So tired of flying ...

So, apparently November 24th is the day to fly. I arrived at the airport early to check in and while standing in line, looked back and said to a black girl behind me that it was good to hear another American accent. We laughed and she asked me how long I’d been in South Africa. I said “Two years.”

When she introduced herself to me, I smiled and when she asked my name, I said, “Roxanne.”

“Roxanne what?”

“Foster. Why? You’re Nicole … ?”

Big smile crosses her face. “Boone.”

Yeah, I screamed in the airport.

This is a girl that I started emailing around the middle of last year at the insistence of a friend in Houston who heard her speak at their church. We’d talked about my coming to visit her in Plettenberg Bay, but life had gotten hectic and I’d forgotten to make it a priority. Apparently, God was still up to something there!

So, for the next hour we chatted and laughed about life in South Africa, about our struggles with the men and the results of the recent elections. It was so good to laugh with someone who can identify with the craziness you experience as a black American living in South Africa.

If that wasn’t enough, when I landed in Atlanta I was standing around baggage claim and saw a girl that looked really familiar to me as well. It turns out that she’s a YWAMer that’s working with 10,000 Homes in Mpumalanga whose DTS I staffed in Denver. I’m constantly amazed at how big this workd is, yet how intimate and inter-connected the body of Christ is.

Apparently God wanted to encourage me with the fact that the relationships I make in this life are lifelong. I’ve been sad about the fact that quite a few of my friends will have moved on from living and working in South Africa/Joburg when I get back. Being in YWAM, you get used to saying goodbye to people, but it just seemed (once again) that just when I’d seemed to find some balance between work and friendships, things will once again be unbalanced when I return.

So, this holiday will be a great time for me to refocus and enjoy the stability of relationships in my life. I’m excited about spending time with my family and friends, as well as praying through some of the things going on in my head and heart in regards to returning to Joburg to become a full-time mom on the mission field. Thank God for His timing and the fact that He knows me inside and out.