It's Simple

Today Gary flew into Bendele with the biggest plane that has come to
this part of Tchad! It was amazing! Everyone was so excited, all the
kids coming around, parents coming to the airstrip to see this amazing
piece of metal! I now know that I've been here for quite a while,
because even I was jumping up and down from all the joy inside my soul.
My friend Freddy is a very educated man, and has traveled and studied
in Cameroon, but this was still the biggest plane that he has seen! This
plane could seat 14 people!!! I know this sounds kinda pathetic to all
you reading this, but it was amazing! I felt as though this was the
biggest plane that I had ever seen.

Life here is so simple, that even the little things like a small plane
bring such joy and excitement. Here we cook over a fire or charcoal,
get water with a bucket from a well, and rest under the stars every
night. We laugh at all the little things, dance when we're happy, and
take life as we go. I see the sun rise and set everyday, and I see kids
running around pushing tires or pot lids with a stick, playing soccer,
or just having fun in the sand. They don't need the newest toy from
walmart when they can make a toy from leaves and a stick...they're
happy. We have so much here. The smallest gift of time is so special
and treasured, and visiting someone is a big deal. To pass time the
people play drums, talk, laugh, eat, and...talk. Their lives are still
very hard; women work in the fields in the morning, and that evening are
giving birth to their 13th child. People still look like they're 90
when they're only 50, and people die of sickness and poverty all the
time, but despite all the hardships that they face, they are still
content with life.

I gave my family glow in the dark stars for Christmas, and the other
night we all put them up in their house. All of the kids were there
putting their hands in my face trying to get a star to put up on the
wall. The mom was even in there pushing her kids out of the way or
taking the stars from them so that she could help put up the stars.
Something so small, but yet so amazing! That's how I think it is with
God. He gives us the little things in life that show us how amazing He
really is. He doesn't want us to be filled with the things of this
world that distract us, but He wants us to be filled with Him, and to be
content with the little things of this world that He has created for us!

This life really is too short, and filled with so much stuff...but I
serve a God who reaches to us in our clutter, and simply gives.