The Stuff We Left Behind

It's Sunday morning and I am supposed to be posting the blog for yesterday but my head is spinning. So much has happened in the past 24 hours and I'm trying to make sense of all of it.

Yesterday we woke up in Jamaica. The team was together...we sat around the kitchen table drinking our delicious Jamaican coffee....we laughed and joked...and we were only a few steps away from some of the most remarkable children in the world. Now that all seems so far away. How do we come back to our lives here in the US without thinking constantly about TyTy and Anthony at Sophie's Place; Brian and Tia at Dare to Care; Alexia and Dwight at My Father's House; and Ramon and Nicholas at Matthew 25:40? What do we do with all of those emotions that we experienced? How do we incorporate the person we became this week into our daily lives? These are all questions that this team is going to be struggling with over the next few days. And you know what? Even after five years leading this trip with Bridget, I am sure I still don't know the answers. But before I get too far down that road let me rewind and tell you about our last day in Jamaica.

For the first time all week we didn't wake up to an alarm. Still I found myself up earlier than I would be at home and full of an energy that's hard to describe. Slowly the team started to wake up and join the early risers at the kitchen table. We sat around enjoying our last taste of coffee in Jamaica. As I looked around the table I saw people that had been changed. I saw eyes that were opened to a whole new world. I saw hearts that were touched and minds that were racing to figure out what all of this would mean when we got back home.

We spent the morning cleaning up and getting ready to leave Sophie's Place. When we left Hoboken last weekend we left with 17 pieces of luggage, 17 bins of supplies, and 17 carry-on bags. As we started to gather our luggage as we left Sophie's it was funny to see so much less. A few people only had carry on bags while others also carried half-full suitcases. The "stuff" we left behind was more than the clothes we had worn all week that would now be donated for the kids. The "stuff" we left behind was the unimportant stuff that often weighs us down. It was the stuff that gets in the way of us being who we are called to be. It was the stuff that keeps us from laughing and smiling each day. It was the stuff that gets in the way of us loving everyone around us. It was the stuff that keeps us from taking the time to pray each day. It was the stuff that gets in the way of living like we lived this week- simply and lovingly.

After we cleaned up and packed our bags we got to enjoy one last devotion with the kids. I stood in the back and watched as the team held kids in their arms and sang songs of praise and I couldn't help but smile. This team had given so much of themselves and I found so much joy in watching them receive so much love in this moment. That image will stay with me.

Then it was time to load the van one last time. Down the mountain...through Papine...and back to where it all started. The people of Mustard Seed have become our family, and watching the goodbye from the outside would have looked like any family saying their goodbyes at an airport terminal. Their were tears and hugs and promises of being back next year. But most importantly their was respect. Respect, mon, respect.

--Michael