Give me oil in my lamp. Keep me burning.

Give me oil in my lamp. Keep me burning.

The lyrics from my childhood are permeating my brain as I fill my kerosene lantern and pray that it will last another night.

For the last 36 hours Carolyn and I, along with everyone else who lives on our road, have been without power. Unfortunately, there is no light in sight.

Yesterday, I poured coffee grounds into the machine, carefully measured out the precise amount of water and added it in. Excited to enjoy a hot cup of freshly brewed joy, I flipped the switch to brew my coffee. Much to my disappointment, nothing happened. Right, I thought. No power. It was at this point in time that I was thankful for my 4 years of barista training at Scooter’s coffeehouse. I resorted to other methods of brewing coffee and still enjoyed my hot cup of delight.

The other day Carolyn and I were sitting in our dining room enjoying our self-proclaimed, Craft Day. As we were exerting our God-given, not necessarily gifted, art skills we heard a loud buzzing sound. We looked at each other wondering what we had just heard. “Could that have been a doorbell?” Carolyn asked. As quickly as the sound had interrupted our thoughts, it was gone and we got back to work. Yesterday, we were sitting out on the front porch and Carolyn found a button that slightly resembled a door bell. Could this be the source of the mystery sound we heard?! Carolyn pressed it, and I volunteered to go inside and listen for any possible sound. As she pressed it, and I anxiously awaited, I peered back outside. Nothing. Right, I thought again. No power. Whether or not we have a door bell and if that was the sound we heard remains an unsolved mystery as of now.

The past hours have also been a reminder of how dependent I am on modern conveniences. I had begun to think I was doing well without many conveniences such as not having a car, having to be home before dark, and power outages every other night. However, in this continuous power outage, I’ve realized how many conveniences I still have when the power is on and how much I enjoy them.

Fortunately for me, there are members on our team who live just down the hill and have a generator! God is good. All the time.

One question that I’ve been challenged with since being here is what church is going to be my home this year. It’s a very interesting thing to think through and experience, especially in a culture that is not your own. As I continue to ponder what my purpose is in attending church and what I am hoping to see through being involved in a church, I’ve had the opportunity to visit many different places of worship. This previous Sunday I went to a service held at an all-girls boarding school. My intention in going there wasn’t necessarily for church, but to connect with some of the young women at the school. What a blessing it turned into to worship with these girls. Hundreds of young women worshipping God. It was a blast. At one point in the worship, the dancing intensified. I thought to myself, what triggered that? The look on my face must’ve said it because the person next to me whispered, “This is a traditional dance beat here.” The enthusiasm behind the way they worshipped was contagious. It was alive. It was a blessing to be in their midst.

The answer to my question still remains open, and that’s okay. Just like so many other things here, I take it day by day. God is sovereign and is working in me in more ways that I alone can see. I was reading a book today about faithfulness. The author was addressing a reader’s concern in being faithful to one person forever. The author responded, “Can you be faithful to that person today?” The reader responded, “Well, of course I can today. It’s the future that I’m worried about.” The author then said, “Life is just a series of todays over and over again.” And, I’m going to let that be my response to living, too. I don’t have to have the answers for what is going to happen 3 months from now or 3 years from now. But, can I be faithful to what God is asking me to do today? Yes. And, the rest will take care of itself.