Our Friends' New Life

Our friends Geoff and Erica and their baby Ariel moved to the Philippines in August. They have no air-conditioning in their home and no hot water so they take about three cold showers a day because it's humid in the Philippines and they sweat all day. And they have no stove or fridge yet because both come with free installation that takes several months. So they're cooking on a two-burner plug-in job. Roosters crow all night and day, they have a lizard for a roomate, their washroom has a rain trough and sometimes when they are in the shower and have their hair all soaped up, the water goes.

Geoff and Erica are so humble. They could have walked around for the last several months before they left for the Philippines acting as if they were doing God some big favor by giving up all their Western comforts to go serve Him in a third world country. But they didn't. They actually seemed sort of happy to give it all up. They sold their house, car, furniture, lots of clothes and all the junk they had accumulated over the years. When it was done, and they were finished with the last garage sale, they seemed released. I found myself a little envious. They were so unencumbered, and it was as if they began to see things differently...maybe more clearly. Perhaps when the clutter of the "stuff" that we hold so tightly is swept away like some kind of blinder, we see our need for God in a new way. We depend on our possessions to satisfy and gratify, and then God becomes incidental. Yes, we need Him, but do we crave Him like we crave our stuff? It's not something I like to think about, because I have to raise my hand high..."guilty."

When I look at the pictures that my friends sent me, I see God's beautiful creation in the lush landscape and in the face of the Filipino girl who is kneeling to look into Ariel's eyes. I hear in my friends' email voice that they are thankful for the simple things. They wake up early and go to bed early, and they look around them and see the world in a new way. And once again, I'm sort of envious. We miss Geoff and Erica and baby Ariel, but we are glad they are home at last.