As I write this it’s 10 p.m. I’m in Lusaka, Zambia, sitting outside with John at our hotel trying to take in the day. There’s a small alligator in the hotel pond next to us and a gigantic cock roach who keeps coming around our feet, but we’re trying to ignore them and pay attention to other things.
Paying attention is a big deal any day of the week for me, but even more so on these trips. And so, as a group we’re trying to do a version of the Examen each evening, looking for the places we’ve failed to cooperate with God in His goodness, and the places we’ve been present to Him, partnering with Him in His work.
Frankly, it’s darn easy to be present to…me. My comfort, my will, my convenience, my agenda…But pay attention to Jesus? Not so much.
And then you add in a team of folks you’re just getting to know and visits everyday with desperately poor but faithful people in another culture? It’s kind of like playing one of those video games where you’re a race car driver and on the screen you see all these lights and images rushing at you as you try to steer the vehicle. Continue reading
