Why Here? Why Now?

Every few days, someone asks me what my plans are for being "home," how long I plan on staying, the reason that I came back. ("How long" is up in the air. Another year? Until God says to move on...)

In the purest sense, I am here right now because, over a year ago, in December of 2009, I was sitting in class in Kenya, when I had an amazingly clear vision of one of the boys from youth group coming up and slipping his hand into mine, like a little child would, and tugging on it. His eyes looked up at mine, lost and scared, and he made a simple request, "Show me where to go."

"Show me where to go"

That vision haunted me for days and weeks, and that vision gave birth to the Focus Month. Call it tunnel vision if you will, but closer to the heart of God was the only direction that I had to point him in. Several times a week, those words still come back to haunt me. (God must think that I need plenty of reminders!)

Yes. I am aware of just how crazy that makes me sound. (And, it's a whole lot easier to just give a vague list of what I'm doing right now. I like that option when I can get it. It lets me pretend that I sound somewhat normal.) I'm fairly used to crazy. After all, I blog about justice issues and, in just a few months, I'm leading a 28 day ministry trip.

And... I'm here right now because a little boy, who is not so little anymore, is lost, and he asked me for directions. (But, that's not generally the answer that I give people when they ask!)