Take-off to Landing: Perspectives Changing

We made it. Even with a very close call of Mick missing our connection flight to the one-flight-a-day from Brussels. We arrived in good spirits and with enough energy to take in a meal on a veranda overlooking the city of Douala. We raised our glasses with a "beealabob" (cheers, in the family language of our very amiable waiter) and ate our first sampling of Cameroonian cuisine. We sampled the Scottish bonnet pepper, a cousin of the habeñero with a heat index of 10,000+ (jalapeño go up to 8000, for a point of reference)... And it was delicious. The flavor was my favorite of all the peppers I've ever tried. And one of my fears was abated - can I handle the food? Well, one meal is hardly a true test, but getting the first under my belt (literally) is the first step. 

Jet lag seems to be tolerable and I pray that my melatonin is going to continue transitioning me to this time zone smoothly. We are 6 ours ahead of Milwaukee which will make communicating in real time with my boys a challenge, but I'm sure we'll iron that out in the following days. 

Retraining my brain to always think in terms of water safety (no rinsing my toothbrush in tap water, for example) takes me back to our travels in Thailand and Cambodia nearly 10 years ago. There is so much here that reminds me of Southeast Asia, but as I rode in the truck with my eyes glued to the scenes out the window, I could feel the sense of adventure rising once again to the surface. Mick commented on the smile on my face as we walked toward customs. Mick saw the true emotions of trepidation and temporary loss of my family and the familiar as we waited for our first flight. Fear of repeating some of the "bad" memories of my last mission trip was at least addressed and I was surprised to find my tears rise to the surface as we walked to board the plane in Chicago. Mick, I think, is not only traveling to a foreign country in Cameroon, but also one in me. Mick and I approach the same situations with very different mind sets - his is a desire to leave his comfort zone and grow and mine is driven by a desire to make relationships and grow. Not to say that Mick doesn't want that, but our outlooks on life (even at home) is much different. God has paired us together and I pray we fill one another's weaknesses and compliment the other's strengths. 

Currently we are in the French speaking portion of the country, so communication is hit and miss but "mercy" gets you very far. We will travel to the English region today, but I'm so eager to immerse myself in a more "rural" setting and hear pidgin spoken and take in the sights and smells of this country. We will see the sea today and drive through the high tea country, giving excuse for ample use of my camera, I'm sure! I have already misplaced my lens cap... Not shocking in the least.  

I don't know what God has in mind for me. My devotion time this morning highlighted adversity to the Gospel and to not be afraid to proclaim it with confidence. I  definitely read the calming of the storm through fresh eyes. The disciples viewed this danger as catastrophic but Jesus simply stood up and after a rebuke to their lack of faith, commanded the rough seas to stop. I may have sped down the runway with fear.  Now I need to let go and let Jesus calm MY storm.