Sometimes I feel like this...

...purple bridge!

Milo and I took a walk across the people bridge last week on a sunny afternoon!  A Cincinnati must that I had not yet done before.  I need to back up and say that the week was filled with difficult culture elements.  As much as I would like to explain sometimes it is hard to do so in words.  It is hard to explain how things that once felt so normal do not anymore.  Better yet, now that I have learned many things about living in another land I may not want things to be "a normal" anymore.  I now have a small ability most times to see past the material or surface elements of a culture for a bigger picture.  There are many things that I see that make me sad or burdened on this side of the ocean but joy fills my heart with the people I get to be among.  In the mix add that I have some homesick feelings for Tanzania.  You might be reading this and think these are negative in nature.  As difficult as they are for me to maneuver at times I am grateful for what the challenges of missionary life continues to teach me.  I am thankful that my heart loves a dust filled land in the midst of being in the land of plenty.  The knowledge in the more I have been exposed to the more I discover how little I really know.  A sense of comfort washes over me of faith in my Creator alone!  These are the thoughts and feelings that I was sharing with the Lord as I made my way across the bridge pictured above.  All of a sudden I stopped.  In the midst of being surrounded by a city filled with people I felt alone in my feelings of life as a missionary.  With a picture of a bridge the Lord assured me He was with me and that He understood!  It wasn't the comfort of a person's hug that brought comfort that afternoon but standing on a steal bridge.  The purple bridge has one end stretched in Ohio while the other moves across the Ohio River to land in Kentucky.  The wing span stretches across the water so that people can be connected to the two States.  I have to say as silly as it might seem out of the week the purple bridge brought encouragement to my stretching heart.  I took pictures and sat by the bridge reading encouraging truths from God's word.  Figuratively, I have one arm in the US and with some serious stretching across the Atlantic Ocean an arm that lands in Tanzania.  A people connector of one side of the ocean to another of what God is doing among His people.  Basically that is the joy of my role here at Cincinnati Christian University until December.  To help the students connect a world that is positioned here on top of Price Hill with a desire to be a light to a dust filled land where children still need to know about Jesus!  Not by any means do I put myself in the same category of Jesus but I looked at the bridge and gave thanks.   With a grateful heart I praised Him for being the bridge that allowed us to have a connection and personal relationship with my Creator God.  If my thoughts and emotions can be difficult to maneuver in various cultures at times how Jesus would have so much more struggled between knowing the perfect and being in the midst of the unperfected.  I know it might seem odd.  However, there I sat gleaning comfort from a bridge who stands sturdy but has some pealing paint in parts.  Thanking God for Jesus and knowing that I was very much not alone!  I continue to stand sturdy in knowing who I am in Christ and what He has for me to do in this life.  I will admit that sometimes it is easier to focus more on the pealing paint.  I have to step back see the beauty and dependability of the connector that stretches across the water to bring hope to a little one like me.                    

Prayer Points~

• insight and wisdom as I encourage students here at CCU in what God is calling them to do both near and far in this life (more people connectors!)
• thankful to have a sister who understands the desire, aches, love, and challenges of missional life and for her visit with our cutie niece this weekend! 
• God's peace to bring comfort in the midst of the challenges of cross cultural living
• the aches of missing Tanzania and the slight nervousness that comes as I prepare for my return
• God's provision through the kindness of His people for the last portion of needed funding to meet my budget