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This weekend our group took a trip to the “Bush”. Yes, we
traveled from Jeffreys Bay all the way to the bush of South Africa. Which only
took about an hour but it seemed like we were miles away from our little beach
town!
We didn’t exactly know what to expect. Would we see a lion,
or have to use a machete to chop down firewood? Once we turned off the main
road and traveled down the longest, bumpiest, mountain gravel road I’ve ever
been on, I thought anything was possible.
Instead we pulled up to a small campsite in a valley
surrounded by beautiful, green mountains. It was a Christian facility that
hosts camps for groups throughout the year. There was a kitchen that we weren’t
allowed to be in, an outdoor shelter for meetings, 6 or 7 campfires in a semi-circle,
and 9 or 10 tiny cabins that our group stayed in. In this case the definition
of a cabin is four walls, a roof, 3 sets of bunk beds, and cardboard insulation
that didn’t do much to insulate us because we were FREEZING all weekend long.
It’s quite a shock to come from the humidity of a Georgia (or North Carolina)
summer to temperatures in the 30’s. Not to mention, most of us expected to
spend the next few months in a beach town, so we weren’t exactly prepared for
cold weather!
The weekend consisted of cooking all our meals over a
campfire, doing teambuilding exercises, paintball, absailing (or repelling),
and huddling close together attempting to stay warm! Ordinarily I would have
loved this type of thing, but I am not a fan of cold weather, so it was
struggle for me to keep a good attitude! For most of the weekend I daydreamed
about being in a nice, warm hotel room, taking a hot shower (I didn’t change
out of my clothes once all weekend!), and sitting on a big, comfortable bed
drinking hot chocolate. I really had to depend on God to give me a good
attitude! During a quiet time on Saturday, I felt like He asked me, “Sara,
would your rather spend the weekend in a warm hotel room knowing that’s not
where I want you, or be freezing in the middle of the South African bush
knowing that you are right in the center of my will?”. Well, I knew the answer
to that…someone once told me that the center of God’s will is the absolute best
place to be. So I held onto that all weekend. And on Sunday afternoon we were blessed
with sunshine and a warmer temperature. I know God still has a lot to do to
purge the sin out of my heart, and if it takes shivering through the night in a
cold, African valley to do that then so be it!
