"One man's trash is another man's treasure"

Finally. A blog post. Which I realise is WAY overdue. Whoops… I do apologize! Since the last time I shared any of this journey of justice through love… I’ve been really sick, spent time getting well back home, spent two awesome weeks in Mozambique – a place of family and friends (old and new), a place which stood two years ago as a catapult on the top of a cliff that shot me out into the glorious unknown at my resounding, “Yes!” – I’ve been in Kenya, I’ve been in Congo, I’ve been back in Kenya and in just a few sleeps I head back to South Africa for a dear friend’s wedding and a play – yes, I have friends that have written plays and special ‘little’ people who act in them.

Life on paper, over the past two months, appears to have been a whirlwind of airports and aeroplanes, biweekly (almost) culture adjustment, a melting pot of languages and living out of a suitcase. Whilst partly true, it’s also been an incredible time of redemption, of learning what it looks like to trust implicitly when you cannot see beyond the fog, of deepening friendships, of tears (the sad kind as well as the “Oh-my-gosh!-Did-THAT-really-just-happen?-Amazed-at-God’s-goodness kind), of laughter and of bigger dreams (mostly for warzones), and greater freedom for more people!

I have, in all this, been reminded of the “treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places” which are given to us, that the King be glorified. The thing about treasure though is this: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. Another thing about treasure is that sometimes, even the most obvious treasure has been buried and forgotten on the ocean floor or deep under the earth or in the backyard, until someone dares to seek it out and clean it off to reveal its true value… even Disney teaches us this… So I guess treasure hunting comes down to perspective and willingness; Choosing to see value, with hope when the rest of the world sees hopeless ‘trash’ and being willing to seek it out; being willing to go, to dive to the depths or dig to the core in order to reveal the riches which for too long have been hidden.

I cannot help, but giggle with excitement at the thought of what this looks like, even in the midst of Congo’s war – a war which has raged for so long that there are young men and women (not boys and girls), but grown-ups, adults, who do not know what it is like to live in a country where there is peace. The more time I spend getting to know our Congolese family and friends, the more time I spend sitting with Mama in the bush speaking a comfortable mix of broken KiSwahile and comical sign language, the more time I spend looking into the eyes of children in rags who hold bamboo sticks like AK-47s, the more treasure I see and the more fervent my desire is to seek it out!

And so, as we continue to go after His favourite ones with His perspective it matters less and less what their past is and what, if any, uniform they’re wearing. There’s something special about hearing the words, “We love you!” There’s something really really special about hearing those words preceded by, “Thank you for loving us… Thank you SO much for loving us!” from group of soldiers, hungry for Truth, thirsty for Freedom… As we sat in a circle on the simple wooden boards which form the wonky pews in a village church up on the hill in ‘our’ village, the Presence fell, thick and tangible, and I was able to look deep into the eyes of these men – so easily labelled hard and cold and evil – and see what Papa sees… I was able to see the treasure, the hidden riches. Within each of them. It’s there. Whether their every action reveals the treasure or not. It’s there. I saw it. I see it. And what a privilege to seek it out.

It’s next to impossible to fully capture moments like this. In fact, it’s difficult to fully capture any of it… the taste of fresh honey on a three day old bread roll, the smell of the last coffee bag (such a treat), the sound of worship as our Freedom boys press in to Papa’s heart to relieve the pain of having lost loved ones in the most recent outbreak of war, the coolness of the lake as we wash off the layers of village dirt, the sound of laughter as we sing and dance with the children at our school… But in it all, whether I can pen it with eloquence or not whether I have the-picture-is-worth-more-than-a-thousand-words shot or not, I capture Papa’s heart, sink back into His lap and shriek with joy as we go through the pile of treasure, as He reveals the true value of the riches we’ve uncovered!

Soon, I will stand alongside one of my favourites as she says, “I do” and stand to cheer as the final curtain is drawn, because I know the play will be brilliant. I will eat fresh salad and drink good coffee without having to make a fire first and all the while, I will have my eyes wide open and my ears tuned in... To find the treasure… Because…

 
I’m a treasure hunter… It’s part of who I was created to be… And I love it!