YO! 

I started my Sunday morning with a run. To be honest, I didn't want to. I woke up at 7:30, looked outside: 

"Shocker, raining again. All it ever does here is rain," I thought.

Anything other than pounding the pavement sounded better at the moment, so I got on Facebook (that's what everyone does right?). I saw updates from friends hanging out together, things going on in my town and people that I cared about. The first thoughts of homesickness began to creep in. I wish my family was closer. I wish I could have been there to see J-dub (Jordan Wells), Alison Lewis and all my YiM people matriculate into Milligan. I wish I could have been hanging with Michael and Curtis in Maryland. I wanted to wake up and go see my church family at Boones Creek. Then I looked out the window again.

In that moment, I found myself missing home and so many of you who are reading this now.  But, wouldn't you know it the power went off and the internet stopped working. 

"Come on man. Really? Right now?" I thought to myself.

Funny how God works isn't it. Now, I had no choice. I drudgingly put on my running shoes and walked out the front gate and took off into the rain. 

For me, running is when I gain clarity on issues. I zone out and think and pray. So, even though I was surrounded by my new African life, I was consumed with thoughts of home. After a few minutes I realized what I really was longing for: community. Think about it. Even the first person to ever walk the earth wasn't satisfied until God gave him someone, a companion to do life with. It doesn't matter who you are, where you live or how old you are, everyone desires community. You desire, you need community. During my run this morning, I realized my own need for it as well. I don't feel bad for longing to be home, it's a natural, God given feeling. And though I live in Uganda, my community is still home in the states. 

I admit to you though, that back home all of my focus was inward on my community. I spent so much time reaching in, I forgot to reach out. How many times was I intentional about bringing others into my group of friends or church family. Was I ever intentional about building relationships with those who needed to know Jesus or Christ like community? Unfortunately, that answer is no. Only now that I am the outsider in need of community, do I see the error of how I lived in TN. 

This morning, if you choose to worship, hang out with friends or family look around you and thank God for the people He has given you. If you find yourself like me beginning a new journey (shout out to my new Buffaloes) and longing for home, realize it is natural. But, in life we have to live where we are now. What my mom once told me I now give to you: "Cherish the past, but embrace the future." 

I would ask if you choose to pray for me, pray that God would not make me uncomfortable because I'm already there. But, that I would embrace the unnatural. That God would give me a longing for this place, my new home. And, with time, that community here would be built through Godly relationships. And finally, that I would come to cherish Arua, Uganda as much as I do home.

From the heart,

CT