It's Over?

I should have written this piece last Sunday. That is when I was feeling the emotions most intensely. But I wasn't quite sure what my problem was. Was I overly tired, and just feeling a bit crabby? Was I missing Marti and Sarah who went on a Girls Weekend with their good friends? Or was I just worn out from the terrible traffic on I-95 between Richmond, VA and Washington DC when I took the boys up to see the Cardinals play the Nationals? Or was something else amiss?

By late Sunday evening, I had made the diagnosis. I was suffering from "culture shock." What, "culture shock" in America? But you are an American. How can that be? What is going on? Did you miss God's call and come home too early by mistake? The answers were clear.yes, you can suffer culture shock in your own culture and no, it doesn't mean we missed God's call.

I guess the long trip to DC (Mapquest says 2 hours 50 minutes..it took us 4 hours and 15 minutes!) gave me time to think for the first time in a long time. With all the transition with new job, new house, unpacking, organizing, setting up "life", I haven't really had time to think much. But on the trip last week, I realized, "We aren't in Kenya anymore. That was our 'old life'. We have a new life now. And it is here. In America."

It was a very intense and difficult realization for me. All my friends, routines, frustrations, and joys in Kenya were behind me. I wasn't going back there to live. I might visit, but I would never see it as home. And although I had processed that set of realities on an intellectual basis weeks and months ago (I counted the cost), I had never really processed them emotionally. Until last week. And it hurt.

And so, even though I love to get emails from my Kenyan friends, and I read the on-line papers from Kenya, that chapter is officially closed. I know God has new things for me here. And some how, I pray, He will bless those relationships started while in Kenya.

Comments

[Jon]

It will be sad to see your blog go if you decide to close it down. Maybe you can just change the name now that you're back in the States? The book reviews are very good and it is a great way to keep up with your family. I hope to see more posts in the future still...