Travel days ...

Well, it’s Tuesday morning and we're about to land in South Africa. I've been on flights for 19 hours since Sunday evening.  I've showered in the Frankfurt airport. I've been drinking enough water to float a small ship. And I've heard more languages spoken around me than is typical in my realm of experience.

I've watched six movies, read two books, and surfed the net. And I've played with babies and met people traveling for business and pleasure.

I've done all of this knowing one thing … I am on a grand adventure. In one hour (as of this writing) I will land in Cape Town, South Africa for a two-week immersion into the systems of racism and their impact on the lives of the people who live in the midst of significant poverty and oppression, which too often live hand-in-hand. We are doing a humanitarian, social justice trip with some basic tourism thrown in. And we hope to bring back learnings from the reconciliation process in our own work in the US.

Travel is something I have done before. But mainly it has been domestic travel. International travel is not something I have done much. My wife and I went to Russia 16 years ago to adopt our son, we've gone into Canada and Mexico for day trips, and I went to Haiti in 1980 with the General Board of Global Ministries’ UMCOR Division. But this is different.

This time I am traveling for both personal and professional reasons. This time I am flying way out of my comfort zone and that is intentional.

What are you planning in 2016 to move out of your comfort zone, to further the work of the kindom, and to bring about positive change in your life and in the world?

Small steps or big steps - taking that first step is what’s important.

Me? I'm going to leap. Join me on the journey.

South Africa Trip - Pre-Trip Notes

I am heading to South Africa on Sunday, January 3, 2016. I will be traveling to Johannesburg, Cape Town, Robbin Island, Pretoria/Tshwane, Soweto, Stellenbosch/Paarl, Dinokeng Reserve, and Pilaneberg game park. I am traveling with a group of 14 people on a humanitarian/social justice tour.

“Travel is organized through Mission Vision Tours with the intent to engage conversations of race and racism, systemic oppression of groups of peoples, and to explore solutions to such injustices.” (From MV Tours Humanitarian Travel Letter)

We are meeting with authors, pastors, Truth and Reconciliation Commission members, spending a day with kids from an orphanage, swimming in the Indian Ocean, spending time at a game reserve, hiking the mountains near Franschhoek, and swimming in the mountain pools.  It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am delighted to be going.

While I have taken some significant time off from my blog, this occasion gives me the chance to start again – for at least the two weeks that I am away – and take you on this journey with me. I will post pictures, blog about my thoughts and experiences, and keep my family up to date about how things are going.

One of the things that I am most excited about is hearing the stories of those living in South Africa who have experienced the pain, racism, and systemic oppression related to Apartheid and post-Apartheid South Africa. I think there is much to learn.  And I look forward to opening up my heart and mind to hear what they have to say. I want to sit there and soak in all that I can.

This trip will help lay the groundwork for one of my next book projects about social justice preaching. And I think there are some interesting parallels between the US and South Africa in the ways people of color have been treated.

I invite you to follow along if you wish and to experience this amazing culture through my eyes. I have much to learn and am extremely grateful for the opportunity.

Gratitude

Gratitude is more than just giving thanks, it is about finding joy in the things that make up our lives. It is about finding happiness in the simple things. It is about being present in all of the moments of our lives - good, bad, happy, sad, loving, angry, faithful, frustrated, etc. 

I am grateful. I am joyous. I am present. I am happy. But most of all, I give thanks for my life, for my faith and vocation, for all of my family and friends, and for the moments that make me understand how blessed I am.

Happy Thanksgiving.