“We have arrived”

Yesterday was a very busy and very long day. After working at the clinic and then getting our accountants started on their work I headed to the town 45 minutes away to drop off a teammate at the ferry, pick up another, and do some shopping with the help of one of our Gambian workers (he gets better prices than I do alone). If you have followed for even a little while, you know that the ferry always puts a kink in travel and “plans”; yesterday did not disappoint. After dropping off the one teammate who waited over 2 hours for her ferry to take off I waited over 2 hours for the other teammate to arrive on the same boat. During that time I did a little shopping, surfed the internet and watched the entertainment of the shopkeepers catching a thief (while I was safely in the car). It was dark and it was late and when my teammate arrived we were both exhausted and just ready to be home. I admit, I was not looking forward to the 45 minute drive home in the dark constantly on the lookout for horse carts in the road. Our Gambian worker said he wanted to give a ride to someone from his compound back to our village, we had room so no problem. I then found out his precious 3 year old granddaughter had gone to visit an Aunt in the city and her Aunt brought her back on the same ferry as my teammate (only God could have orchestrated those logistics) and then handed her off to her Grandpa to go home.

Initially, this beautiful little girl was pretty overwhelmed by the white lady throwing her in the car so she did not get run over in the dark or engulfed by the mob attacking the thief. However, once we started driving this little girl realized she was going home and even better, she was going home with her Grandpa! The delight that this little 3 year old had as she jabbered away with her Grandpa and the tenderness in his interaction with her made our ride home pure joy.

As I prayed this morning and reflected on yesterdays busyness and this sweet little girl I was reminded of the tender, sweet love Father God has for His children and how he sweetly chats with us and brings us joy. When we were near their house last night the girl loudly proclaimed “we have arrived!” Oh, how I long for the day when I meet the Lord face to face and can say “I have arrived!”