Some Thoughts from Morocco

There are times when I can’t sleep because words roam through my mind like animals across the Serengeti.  Some move quickly and some move slowly, but each wants to find a place to land their steps, and so I must take out my computer, sit down, take a few moments and write out my random thoughts.

Yesterday I walked into the 45th country - Morocco.  It has been a good and adventurous life.  I am glad to be here.  Since I was a child the thoughts of this land were in my mind.  I can picture old movies of outdoor bizarres and medinas where artisans and merchants peddled their goods.  Where saint and sinner meet.  Not only have I seen these places, but I have also haggled over prices and know the feeling of getting a better price than I imagined.  I guess I am a tough bargainer.  

There is something about traveling that changes you.  What was once wild and foreign becomes known and manageable.  When you first step into the nations you don’t know if you can walk safely, and sometimes you learn that you can’t, but then you also learn that you are bigger and stronger than you imagined.  You learn that there is an authority and richness that comes from being you.

I once saw a young Christian lady on my first trip to East Africa as I was crossing the border from Uganda into Kenya.  It took me three hours to cross that border.   I fought internet connections as my phone died in between chargings.  I had fear and worry in my heart.  This young lady was swift like a deer crossing that border.  She was across in minutes.  Although she looked young and fragile she had the step of a seasoned traveler.  I was worried for her but she was stronger than me.

I sat with people today - Christians - who lived through an earthquake last september.  They are a relatively young couple with four sons.  The lady looked fearful.  You could see their eyes wandering to the traumas that they have seen.  I can’t imagine what it was like to see your home destroyed, and yet they experienced Christian compassion and love.  The community came together to help them in their need.  They were helped in getting a new home and now their house in the mountain is being rebuilt.

The enemy plays with our minds and while the Holy Spirit could easily move in and bring healing the barriers to that healing are in place.  Sometimes it seems that even the preachers lack an experience with God.  Fear keeps us all from moving deeper into the places that would result in our greatest freedom.  All we can do is pray and ask God to renew our minds daily.

You can learn much by watching and observing the relationships of people that you see speaking to each other.  I saw a young man being challenged by a middle aged man.  I saw the young man looking for a father and the older man looking for a son.  They met somewhere in the intellect, each challenging the other to a duel of wits.  The young man will become an old man and realize the one that challenged him he has become.  He too will be the older teacher.

We must sit at the feet of others who have walked the paths that we wish to walk.  We must reason with them and learn from their strides.  I had my teachers.  I had my classrooms.  I had my places of learning.  I am thankful that I am older.  I will be older still.  I can’t imagine the end from the beginning, but I am still that student sitting at the feet of others to learn what it means to be human in a strange world.  I am still observing and watching and learning the things that I need to learn to be wise and gentle. 

In the days that we live now it seems war drums are beating and new enemies are emerging.  These people would have easily been our friends if others had led them, but now the muscles of men are flexing because new wealth is emerging and new lands need to be acquired to gather resources for the new economies.  All the normal people sitting in between these brutes of war are like the rope in a tug of war.  These brutes pull and flex trying to knock the other one down with no concern of the lives that lie in between.

I am not sure what lies ahead of us.  New kingdoms, new authorities, but I for one decided a long time ago that as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.  So come what may I shall stand for Jesus trying to be his eyes and heart to the world around me.  If I can capture there gaze with the compassion that comes from the father’s heart my words will not be needed.  They will see Jesus inside of me and feel his love toward them.  Love is patient and love is kind.  It does not act on its own but seeks the greater good.  Let this love be in me my Lord.