Yesterday as we disembarked
the plane at Johannesburg airport, we bounced with excitement about being in
South Africa; about the beauty of the airport and about the clear blue sky that
was calling us outside. Yet in the hearts of my husband and I there were some
hesitant reservations.
See when we checked through our gate in
Nairobi Kenya on our transit, we were asked for our children's birth
certificates. We thought we had mistaken
her accent as she asked from behind the desk after she had just sent a family
home in front of us for the same reason. She repeated herself "where are your
children's birth certificates?" To which we replied "we don't have
them." "Your children cannot enter South Africa without their birth
certificates" she replied. "Well we are only staying one night in the
Airport Inn (where our friends had booked us for the night). She agreed to let
us go through since we were just in "transit".
But we were still not sure
what that all meant.
So as we cruised our way over
the bouncy travelators' through to immigration in the O.R.Tambo international
airport, our minds wondered if we would even go through. Just before us in the
line was another mother and sure enough, as she showed her daughter's passport,
she was also asked to show her birth certificate. "Oh Lord" I prayed
"please let us go through." There was a world on the other side of the
airports glass windows I wanted to explore. From a young age I have been
fascinated with South Africa, with Nelson Mandela and his movement to bring
freedom to his people and the sacrifice he paid to do it; and the whole
landscape that inhabits incredible wildlife and encapsulates the beauty of this
country and this continent. South Africa holds so much beauty that has been
born out of brokenness'.
But this time it wasn't meant
to be. The rejection of our attempted entrance into this beautiful land and the
paid for accommodation that was sending a shuttle to pick us up, meant we had
to go back into the airport and try and come up with a plan B.
Transit airport hotels are SO
expensive.
Plan C. Sleep the night in
the airport then have a shower in the spa before we take our next 12 hour
flight that proceeds our 9 hour flight to Sydney where my mother and sister
will pick us up.
This journey started at
8:30pm Ethiopian time when we left our friends' home where we have been staying
for the last week. They generously let us look after their dog and house and we
got to stay in the capital and run some last minute errands before our
departure. We had been without power for 11 days at our home in Debre Zeit so
this was heaven for us!
So their driver picked us up
a nice 6 hours before our plane was due to leave (Barak Obama was flying in
that same night so we had to be cautious of security and road blocks delaying
our arrival) and we tried to check in early but the airlines desk didn't open
till two and a half hours early. It gets really late and there's no place to
rest and we get a bit uncomfortable. For five hours. We check in and sit
upstairs with a whole bunch of other people boarding to go to Kenya.
So its 16 hours later that we
are hit with this news that we need to stay in the airport for the night. We
explore the airport. Our appetite's whet for the things of South Africa in the
souvenir shops and the classy restaurants that call us in to eat lunch. We eat,
we cruise then we find our posse where we would spend the night. The sun sets outside
the big glass windows and we get some wifi before we settle down to sleep. But
its getting cold.
"Mum, your hugging my
leg!" I wake up to my daughter lying next to me across the four seats we
had gone toe to toe in. Now I wake up face to toe and I look down at my toes
and there's a random man sitting there! I freak out and try and go back to
sleep. My daughter informs me its 1:30 but theres a whole bunch of people
surrounding us waiting to board their flight and the noise keeps us stimulated.
The flight boards half an hour later and silence revisits. We sleep till 5am
with cold awakenings and an acute awareness that we are no longer in
Sub-Saharan Africa. We are in the winter of the Southern Hemisphere. Our bodies
wake up to a freezing cold that we tried to prepare for with all the clothes we
had for such weather in our carry on bags. But not even with all of that can we
get comfortable enough to sleep well. We have acclimatized to our nice warm
Ethiopian weather.
As I wake up at 5am I thank
God that the night was over. And He whispers in my spirit.
"You are not
where you were, but you're also not where you're going."
Physically, we are not where
we were (the city of electricity problems and network issues that would cause
me hurl abuse at my phone). And we're not where we are going (the city that
holds my mother and sister and a society that's developed to the point of
heavenly proportions.) We are somewhere in between.
Also as we anticipate our
visit to New Zealand with our whole family for the first time, there is some
thing in the knowing that we are not in the same place as we were when we left
and an awareness that not everybody will expect that. We are also aware that the people we loved and left are not where they were either when we left. We are all on a journey and we are all a work in progress.
But for those of us who are looking forward to meeting our Savior one day...THIS life is not comfortable.
We are in a place that is better than where we've been but we are still not
where we are going and where we are going is so much better than where we are
now!!! We have to persevere through the cold and the random people who
come into our lives and sit at our feet when we are trying to get some sleep.
We have to remember that the situation
we are in is temporary. Its only for a season. Yesterday I read this tweet...
In life it's important to remember the spiritual realities are the greater realities.
"What is seen is temporary..." 2 Cor 4:18
Like my children who continue
to ask how much longer is our journey to "THERE", (for the last few
months up until the last few hours) WE can be so busy "counting the
days" that we forget to "make the days count."
We can't make time go faster.
We often can't change our circumstances or uncomfortable situation but CHANGE
IS COMING! Whether it comes in this life or the next, the change first has to
happen in our mind. We can either anticipate a future event and totally miss
out on the opportunities that surround us now, OR we can keep our eye on the
prize and let that motivate us to stick it through, to endure the suffering and
the pain so that we can make the most of today.
When we can look at our
uncomfortable-ness as a minor obstacle to the end destination we can thereby
retain the peace and presence God wants us to carry into those situations.
He is there, (like my mum is
there waiting for us in Sydney right now) ready to welcome us home and we want
Him to say "well done, my good and faithful servant... Enter into the joy
of your Master." Matthew 25:23. And Oh, what a JOY that will be.
Hang in there.
No comments:
Post a Comment