Between A Rock and A Hard Place.

This week has been really really really hard, hence a hard place (Microsoft Word doesn’t like that I’ve used the word really three times in a row. The red lines are there. I just can’t catch a break). We have been extremely busy the last week and a half preparing for the arrival of all the Harvest school students this weekend/week. So busy that I strain to remember what day of the week it is. So busy that I literally don’t remember the last day I took a shower. Gross, I know, but that is how on the run Ive been this week. We’ve moved what feels like hundreds and hundreds of bunk beds, and in some cases, moved them two or three times. We’ve been trying to take care of bathroom leaks, answering the same questions from one hundred different students, moving hundreds of pounds in suitcases of all shapes and sizes, driving camions to and from the airport several times a day, sweating ourselves to sleep at night, and the list goes on. This has quite literally been one of the most draining and hard weeks of my life.

I love it. This is why I know I am wired for missions. Even after being on my feet all day, being displaced several times, being scolded for how I drive, wanting to slap several people upside the head, after all this there is no place I would rather be, and nothing I would rather be doing than serving here in Pemba, Mozambique. It’s entirely satisfying and fulfilling. As I am pushed from all directions to go further that I am able to I find myself running headlong into the arms of my Jesus. That is what this week is all about, learning that He is my everything. He is what I put my hope in. He is where I find my strength. The other day I found myself fuming mad about a task that I had been assigned to that seemed far irrelevant in comparison to the work that still needed to be done. I quickly received another call for yet another task that needed to be completed. As I turned and began to walk back to the student compound I just started praying, without even thinking about it. I don’t recall ever doing that before. It just came out, like a breath. I couldn’t stop it and I didn’t want to. At that moment, that prayer was what I needed to survive. I asked for His patience, His peace, His strength, His glory. I asked for more of Him that I had ever received. I was desperate for more and more and more of what He had to offer me. It was a fantastic moment, and it still makes me emotional simply recalling it.

Since then I have had several of these moments where I stop and simply let myself breathe Him in through prayer. It’s a new discipline for me, and I cannot wait to grow in it more and more and more. All of the hard stuff about this week has sent me running towards my rock. Even as the hard things push and suffocate me, I will not be moved. I know that the literal meaning for this phrase, “between a rock and a hard place” is meant to instill thoughts of hopelessness, with two unsatisfactory options presenting themselves to an individual, but for me it represents the strength of my Jesus. When I put my strength in him, when I trust in Him as my strong foundation, I cannot be moved or torn down. The hard stuff may be relentless in its pursuit of knocking me over, but I am against my Rock, and I will not be moved. That has been my comforting thought throughout this week.

With this week coming to a close we as a staff will find ourselves involved much less in physical labor and much more in spiritual movement. This week will bring childrens day, a national holiday celebrated here in Mozambique that has lead Iris to throw an enormous chicken feast for the children in Pemba. We are already expecting to feed about four thousand kids, so It is going to be quite the start for our brand new students. Shortly after we will be helping a conference in a village called Miaze which is about twenty minute drive from our base, and then starting school next week. Please be praying for our students and staff. It is already apparent that we need more of Jesus these next few months, so we desire to be filled until we spill over. We’re all in for a pretty wild ride.

And before I let you all on your merry ways throughout cyber space, I just want to give a shout out to the newly married Eric and Emily Crow. You guys are fantastic and I love that I’ve gotten to be a part of your lives. I wish you both a great life together, and I hope I get to see you soon!
Ciao kids.