Don't Eat the Black Snow

This is the season for extremes. Like the swinging of a pendulum from side to side we are feeling the drastic differences. 

The most noticeable one is that one morning we woke up and dry season had arrived.  It was COLD!  I'm talking upper 50s. It is like desert life, where the nights are cold and the days are hot.  So we are experiencing almost 40 degree changes in temperature each day.  We are in scarves and socks in the morning and shed them by mid-day, trying to stay hydrated and out of the sun.  December and January are my favorite months in South Sudan, though.  The air is dry and has a great smell.  Not the crisp, snowy smell of Philly, or the coffee-blossom scent of Bundibugyo, but it's own fresh scent that I can't describe in words yet. It is a time of Cold and Heat.

When I walk into our team house bright white snowflakes crafted by our team strike me.  They dangle low and they hit us like falling snow as we walk through the room.  I usually burst out into, "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" at that point.  Outside, the black snowflake falling has begun.  The dry season is the time for burning:  clearing land of brush that has been growing all rainy season.  The fire across the street is the huge kind that you hear before you see.  Burning cuts down on the hiding places for snakes.  It also prevents uncontrolled brush fires from taking over a compound.  Black ash begins to fall like snow, gently floating on the air currents.  It is actually quite beautiful and has become a marker that dry season and Christmas have come. It is a time of Light and Dark.

It is also a time of transition.  This is a frequent time for team members to move on and be home for Christmas after missing a few celebrations with family already.  This year Scott W. and Christine O. are headed back to the states.  This week we sang our goodbye songs to Scott and this coming Sunday we'll celebrate Christine and send her off. Scott is going to the states for 5 months for Home Ministry Assignment (HMA).   Christine is winding up 2 1/2 years with us here.  She came at the beginning our team's life here and we are all so sad.  I hope some of you can see Scott or Christine in the States.  At the same time of grieving the losses, there is gain!  Acacia joins the thousands of boarding students in East Africa who make their pilgrimage home for the holidays.  We are thrilled to welcome her and have her back at home.  The Bishop's wife, Rina, is in Uganda bringing 2 of her children back, while one more arrived last week.  It is a time of Goodbyes and Hellos.

As we begin this season of Advent we will need to consider the extremes of the story.  All Power becoming a helpless Baby.  The Sustainer of life needing all of His needs met for by another.  Integrity surrendering Himself to the wily. Timeless entering the moment.  The Avalanche of Love busting into a world He already fully inhabited.  Angels speaking of peace on earth while we still see violence.  What began as a mustard seed slowly becoming a hulking tree.  Extremes.

I pray that this season God would continue to open our eyes to the EXTREMES of who He is and the repercussions of His bodily arrival.