A heart felt perspective; a glimpse into Why Africa.

Tonight I want to write about how EXCITED I am to be going to Africa.

I feel that “excited” is the wrong word. Perhaps ready, homesick, longing, hurting, hoping, waiting, wanting.

I watched the sun set tonight. It was about as African as the sunset gets here in Michigan. And I looked at the trails being left in the sky by metal birds flying every which way. As I breathed the fresh spring air, I knew that getting on a plane in 40 something days is exactly what I am suppose to do.

In all the busyness of “preparing”… getting ready… repeating the same words over and over, I sometimes forget. But I am now reminding myself, and telling you, that this time in Africa is what I want, what I believe I need, and what I long for. I am longing to give myself to others, I feel full and I want to pour out. I am finding ways to do this right here in Ann Arbor. But my heart knows that Africa is where I am made for. I am learning to love in a new way, and I want to get a chance to truly love the most beautiful people in the world… the poor, marginalized, the victims of war, the African.

Africa is home. People do not understand this, unless they have experienced it. To feel so strongly about a “place”… be it a VERY large place. A piece of land which draws you in, as you go to see… you suddenly discover you are part of a huge family. I walked into Uganda and felt like I was coming home for the first time. I long for earth that is not brown, but red. My feet have been clean, covered, for too long.

My heart yearns to be among the most beautiful people in the world, people of faith, wisdom, joy, simplicity, and a deep understanding of how the world works. I want to go to Africa. I am ready (or at least getting there) to be in Africa.

My heart has been kidnapped, not by Somali pirates, but by the songs and souls of a continent not my own. It has been taken prisoner by the stories, the lives, the pain, the suffering, and the joy of a continent far away. Yet so my own I claim… my family, my people, my land.

I will never dance like an African, but I will dance with all my heart. I will never speak like an African, but I will share my stories and open my ears to theirs. I will never understand everything… I will never know the answer to why the earth is red. I will just know that it is here, in Africa, that my feet are meant to stand.

I want to go to Africa. I believe I am suppose to go and spend this time in Africa.

We are created for things much greater than we will ever know.

We are prophets of a future not our own.