Long Relationships

I began my Building Africa blog early this week. Since then I have been building post after post in my head to communicate the bits and pieces of what God is doing in my life and that of others in relation to this project. I desire to give my readers a somewhat sensible order of thoughts, therefore I will take my time bringing you thoughts as my days working on this project in Africa approach, and even then will continue during if possible, and after. Tonight however, I have desire to share with you one of the affects of the process of support raising.

As I seek to share God's mission for this project trip with those I know and love, I've been scanning through my emails and contact lists to find those whom I believe may have interest in hearing about the project and cause.

My contact folder is jammed with out-of-date contact groups (like "Caffiene; SoNo group," etc.) And friends I've met along my journey through Southern California from the beach, climbing, church, or my roomie's aerospace friends. Or friends from my journey to Connecticut, from Evensong, Redeemer, GBC, yoga teachers, volleyball, or ALPHA class. These are just two of the intricate stops in a long line of adventures that fill my contacts folder with names as far back as my internship in 2001. These are, "Events that shape my life" one might say to sum it up. But I know that really it is the people that have shaped my life, and these people have given life to these activities and stops along the way.

So this is a moment of honesty here: I am amazed to discover how many people I have completely lost touch with. In today's age of technology, and even with my (in)famous random calling to old friends every once in a blue moon, so many fascinating friends and people precious to me have been out of touch for a lengthy amount of time.

The sheer numbers of contacts I've made over my adventures spanning the city, country, and globe are starting to catch up to me as I can't keep up with all these wonderful people. The reality of that is saddening to me, a people-person. But there is another half to the cup our sayings describe. The joy of this is found in an opportunity to do something profitable for God's kingdom and human need. An opportunity to connect my network of friends and contacts with things being done around world, and equipped to do them through their support. The reality of this perspective is beautiful and has God's fingerprints all over it.

That being said, I'm going to head back to my hotmail account and drag over more emails from people I love to my becky@saffronandcrimson.com email... expect your first "CONNECTION" email soon!

"Friends, I will say, 'Peace be within you.'" ~Psalm 122:8b