Things are a-changing!!

I can barely believe it but this is my last weekend living in Bouaké! Next week is the beginning of the next (and main) phase of the JourneyCorps program.

These last few months have been the training and learning phase, where the 10 of us Journeyers lived on the ICA campus together and taken classes on everything from conflict resolution to culture to traditional African religion to French and Dioula. We have served together, we’ve attended local churches and stayed with Ivorian families, we’ve studied the bible and prayed together. We’ve gotten sick together, gotten homesick together, celebrated birthdays and holidays, stumbled through translation together, resolved some conflicts, and laughed a lot together. These last few months have been God-saturated and so much of it has to do with the people He’s surrounded me with.

But next week starts a new stage: 6 of us will be moving to a town called Korhogo, about 3 hours north of Bouaké where the other 4 will be living. Pairs of us will be placed with different local churches, and through these churches we will be placed as either individuals or pairs into different Ivorian households. Through integration with the church, and relationships with its members and pastor, we will each find different ministries and projects to be a part of or maybe even lead. Hopefully we will be staying in these homes and churches for the rest of our time in Côte d’Ivoire, with the occasional trip back to campus for debriefing and learning.

I will be attending the Koko church in Korhogo, along with another journeyer Jason. Some journeyers have an idea of what ministries they’re interested in getting involved in, however there is no ministry that is beckoning my name. So I am excited to form relationships with the church, the pastor, and my family and together we will figure out where it is I fit the best.

I am very comfortable the way things are right now; and while this next step will involve so much growth, it will also involve a considerable amount of discomfort: trying to make relationships with both language and cultural barriers is not an easy task. It involves patience, love, and humility that I do not readily possess.

And yet this I know: God’s primary concern is not for my comfort. He desires for me to abide in Him, for me to know, love and worship Him and to love others for His glory.

One of the books I’m reading is ‘A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23.’ The author, an actual shepherd, points out a lot of the context we miss in Psalm 23 because we don’t understand what shepherding entails. He tells of how a shepherd leads his sheep through valleys; while valleys are full of potential dangers, they are still the best route to get to the high grazing areas. It is through the valleys that the sheep’s dependence on the shepherd is most evident: he is the one who protects them from predators with his rod, pulls them out of thorn bushes with his staff, and leads them in the right path. The sheep can’t do any of these things on their own.

Like the sheep, it is through the valleys of life that I become aware of my complete dependence on Jesus. And so, while this next step may be an uncomfortable one, I know that there will be many opportunities to get close to my Good Shepherd.