For anyone wondering, reverse culture shock is a beast and still going, going, and going like the stinking Energizer Bunny! I'm not a fan.
So I arrived and was homeless until mid March, true story! I guess you could say I was living out of my car since between then and now I've put about 10K miles on it, but mostly I stayed in OPP (which I hope really does stand for Other People's Property) I'm definitely down with OPP yeah you know me- my friends have some really nice digs!
**Thank you Mom & Dad, Matthew & Cara, Carrie, Coles, Ross', Whitehursts, Sandy, McConvilles, Tiffs, Mentons, Gambers, Waters, Days, Montgomerys, Bagunus, Hollemans, Whitleys, Bales, Lauren, McKays, Shands, Allens, Fentons, Tuttles, Libba, Phillips, Lusbys, Harts, Aimee, Cruises, Louisiana District, Kolmans, Kirkpatricks, Yanceys, Grants, Steinbachs, McCarty, Shanna, and Jamie for your time, support, and hospitality already this year! **
Wow! I really get around! And I really did enjoy my time with each of them, but what I could've done without was all the stuff in my car- like 3 XL suit cases, a couple of totes, a couple overnight bags, all pertinent electronics, missions booth stuff, back pack, couple of purses, Vicks humidifier, case of water, case of coke, you know, my LIFE! oh wait, let's not forget the 100oz, 64 load, bottle of liquid, original scent Tide detergent. It's like my American Express, I don't leave home without it.
Do you know what happens when a 100oz, 64 load bottle of thick blue liquid original scent Tide spills in your car/home/mobile office/closet/storage unit? Because I DO!
I'd just driven from OKC to Dallas and was checking into the Holiday Inn about to go pick Sara up from the airport and take her to the Thai Consulate to get her Visa. Other than the snow storm I'd just survived in OK, things had been pretty smooth as far as travels go, I was determined to be prepared and organized and just enjoy the road! I was unloading my neatly packed overnight bag when I noticed it, my soft shell suit case appeared to have something purple all over it, I touched it hesitantly it was sticky, I pulled it out thinking no harm, no foul I'll clean it off! WRONG! Harm AND Foul!
I'm not sure my description can do it justice, but I'm going to try:
First of all, I calmly went inside checked in and grabbed a nice white towel from my hotel room and went down to assess the damage. So.. imagine all that STUFF in my car. Imagine, a small canvas bag of electronics, chargers, camera, ipod, USBs, SOAKED! Imagine my brand new prayer cards in a cardboard box, DRIPPING! Imagine books filled with BLUE pages! Imagine my new to me car, recently detailed, with FORMERLY light tan, cloth interior! Imagine a bottle of 100oz Tide with about 20oz left! EVERY NOOK & CRANNY! Did I mention it is raining? Because it's raining. I'm soaked, the parking lot is getting a good cleaning as soap bubbles surround the back of my car. Nonetheless I pulled it all out and wiped it down best I could, tossing what could not be salvaged, and went to close the hatch of my SUV. Do you know what happens in that indentation around the license plate when the hatch has been up in the rain for a good 20 minutes? It fills with water. Do you know what happens to said water when the hatch is slammed shut and you are 5'2'? My head was soaked and my silk blouse transparent! I then trekked thru the lobby and up to the 3rd floor of the Holiday Inn Express soaked with my newly blue STUFF! I ran the tub full of water and stuck it all in there, I didn't know what else to do. Then I opened the soft shell suit case to get out a change of clothes and surprise I now have thick sweaters and shirts and jeans pretreated with Tide, in a frenzy I dumped them all into the tub. I threw on dry clothes and drove to the airport to pick up my friend. I came back to a blue liquid filled tub with electronics and sweaters, oops! It was then that we noted that there was a washer and dryer on the ground floor.. so we hauled the blue soaking wet sweaters and jeans, down the hall and into the elevator, machines full so we had to make a couple more trips. There are now "caution wet floor!" signs in the elevators and pretty much every where we had been and maids cursing in Spanish about some unknown agua azul!
Rereading this, I really CANNOT do this situation justice, but hopefully this gives you a glimpse to the Tide Fiasco.
What did I get out of this aside from a great smelling vehicle and lots of blue stuff?
Well, I had really been wrestling with God on some issues, some plights of those I love specifically stuff like Psalm 51:17 where it says, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
Why do you want us to be broken, Lord? (Granted there are dozens of more verses about how He's near the brokenhearted, He desires to revive the broken in spirit, He heals the brokenhearted, etc. etc.) But He really desires for us to be broken for Him? It just sounds terrible. It doesn't preach, Lord. I don't like seeing my friends broken either. And I don't really want any part of it myself, I'd tell Him. Then the Tide spilled.
64 loads is a lot of good cleaning out of one whole, sealed tightly bottle, but you wouldn't believe how far it can go when it's broken and spilled out. It reached nooks and crannies there's no way I could have even dreamed to reach or pour into from the whole, tightly sealed bottle. As I continue to find the tide and get whiffs from the back of my car, I'm reminded that when we're broken for Him even if some of that is for REAL brokenness, times of pain, discomfort, ugliness even, our reach is greater. Whole and tightly sealed with my controlled times of pouring out I've got 64 clean loads. Broken and spilled out my life reaches nearly unlimited nooks and crannies and nations. My reach is far extended and the pour is uncontrolled (by me anyway) now He's guiding and controlling the pours, it's reaching people and places I wasn't even aware existed (like the insides of USBs!) or maybe even kids in a village, up a mountain, and across a creek.
In her brokenness she now reaches mothers who have lost children born too soon because her story can now ooze into the depths of their pain and bring fellowship and healing. Out of his broken past he reaches those in the throes addiction. In their brokenness for the lost of Kenya they live among them and bring water to their parched souls and parched land. Out of the brokenness of poverty they endeavor to feed the nations. Out of the brokenness of a devastating tornado she joins the disaster relief team. Out of a broken home, a lonely childhood, they foster, they adopt. And these are just a few of my friends.
I guess the moral of the story is we should embrace our brokenness, but always buy hardshell luggage.
