This is the life...

I actually said that in Costa Rica. Background: Allison asked me to walk with her to get one of these coffee drinks. I went and it was oh, a million degrees out. After the 30 minute walk, we finally got back "home" (the high school where we slept in classrooms). Allison suggested that we put our feet in the cement hole/sink to cool off. So we do, and as we are drinking our preferred beverages (mine was Coca Cola light), I looked at her and with all sincerity said, "This is the life." She told me I needed to raise my standards.

I haven't had a lot of time to process those two weeks in ways that I normally do but I have been doing a lot of thinking. That story keeps coming to mind, one, because it's funny, and two, because it made me think. At that moment in time, I was completely content. (Or maybe delirious from the heat...) Why was that? I wasn't sleeping well, I got asked a million questions all day, I was doing hard labor, I was internally feeling really discouraged. But for those 20 minutes of rest, I was at peace.

After thinking about it, I think it's because there's something so rewarding about working hard in God's kingdom with the knowledge that you are smack in the middle of where He wants you to be, even if that place is difficult. I still don't have a lot of answers or proof that I was really used by God while I was down there but I know He wanted me there more than I wanted to be there at times. And for that to be enough was what made me feel at peace. Not overjoyed but at peace and content.

Sometimes I still don't understand why God asks me to go to foreign countries on these little trips where my main purpose isn't even the people of that country, but our own high school students. But He's asked me to do it numerous times. And while I can't say I've necessarily seen a lot of fruit from that (and maybe I need to pray that my eyes are a little more open), I know He wants me there. And while I was sitting with my feet in that dirty little cement sink, I knew that in my heart. And while it was a hard couple of weeks, knowing that right in that moment was enough.