God's Dancing Day

For the past twelve days, I embarked on a journey with the Community & Faith team to Maai Mahiu, Kenya through Comfort the Children International, CTC. While I did not take my lap top to blog every night, I did record my thoughts and experience the old fashioned way - a pen and paper, kids! The lessons I learned and stories I heard are much too important to keep to myself. One way I am trying to get the word out is by converting my journal entries into blog format. I traveled with a fabulous team of five others from Austin & Houston. Please realize that my reflections are just what I was able to see through my own lens. I hope this is just the beginning of many more conversations and trips to come.

July 18, 2010

Tonight is my first night in Maai Mahiu, Kenya. It is strange - I've journeyed so far, and yet i feel so at home. There is so little that actually separates humanity. The human condition is fundamentally universal. Yet we find so many ways to focus on the differences. It is a joy and a blessing to be able to focus on the beauty in humanity half way around the world.

After arriving at the Longernot Transit Hotel - where we will be staying all week - we took off into a rural portion of the Rift Valley. In the absolute middle of nowhere, we came upon a church building. Area tribes and churches had gathered under one roof to welcome the American visitors from CTC. Rarely have I experienced anything as pure. It was authentic songs of the soul. It was movement of the spirit and praise of God. One of the first songs they sang for us was about every person using the gifts they have been given from God. I traveled 9,000 miles and the first piece of scripture I heard was one that we've used so often at summer camp. God's presence is stunning.

We sat under a tree and had a feast that the women had been preparing for us all morning, Nyama Choma (roasted meat). The generosity of the Masai was apparent and deep. I spent the rest of the afternoon dancing with a little girl in a beautiful orange taffeta dress. Her smile was beautiful and her laugher intoxicating. As we were squatting and examining goats, she stood and said good-bye. Her mother had appeared on the horizon of the bush. How she knew she was there, I'll never know. My new friend took off running.

Later, Jeremiah, the Kenya director of CTC, explained how unique the village and the worship service was. Different tribes don't typically live and worship together, especially after post-election violence in 2007. Although tribal difference is the means by which it is described in Kenya, it was striking to me that we all find ways to separate ourselves from one another. I wonder why we do this. Because of a local rock quarry, people of all tribes have come together in this portion of the valley. As Jeremiah put it, "They have found a need for one another." I'm certain that it was God's dancing day!

The soundtrack running through my mind all day was an album new to me, Mumford & Sons'Sigh No More. The lyrics to "Awake My Soul" stuck with me throughout the day that was an overwhelmingly transcendent experience.

How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes

I struggle to find any truth in your lies

And now my heart stumbles on things I don't know

This weakness I feel I must finally show

Lend me your hand and we'll conquer them all

But lend me your heart and I'll just let you fall

Lend me your eyes I can change what you see

But your soul you must keep, totally free

In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die

Where you invest your love, you invest your life

In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die

Where you invest your love, you invest your life

Awake my soul, awake my soul

Awake my soul

You were made to meet your maker

Awake my soul, awake my soul

Awake my soul

You were made to meet your maker

You were made to meet your maker

(Sunset outside the Longernot Transit Hotel)