Manry Family

I’ve been home in Michigan for a few days having returned from my survey trip to Jinja, Uganda.  I wondered many times during my time in Uganda what my return home in Michigan would reveal to me.  What would I be most eager to experience?  How would I regard the many blessings in my life here that had become expectations?  And also, what would I think of Uganda and the mission work from my vantage point here, 8000 miles away?

I knew the answers to some of those questions before we returned.  I couldn’t wait to surf the internet at 100 times the speed of the internet connection in Uganda.  I looked forward to sleeping in my own bed after living out of a suitcase for a month.  I was ready to have the piece of mind from knowing I could quickly locate a clean public restroom anytime I wanted. Lori knew that her first trip out of the house would be to Starbucks where she would order an Iced-Grande-Breve-Latte with 2 packets of Splenda.  I was surprised, however, that this list of creature comforts that I perceived essential did not expand much beyond these basic necessities of living.  (Yes, I am fully aware that some of my list does not qualify for the basic necessities label).

What I have relished recently with a renewed sense of value are the people that have walked along side me and my family during our time in Michigan.  We arrived to our house with it full of our friends and family who were ready to embrace us physically as they had done spiritually the whole time we were in Africa.  Every conversation I’ve had since our return has reinforced the idea in my head and my heart that I am taking my home with me to Africa in the form of relationships that are not restricted by time and place.  During the next few months I will be eager to share life with the people that God has placed on my path with a purposefulness that may have been missing before our decision to leave.  But I now see that in Christ my relationships here will always be home to me just as the relationships I know we’ll form in Uganda will be.  I know that as I enter into a new land and a new work that God will only expand my family and sense of community, anticipating the perfect reunion I’ll have with all those people I’ve called home when I meet God in eternity.