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Category: Personal

Not my home

A Layne Post

So here we are, settling in. Driving no longer feels so foreign. I am loosing the urge to honk at everyone. I’ve stopped admiring fancy toilets and thick heavy mirrors. Incredibly nice customer service is no longer shocking, and I’ve lost my urge to grab and hug the necks of strangers for being so friendly. I do not have the desire to shovel every single food item on the grocery isle into my mouth at the same time.

It is such a blessing to have family and friends that we can pick up with as if no time has lapsed at all. There are not awkward silences, or wishing we could slip away. It has been heartwarming and encouraging to be so surrounded by love.

We are happy to be here.

I can say; however, while life seems a bit easier, or perhaps more convenient here, I wouldn’t want to live here. I’ve really thought about it this week, as I’ve struggled through funny emotions, finding it strange that this was ever “norm” for us. It is comforting that the Lord has grown in Jon and I a deep love for Africa, and now specifically Mozambique. I miss it. How hard it would be to feel like our service to the Lord was only obedience. I’m not sure I could leave all this that I once held dear. Instead God has blessed us with a ministry we love, in a place we’ve grown to love, surrounded by dear friends and fellow laborers we love.

So here I am, in my common predicament, torn by the ones we love. Happy to be here, missing people there. I guess we’ll never all be on the same continent.

I’m ever reminded this world is not our home.

November 13, 2011
Personal
4 comments

As September Closes

A Layne Post

As September comes to a quick close, and Jon and I approach the ‘1 Month ’till furlough’ mark, we find ourselves amidst task lists, sweaty palms, and painted walls. We are working hard to get the rooms out back and the small kitchen area ready as we, Lord willing, will begin taking in friends/patients in February. I should say Jon is working hard, because he has done most of the work, and he has done so well; I cannot wait to show you the pictures. When the hard work is done, then I’ll come add my girlie touch for a comforting feel. I think I got the better end of the deal!

Mid-October Jon hopes to sit down with some leadership at the hospital and present our project for approval. We did this before, and it was welcomed wholeheartedly; however, leadership has changed, and we find ourselves praying for the same favor. Every now and again I have a freak-out moment thinking, “What if our project is shot down? Rejected immediately? What are we doing? What would we do?” Then I remember the crazy journey that has brought us here, and the faithfulness of the One who birthed this passion in us. I remember our current ministry, without the rooms, and stand in awe at His work. So who knows what will happen next? He does!

Pray with us!

We look forward to seeing many of you soon and connecting face-to-face. We’ll hug you hard and thank you properly.

September 25, 2011
Around the house, Hospital Ministry, Personal
4 comments

Time to Rest and Remember

A Jon Post

Sorry this post is a couple days late. We drove north with some friends this last weekend to spend some time at the beach, relax, rest and remember. We have said some hard goodbyes over the last few months, and missed the chance to say many of them in person. There is a weariness that comes in body and soul when that happens often and it hung heavy over us in the memories of many friends we will no longer see on this earth.

This past weekend was a time for us to step away from that weight and remember the depth and width of the love of Christ in ways that are often easy to forget. I often forget that Christ expresses His love in;

  • Sand between my daughters toes
  • Waves of water crashing over me instead of waves of grief
  • Laying beside my wife late at night with our daughter sleeping peacefully to the sounds of the ocean
  • Standing on a surfboard
  • Feeling the warmth of the sun bake my skin
  • A smile and a sigh as my wife tells me “This is good“
September 20, 2011
Personal
9 comments

My Wife and Daughter

A Jon Post

You really should see how incredibly beautiful my wife and daughter are. These pictures really don’t do them justice. Anaya definitely got all her good looks from me because Layne still has all of hers.

The amazing thing is that Layne is made all the more beautiful by her service to the sick and the dying.

August 20, 2011
Personal
15 comments

Standing There

A Jon Post

It seems like I’ve been “doing something” for a while now. Layne and I have been pretty busy over the last couple months and I’ve felt like I’ve lost some of my time for something else. Something very African and very much a part of what Layne and I try to do in our ministry.

Just standing there.

It’s funny, but as an American, I have learned that it is not an acceptable part of my culture to be around people or next to someone and just stand there. We have to be doing something, we have to be talking about something, we must have a purpose. Being here I’ve learned that those things don’t necessarily translate to the culture I’m in now.

As I’ve rushed around doing something on a nearly continuous basis (or at least felt like I have) for the last couple months, I’ve missed some opportunities to stop…

And just stand there.

I don’t honestly know who coined the phrase “Don’t just stand there, do something!” but whoever it was I don’t think they have ever been next to a man dying on a bed who has not had a face to smile at him for 6 months. I don’t think they’ve ever sat beside a mother whose son has just lost his 2-year battle with a sickness that rotted flesh from bone and ripped breath from lungs. That phrase really makes no sense in such a context.

When faced with such powerlessness… I think one of the most encouraging suggestions is:

“Don’t just do something, stand there!”

Just stand there. Just hold a hand. Just weep with them. Don’t say anything, don’t try to fix what cannot be mended with words or service… just stand there.

A tragically troubled man, who served God and loved people named Henri Nouwen once said,

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not healing, not curing, and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”

I miss those times.

I don’t want to forget that Christ can be found, Christ can be known, Christ can be seen…

By just standing there.

 

June 26, 2011
Hospital Ministry, Mozambique, Personal, Things we're dealing with
8 comments
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