goodbye comfort.

November 2008: I left with more than a dozen people I barely knew (from my home church) for Africa. We were going to help build housing for AIDS orphans in a community called ADZIWA in the country of Malawi. The moment I heard about this two week journey--I knew I would go.

What I didn't know before leaving? 

My heart would never beat the same again. 

I would never look at a child the same way again. 

I would never be able to fully explain how it felt to have a little child put his hand in mine while I was walking. 

My heart would break every day for the rest of my life after what I experienced there. 

Things that made me uncomfortable in Africa:

Fainting in the airplane hallway and then proceeding to vomit in the bathroom.

Waking up under mosquito nets. 

Having awful bugs and lizards find homes in my shoes.

Eating the worst food I've ever tasted.

Being so covered in dirt that even a shower couldn't wash it away.

Cleaning an open gash on a little girl's leg.

It was when I sitting in the dirt covered by a group of children on my lap and with their hands in my hair that I realized: I had never felt more at home in my life.  Paul David Tripp said this: "God isn't working on our comfort--he is working on our character." Ever looked around at our Lexus and latte filled land and wondered--"Is there more to life?" Then you are on the right track. Join me in saying. . .

goodbye comfort.