All the Small Things

As I was laying in bed tonight, my thoughts turned to my trip to Chad. A year ago today, I would have been playing with the kids, visiting the clinic, doing language tutoring lessons with Luke. One of my fondest memories of my time in Chad was when Luke was helping me write my testimony of how God has worked in my life and why he brought me to Chad. I was trying to explain in French (more like telling Diane, who would translate into French for Luke, who would then translate to Kwong) the joy I felt when I first realized God's grace and His love for me. I still distinctly remember Luke searching for the right phrase, and after a minute of thought his face lit up and he said "bom bom bom! n doon si oyte bom bom bom!" I had no idea what that meant, so he gave me an analogy. He said, "It means your body did you joy, bom bom bom. For example, you aren't just an everyday sort of happy, this sort of joy is like if you came home and realized your dad had bought you a brand new car! You would leap up and down, and your body would give you joy BOM BOM BOM!" So that's what I said. And that's what I meant. When Christ gave me new life, it gave my body joy, bom bom bom.
How easily I get caught up in the small things in my life in the US. Not being able to find my phone charger. The Keurig not working. A bird pooping on my car (that, ironically, my dad did buy for me...). Those things are fleeting, and a year from now or even a month from now I won't even remember them,  or I will have fixed them easily in my own strength.

And then I think back to the small things about my time in Chad that I will always cherish and that impacted my life forever. The joy that Luke had, bom bom bom, despite never owning a car his whole life. The joy Andire had as he sang me songs, having lost his eyesight at a young age. The joy of the women after communion Sunday singing praise songs on the dirt ground of the pastor's compound. I often let that joy get squelched in the troubles and worries of this life, but I learned a deep and valuable lesson from my brothers and sisters in Christ in Chad: Christ gives deep and enduring joy, in any and every circumstance.