From there to here...

 

It's been surreal being back in Clarkston for a season.  We'd expected to visit while we were stateside but not stay.   It's an understatement to say that I don't think 2020 is falling into place like any of us expected, but I know none of this comes as a surprise for the One who goes before us.  I don't know what He has in store for us next but already I'm so thankful He has us in this place for the moment.  

Tommy has really enjoyed being back in the classroom again and I've loved serving in the community.  I've been able to reconnect to friends from Syria and Iraq (I stayed in contact with them while in Lebanon but it's been different sitting down and having long conversations... in Arabic!). I wasn't sure how clear my accent is because the people around us while we've been learning know what words we know and don't know (just like a mother can often converse with her child but has to translate for strangers) so I was really excited when even my Iraqi friend understood me (the dialect is different- perhaps even more than someone with a strong accent from Chicago talking to someone from Texas with a deep drawl.)

Having been in Lebanon though it's given me an even greater desire to serve here during this season.  Many of these things I knew before in theory but after living in Lebanon, I feel are so much more real now.   I know how frustrating seemingly simple tasks can be when trying to complete them in a different culture and language.  I also now know the feeling of political turmoil and uncertainty (and while there is a lot of that here as well, I believe we felt it differently there).  There are experiences we didn't live through but have an understanding of like what life is like in the camps before coming and why children may be coming without any educational foundation.  

I've also felt the guilt of being safe here while friends there are suffering there.  So often talking to friends with family still in war torn areas there is underlying pain as they share about the mothers and fathers they left that were too old to physically make the journey crossing the border to safety.  

Our experiences do not even begin to compare.  We were coming back to visit family and wait for our visas to be processed not knowing the turmoil that Lebanon would soon experience so I do not claim to come close to understanding some of the trauma that our refugee friends have lived through.  But I'm thankful for the ways that God has given me even greater love for them and a deeper desire to truly welcome the foreigner as we were once aliens ourselves.  
 

 

33 “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:33-35

I should have learned this long ago, but I feel it's especially true for us now. 

James 4:13-15

Boasting about tomorrow

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
 

We are seeking what the Lord's will is for us next.  There is still much unrest and instability in Lebanon.  Pray for wisdom for us and clear direction from God.  We do not want to be fearful but neither do we want to be foolish.  Our greatest desire is to be obedient to God's will for us.  

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