idah

Lately we have not been doing very much as far as working or ministry goes...we have done a lot of creating things for ourselves to do.

This down time has been a little frustrating, but through it several very good things have happened. One of the best was seeing Idah. She was my Zambian partner from my time spent at Camp Life last summer. It's hard to describe what I felt when I saw her, but here is a try:

I can't explain what it was like to see Idah today. I think about it and I can't help but smile. She was so beautiful, my sister. The love that I have for her is so deep that I know it is from God. There is no way I could ever love someone that much with such little interaction between us.

I scanned the field of Camp Life groups with their little children huddled around them eating their bread for lunch. I had already passed her once, but wasn't looking for her yet and didn't see her. I was hoping I could recognize her from a distance out of all the Zambians around me. As I walked outside, I looked up. She was the very first face I saw and I knew.

Almost exactly when I spotted her turquoise bandana, she looked up and straight into my eyes. From a considerable distance, it caught me off guard. It was like she just knew I was there and that does not surprise me one bit about her.

When our eyes met it took all of a few seconds for her to assess the situation. She scanned my face. A look of disbelief was followed with a smile and she jumped up from the ground. I couldn't help it, I just started running. And she started running. We ran.

The best part of this meeting, I can't explain, but you would have to be me. You would have to see Idah through my eyes. I can't explain how she has changed, how beautiful she is. I can't describe the feeling that welled up in me when I saw her. Or how scared I was that she had changed so much in a year that I wouldn't recognize her. Even that I wouldn't remember her face. Hugging her was like hugging someone in my family that I hadn't seen in too long. Like the sister I've never had. Like being reunited with a life-long best friend. My Idah, how special.

Soon she will be taking me to see my girls and that will be another post enitrely.