I often think of how it would be to explain this year to family and friends when I get back home. I can't wait to show them the pictures and tell tales about the food, people, places and travel. The stories that made us laugh until our bellies ached, like the time the pig on the roof of the taxi peed on me. The times that I almost pulled my hair out with frustration: like bargaining with taxi drivers, and when your host serves supper at 01:00 am (technically, at such a ungodly hour, it is not supper any more, but breakfast)I will try my utmost to give an authentic account of the year. Maybe they will like it or be bored but the people that are guaranteed to to understand the most are the ones who did the journey before us.
When I will talk about eating Okra (a snotty looking soup) in Niger or the dirt road when over landing from Ethiopia to Kenya (the road is so bad that the bus ride feels like being on one of those Power Plate weight loss shaking machines), the EA 2009 and 2010 team will know exactly what I am talking about because they have had the same experience.
You don't really understand this at the beginning of the year. They tell you stories and share memories of the years experiences. They try to prepare you much like parents prepare their children for the first day of school: They make sure you have all your equipment, prays for you and look at you with nostalgia, probably thinking “You poor little suckers, you don't have a clue what you are getting yourself into.” We probably also act like over excited 6 year olds on the verge of their school careers, going: “Ah, enough with the faffing, lets do this thing now!”
All the advice only makes sense as the journey unfolds. We regularly have moments of “Remember Gerrie or Connie told us about this or that?” We have gained deep respect for previous EA members, especially Madeleen, the girl who did Explore Africa in 2009 and was team leader in 2010. When we face challenging times we think of her and have the same respect that the hyenas have for Mufasa in the Lion King when they shudder at the sound of his voice. We say“Madeleen, ooee! She did for two years in a row, and she is a GIRL! Mufasa!”
On the journey of discovering Africa, your team becomes your family and memories are made with the ones who walks the road with you for the year. After a year of traveling together we are really in sync with each other and developed our own unique language so not many people understand our weird team dynamics. That is why it is comforting to remember that others have gone before you. Outside the sphere of the nucleus EA family is the extended family of ex- EA members. They are our greatest fans because they understand fully. Willem, the EA visionary and leader is visiting us in Kenya at the moment. It has been so encouraging to hear all his stories and experiences from the 2009 pioneer journey. It gives you renewed courage and the feeling that you are part of something greater than yourself.
Our journey ends on 9 November but life, the greatest journey of all,continues. It also has great victories and defeat, frustrations and heart wrenching moments. Moments where you feel like you cannot take another step and moments of pure bliss and contentment. Some travel the road with family and friends and some choose to do it alone. When we face difficulty that is not in any one's path around us, we feel misunderstood and isolated. When our hearts gets broken, when a loved one dies, a job is lost. So we struggle forward with bleeding knees and broken spirits.
It is comforting to remember that in our walk with Christ we are never alone. There are others that have gone before us. Paul reminds us of that in Hebrews 11 when he speaks about the heroes of faith. He lists Abel,Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Samson, David, Samuel, the prophets and many more. Some of them had great integrity, others embarrassing weaknesses. They were prostitutes and prophets, cowards and kings. Some walked with God, others wrestled with Him. Yet they all have one thing in common: They had finished the race of life and are sitting on the grandstand, cheering us on to complete ours. Paul writes in Hebrews 12 “ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race marked out for us.”
The greatest of those heroes is Jesus. Not only because he is God but also because he made the greatest sacrifice. We all love those stories of athletes who overcame many adversaries to achieve greatness. They make a much bigger impression than the ones who has been groomed in perfect conditions since childhood to win Olympic gold medals. Their passion to achieve their goal and the sacrifices they make to attain it move and inspire us.
Paul calls Jesus the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. The sacrifice he made cannot be equaled. He was God, had a really good deal in heaven hanging out with angels singing to him, chilling with his buddies Enoch and Moses. He was glorious and life was good ( as it is in Heaven). Yet he CHOSE to give it all up. He came to earth in the form of a baby. Really now! Imagine being the Creator of the universe the one moment and the next a baby who cannot control his bowel movements. He was born to an unmarried teenage girl (very frowned upon in those days). He was hunted like a criminal when he could not even walk. As a child he was misunderstood by his parents. He was tempted by Satan in every way. He was disregarded, hated, rejected and shunned. The people from his home town wanted to push him off a cliff. Isaiah calls him a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He endured all of it because his passion to achieve the goal was greater than the sacrifice he made. His passion was for us. He did it so that we don't have to do the journey of life on our own. He did it so that he can be Immanuel. God with us.
The other guys Paul mentions in Hebrews are inspirational and their stories encourage us to persevere, but Jesus is the only who can not only sympathize, but also be with us in our time of weakness. Paul says that none of the faith heroes have received all that God has promised yet. But Jesus has. He paid the penalty for our sin so that we can be free to do life and eternity with him. He is our friend that sticks closer than a brother.
So those days that you feel the Louis Armstrong song “nobody knows the trouble I've seen.” is the theme song of your life,
when the the paw paw strikes the fan and it feels like a dark cloud is hovering over your head,
when you are fed up, cried up, tried up,
remember that Jesus has done this before. Try him. He won't be shocked by your tantrums or failure and he is passionate about walking with you.
In two months the tables will turn for me when we meet the team of 2012. I will be the ex- EA member thinking “You poor little suckers, you don't know what you will get yourself into.” And I will tell them some stories and give advice. I could tell them to pack light and take many pictures. Then I can tell them about the amazing people they are going to meet but maybe the best advice is simply this:
Stick to Jesus and don't to sit next to an open window of a taxi when there are pigs on the roof.