Big Picture

Today has been a really good day.  Currently, I am hanging out at a “camp” right outside of Nairobi, Kenya.  By camp, I mean miniature resort… and there is actually carpet in my room!  I’m here to visit my beloved friend, Alicia, whom I have shared the last 5 years of my life with prior to moving to this massive continent.  Seeing her is seriously a dream come true!  Now, my friends in Rwanda are fantastic.  I love them OH SO MUCH!  But there is something special about seeing a friend from home, someone who was with me while I was praying about coming to Rwanda, while being in Africa!  The two world’s merging together = complete bliss. 

I took a short 1.5 hour flight to get to Kenya, and because I haven’t been in an airplane since I arrived to Rwanda, I experienced many flashbacks of feelings and apprehensions that God has certainly calmed and reassured since my arrival.  He has brought me a long way, geographically as well as spiritually.  I’m not sure God will do one without the other.  When the plane took off this time around, I realized it was the first time I had flown over Rwanda during the day and in a window seat!  It is such a gorgeous country.  The green rolling hills that inhabit millions of people in only 10,000 square miles.  Think of how many stories of redemption there are within those hills.  Where there is much sin, there is even more grace.  When seeing Rwanda from a bird’s eye view for essentially the first time, I realized something.  God not only cares for you and I individually, his love encompasses the nations. 

He oversees and controls the the weather, which affects if crops will grow, which also affects the state of the economy, which affects the well being of his people.  We can’t control the weather—we can predict it, but never can we turn on the rain or stop a horrible storm.  God not only controls the weather, he created it.  It has purpose.  It reflects God’s power, sovereignty, and creativity.  Sometimes the weather that comes into our lives seems like a practical joke.  I’ve had many moments in which I I felt God handed me the short straw.  You want to know the reason I automatically go to that conclusion?  Because I’m looking at the situation in a zoomed-in lens.  My thought is that I have somehow earned the right not to have to do or deal with x, y, or z.  I was reminded today that even though through my zoomed view everything seems unfair, at a bird’s eve view, it will make better sense.  Remember when Jesus came to serve, not to be served?  How can I expect God to hand me a platter of fairness when what happened to Jesus wasn’t fair- but it was necessary.  Necessary for whom? You and me.  He wasn’t thinking about himself while he was being mocked and spat at.  He was thinking about you and me and how much he cared for us.  When I am concerned about me me me, I lose the ability to reflect upon Jesus’ plea for us to share His unfailing love with the nations!  The BIG PICTURE!  It feels like a huge boulder is removed from my shoulders when I forget the idolatry of self gratification and remember the mission Christ set out for me to think of others above myself.  In that, life no longer seems “unfair”; rather it brings forth meaning and unspeakable joy.  I know I want to experience more of that!  How about you?