sunsets and sunrises.

As I write this post, I'm currently sitting on the couch of my house in Michigan, over a week away from Cape Town, South Africa.  In case you haven't heard, I made it home safely!  I flew out of Cape Town Thursday early afternoon after saying goodbyes to friends, family, and co-workers.  After six months, goodbyes felt quite surreal.  The community at the Warehouse has become family, and Cape Town has become home.  As the plane took off over the city, and as Table Mountain and the ocean faded from sight, I felt struck by the uncertainty surrounding the ending of my internship.  Why did the time here fly so quickly?  How could I possibly leave my family and my home?  And would I be able to return?  When?  How?  Why?

As the plane approached Joburg, the sun was setting on the far horizon.  As the sky changed from blue to orange, from pink to purple, and finally faded to black, I tried to hold onto the beauty of my final glimpse of South African sky, land, and life.

The plane from Joburg took off in the darkness, and I journeyed sixteen hours through the night, trying to prepare myself for the cold winter of the States, and everything else that went along with it.  As we drew close to JFK, the morning light was breaking over the horizon, illuminating the city below us.  We landed at the break of day, and I made a further transition, into America, out into the cold, and on to another airport.  I had seen the sun set in South Africa, and then rise the next morning in America.  Fear, anticipation, and excitement all rose with the sun as I considered the next season in the morning dawn.  What would it be like to be home?  What would this final semester at Wheaton hold?  And where is God calling next?  In many ways, I still felt submerged in darkness, surrounded by the unknown, and stuck in eternal overnight transit.

On the final leg of the journey from New York to Detroit, a thick blanket of clouds laid below us, blocking any view of the floor below.  As the plane began to descend, we drew close to the layer of clouds.  The anticipation, fear, excitement, and uncertainty grew as the plane entered the layers of clouds, and, for a few moments, we flew blind.  After what felt like an eternity, we broke through the clouds and I could finally see the land below clearly.  Though it's no Cape Town, seeing wintery cold Detroit for the first time in six months felt like home too.

I write all this to share with you mainly because the physical transition played a significant role in how my heart and my soul and mind have been attempting to follow suit since I've been home.  There's a reason it's taken me a week and a half to write my "final" blog post about my time in South Africa.  Though I've flown over  7000 miles, I still feel like I have one foot in Michigan and one foot in Cape Town.  I keep putting off processing, reflecting, and writing because I'm stubbornly sitting in denial, still unwilling and unable to share with myself and with others what my experience in Cape Town meant and will continue to mean in my life.  I'm not ready for the sun to either set or rise.  (as you can tell, I'm not a very willing transition-er.)

So with that in mind, I'm going to bust out one of my favorite Warehouse phrases– watch this space.

Though my internship is over, and though I'm comfortably glued to the couch in my house in small town Michigan, there is much still to come.  I have thoughts to think, memories to remember, reflections to write, and hopes and dreams to plant and declare.

And who knows what next steps are coming.

I need to finish this post, mostly for my sanity, but want to leave you with the verse that's been floating in the background throughout my time in Cape Town.  I have a feeling that, as much as its been important these past six months, it will continue to be vital in the next season of my life.  And like I said, watch this space.  There is definitely more to come.


May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. -Romans 15:13


Amen.