Being here is a constant flux between running and stillness. One week the place will be full of life, babies wailing and their little feet pattering all over the grounds, transports coming and going, loading and unloading. Even when my body is still, my mind is always churning, thinking about the next arriving guests or scheduling some getaway for a family. Always thinking about my next steps in life and who I will spend my time with. "Let's be still."

 

I am beginning to understand how quickly life flies by when you have put a time limit on its seasons. I committed to six months at the JT, and it's half over. I literally cannot believe it. I also can't imagine leaving in three months. So, in the next week, I will be having conversations with our resident director about my future here. If you think about it, pray for my heart and emotions in this decision. I'm not really worried about it at all, but it can't hurt to pray for the right commitment. I'm not sure if they will need a hard date for my leaving or if I can just jet off whenever, either way, pray!

 

Like I mentioned earlier, I got to see my best friend from university this past week in her residence in Cambodia. All I could do to describe the trip upon return was to say, "It was good for my soul." It was truly a soul trip. Everything about it was water to my soul. Thanks, God!

 

The next four months here are crazy! We have five conferences here in November, and December until February are completely booked! I am taking these next few days to breathe and prepare myself for the excitement and busyness of this next season.

 

"Let's Be Still."