where am I?

i woke up in the middle of the night a couple days ago, saw a white column in my room, and literally had no idea where i was.

at first i thought i was in our last apartment in west africa.  but the placement of the door threw me off.

then my mind went to the jacksonville townhouse, but i quickly realized i wasn't there either.

i sat up to wake myself up, and realized where i was.  kerrie woke up and asked if everything was ok.  (the night before, i caught her doing security rounds in the house at 3am! she had drawn the conclusion - at 3am - that since the home we're renting had security cameras, there must be serious reason for concern and logically we're probably in grave danger. lol)  

after telling her i was just disoriented for a minute, we laid there for a while and eventually started laughing...

similar things had been happening to her.  back in san lucas, she saw a missionary family she recognized in a grocery store, but right before saying "hi" realized she was confusing them with a family we knew in africa! 

i can't even count the times i have used french instead of spanish...  or walked into the room and swiped the wrong wall expecting to hit the light switch... or forgot what options any given store has, or where stuff is, or what stuff is called... or forgot what tools, or office supplies, or clothes i have with me here, verses ones that i had somewhere else.

and i really miss family and friends from each location.  i wish i would have appreciated and taken better advantage of the time i had with people in each place.

but here we are!

at a minimum, it's a great reminder of 2 things:

1 - this life is not our home

• our citizenship is in heaven, as we wait for our savior (philippians 3:20)
• here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come (hebrews 13:14)
• we must not love our homes, belongings, jobs, schools, cities, church community, friends, or families so much that they dictate where we live. "living as exiles" helps keep us in the fight. (1 john 2:15-17, 1 peter 2:11) 

2 - the christian life is a mission

• at the end of Jesus' ministry, death, and resurrection, he declared "go into all the world and preach the gospel" (mark 16:15). 
• there are still places in the world that have never heard the gospel, or have no healthy/biblical gospel presence.
• the mission isn't complete, so we press on until it is (matt 24:14).

anyway, this is the train of thought the Lord led me down after waking up and not knowing where i was the other day :)