Divine Spaciousness in Tight Places

I feel as though I should have something a little more profound or eventful to write about on the occasion of my 200th blog post.  Alas, I do not.  It's really just a collection of those small things that have come to mean something big in recent weeks, those little saving graces, those things for which I sent a "thank you, Jesus!" up to the heavens on more than one occasion.  They are the things that I could, no doubt, survive without but they make the going a little easier.  Many moons ago, I had a friend pass along this quote to me, from Barbara Brown Taylor's book Leaving Church:

“Many years ago now, when I was invited to speak at a church gathering, my host said, ‘Tell us what is saving your life now.’  It was such a good question that I have made a practice of asking others to answer it even as I continue to answer it myself.  Salvation is so much more than many of its proponents would have us believe.  In the Bible, human beings experience God’s salvation when peace ends war, when food follows famine, when health supplants sickness and freedom trumps oppression.  Salvation is a word for the divine spaciousness that comes to human beings in all the tight places where their lives are at risk, regardless of how they got there or whether they know God’s name.  Sometimes it comes as an extended human hand and sometimes as a bolt from the blue, but either way it opens a door in what looked for all the world like a wall. This is the way of life, and God alone knows how it works." 

So these things are my extended human hands or bolts from the blue, the things that have found me in tight places as of late:

1) My Sseko sandals - oh man, am I glad I have these sandals.  I LOVE these things.  On my last trip, I brought a not-so-great pair of tennis shoes and they wreaked havoc on my feet.  I really wasn't sure what to pack this time around, half-afraid everything was going to just cause pain from all of the walking we do around the village.  So, so, so glad I've got these with me.  Buy your own pair (and support some efforts in Uganda in a practical way!) and see what I mean.

2) My smartphone - I know, I know.  I vowed to loathe this thing for all eternity when I first got it.  Just ask anyone who was within 50 feet of me in the first few days I had it. I ranted and raved about this phone - and not just the phone itself, but the principle of having to pay what I did for it.  My mother was tired of hearing about it. *Swallowing my pride and eating my words* I will concede that it has been a gift, primarily because I've been readily able to check emails on the go when the guest computer is less-than-speedy and because of some of the apps I have.  Actually when it comes to apps, it's mainly Skype and Pandora.  (Howard Shore and Bethel Music are my top two fave stations.)  I'm not saying I won't chuck the thing when I get back to the States and switch back to my dumbphone, but I am glad I have it on this trip.

3) Emails from friends and family - There are some emails that have literally just made my day, even though whomever is sending them might think they are entirely trivial.  And the longer the email the better.  I just love getting personal emails, having that connection to life back home, knowing what's going on in my friends' and family's lives.  Those things matter to me.  I think sometimes people might put up this barrier and think, "Oh, Courtney's in Kenya - she doesn't need to be bothered we these mundane or inconsequential details..." Ahh, but you are mistaken!  I LOVE  knowing the mundane and the simple details of life back home, the stories.  Please keep 'em coming!

4) When kids say the darndest things - In a village of about 100 kids, there are bound to be things that come out of their mouths that make you laugh out loud.  That happened the other day.  I was taking a walk with Johnson (my caterpillar friend) and somehow we got to talking about the biggest states in America, but then the next question out of his mouth, somehow or another, was about bombs.  It took me probably a solid 30 seconds to decipher what in the world he was talking about and to catch up with his end of the conversation, but I finally caught on.  Then he goes, "Please, do you know where the bombs are?' "No, do YOU know where the bombs are?" "No, please.  Al-Shabab has them."  Seriously?  You're like how old? 7? 8? and you know who Al-Shabab is? And I still don't know how we got from Texas, California and Alaska to asking who has bombs?  I have no idea why, but that hit my funny bone hard in that moment and I had to work hard at not laughing hysterically because he said it so seriously and with a such straight face.  I'm still laughing about it.         

5) Cheez-Its - When I still had some.  I ran out last week. :( :(  That warrants a double-sad-face.  Totally a First World problem-kind-of-thing, but nevertheless you can bet I will be putting in a request for a box of Cheez-Its to be waiting for me at the airport upon my return.  Forget kissing American soil.  I'll be hugging that box of Cheez-Its.  (And no, this is not a prompt to give me Cheez-Its for every birthday and Christmas gift for the rest of my life.  I might have a slight love for these things, but that does not mean I want a lifetime supply of them.)

6) Peanut Butter - I think us girls living here for the short-term have eaten our weigh in peanut butter.  We put it on everything.  Bananas.  Crackers.  Toast.  Apples.  Cookies.  Whatever we can get our hands on, we throw some peanut butter on there with it.  When you eat kale, rice, beans and an assortment of other Kenyan staples, peanut butter suddenly looks likes the greatest food ever invented. 

7) Pastor Brad's sermon from July 22 - I needed to hear it.  You probably do, too.  Listen to it.

8) My mom's weekly cards and emails from my dad - Before I left, my mom handed me a stack of cards, one for each week I was originally supposed to be here.  I have exercised self-control and only opened them at the beginning of their appointed week.  Thank you, Mom!  I love them and read them often.  And Dad, your emails mean the world to me.

9) Weekend trips out of the village - It's just nice to get out every now and then.  Granted, it takes like an hour to get any place decent just because of the roads being not-so-great, but load me up on some Dramamine and we can go anywhere.

10) Java House - God bless you, Java House, for your vanilla milkshakes, tasty chicken sandwiches and stellar french fries.  I think those three things speak for themselves.  

So those are the things that have been saving me lately, the small graces that God gives each day, the manna that arrives at just the moment I need it to.