To you, the school of the nations
This is a thank you. Or an attempt at acknowledgement. To the countless faces and people that I have crossed paths with in the past few years.
I once heard a sermon of the way that we are rocks on a river bed, being tossed and turned and swept downstream. And as we bump shoulders with one another, a forming takes place. God determines the length and the depth but still - we are formed in different ways by the people around us.
Words cannot describe the forming that has come in different shapes and sizes in my own life. In the colours of a Quecha woman in the Andes mountains or the quiet determination of an Indonesian woman. In the silence of a submissive wife or the exuberant sounds of worship. In the laughter of an Egyptian family or the tears of a Syrian family. In the dreams of friends in Cuba or the passion of friends in Brazil.
People have become part of life, new people or old people. Life happens, somewhere in the deep conversations and quick conversations and sometimes even in the conversations without words. Sometimes it is simply in the glimpse of what is happening in your life, even when passing through your village with a train or in seeing you bath your child in the river that my worldview and life view is shaken and shaped.
You, the pastor that taught me something about leadership. You, the missionary whose life taught me something of sacrifice. You, the Syrian child who taught me about joy. You, the Turkish man who wowed me with hospitality. You, the stranger who stands closer to help with translating. You, the Guyanan woman who loved on me. You, the Zanzibari woman that brightens up the day with your smile. You, the man who dreams big dreams. You, the Croatian man that made me think about my heritage. You, the German woman that personifies grace. You, the South African that shows me the Father's heart. You, the wise. You, the brave. You, the inspiration.
This is the school of the nations. This is life. This is my inheritance.
I often think that a journey can be summarised in the people that you meet. It is a kaleidoscope of faces and conversations and memories that take shape as an ever winding and inspiring journey. Why do we travel? Yes we see new places and eat new foods and it is all new experience. But in the end its the people that make a place.
We were not made as solitary human beings, the world is rich - sometimes overwhelmingly so - in humans. And how beautiful is the face of our Creator, caught up in the scores of people around the world that make up His body and His bride. We all tell a story, a much bigger story.
I am a fleeting whisper, in and out of your lives, off to the next place or the next adventure. But you are not forgotten. You have shaped me, you are shaping me. This is a thank you. Weak, but still. Thank you.