Deeper Still...

It’s funny when other people can tell you about who you are.

That’s happened to me some recently—both directly and indirectly—through a couple different avenues.

You know, you people here who read this blog might just have a greater peek into my life and thoughts than even my teammates—yea, even roommates!—do.

It’s true that my thoughts come together best in words—written words. I’m not very good at saying the right thing in a conversation or explaining at a team meeting what’s on my heart. (In fact, I’m downright awful at it; I’m pretty socially awkward.) I can’t ask or answer piercing questions over dinner. I probably talk about the weather a lot.

And there are a lot of things that I would say in written words that would never cross my lips into spoken words. Introspective things. Train-of-thought things. Stuff I’ve chewed on and mulled over.

So welcome into the inside, folks. This is front-row stuff here, I guess.

(Maybe to encourage deeper relationships and more transparency with my roommates, I’ll start reading my blogs over dinner… But that’s a whole other issue. I’m so much better than I was…)

You know, Abe Lincoln was always putting the pen to the paper. No joke. I read a biography on the guy. If he had a important conversation with someone—especially on a touchy subject, or where he was confronting someone, etc.—he would actually, before the conversation, write out what he intended to say. And often he’d give them a letter afterward, basically restating or reinforcing what his point was. He was all about communication—and not being misunderstood. And I suppose maybe, like me, he was better understood on paper.

I must come across somewhat clear on this thing, because people have been able to come right alongside me, right where I’m at, even from across the ocean, even (what seems to me like) out of the blue. Or people I’ve never met in person before can ask and talk about me, my teammates, even my Lopit neighbors, like they’d met them themselves. And—what I love the most—people can pray for us like they were here, like they were battling right alongside us.

So I guess there’s a lot of blessing in that. This is what I wanted. This was the burden—to connect the missionary with the people who sent them. And even if there’s only a few of you out there, it could just be that you feel a little connected.

Sweet. Very sweet.