Last Post from Tabligbo

Once again I’ve taken a long time between posts.  It’s not that I don’t have anything to say, it’s that I have too much to say – or at least too much going on through my mind and I’m not sure how to say it. 

We left our house a week ago and have been staying in the Crowson’s guest house.  I can’t tell you what a big help they and all of our team have been to us.  Just one example:  Two nights ago we were eating at the Koonces and Maureen took some last minute sewing over to do on Louise’s machine.  She never got it completed and left it behind there.  Yesterday afternoon we came back to the Crowsons after running some errands and saying our goodbyes to our old neighbors.  When we got back here, there was a plastic bag at our door containing the sewing project that Louise had completed for Maureen.

On Tuesday, I was with Marty as he was giving some counseling to the Tabligbo elders, who have been hurt by some recent events.  Marty explained to them that we all experience “woundings” that we have to deal with.  Without any elaboration, he mentioned that they were wounded by our leaving.  He did not mean this as any kind of criticism of us for leaving, just saying that there is pain in the separation.  I was reminded of Henri Nouwen’s book, The Wounded Healer, and how we minister, even more effectively, when we minister out of our own woundedness.  This team has certainly done this for us.

Two days ago I celebrated my 45^th birthday.  Does this qualify as mid-life?

Today is Jeremy’s eighth birthday.  In about three hours, we’ll be leaving here and going down with all the team to a guest house with a pool for a low-key party, and then hang out at the Baptist conference center in the afternoon, get some rest, showers, etc. before flying out tonight at 10:20.  One little hiccup – the people who are buying my car said that they need me to go with them to the vehicle registration place to sign over the papers – so that will take a little time out of my afternoon.

Sometimes I wonder what kind of husband and father I am, leaving here without a “secure” (what an illusion!) long-term job waiting when I get back.  As I was lying awake in bed this morning, God reminded me of Abraham who just knew that he had been called to leave, but did not know his final destination—except that he was “looking for a heavenly city, whose builder and maker is God.”

I’m no Abraham, but I am thankful for this faith-building experience.  God has displayed his love and his grace by taking care major stressor that we have faced as we have prepared for this move – Maureen’s U.S. visa, shipping our belongings, selling our vehicle, …. I could go on.  I’m sure there will be other stressors on the journey, but I think that I am learning not to get quite so stressed—as I grow deeper in my confidence in God’s faithfulness.