Countdown: 1 Day

Tonight I thought about my last night in Africa, and the things that I was thinking and feeling. We were staying out in the middle of nowhere, kilometers from the nearest person. All around us were the night noises, the calls of the nocturnal world. I leaned back to stare straight up into the clear night sky, and the beauty made me catch my breath. There, far away from human light and pollution, I gazed at the wonders of the night lights, revealed like I had never seen it before. I’ve often marveled at the stars, but never have I seen so many span the sky as I did that last night in Africa. How close they seemed in their brilliance, nothing like the pasty white dots we sometimes see in more populated areas of the earth. As I lay back and started straight up, all I could see from horizon to horizon was millions of brilliant stars – each one seemingly hanging from an invisible thread and dangling just above my nose. It was almost as if I could touch them, but I was too afraid to break the stillness by reaching out my hand.

There I lay, contemplating the handiwork of my God and the insignificance of myself – how could I think of anything else in view of such splendor? “When I consider the Heavens, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man, that thou art mindful of him?” Ever so gently, He reminded me that He is mindful of me. Do you know that God has a perfect plan for my life? There is no reason to worry or fret. He has each step planned out; I only need to trust. There is no fear in love, for perfect love casteth out fear. I was not fearful that evening, only thankful that He would be mindful of me, and that He would think of me enough to create a plan for me. And then, I wondered if I would ever return to my beloved Africa again. I asked Him, if He would see fit, if I could one day come back. My heart was so full, I couldn’t even find the words to write my thoughts that evening, but the memory was forever impressed upon my mind.

And now here I am, a mere nine months later, and I am going back. In just a matter of hours, I plan to lay back and once again, view the African sky.