I need to see beauty

     As you can tell, for the last few weeks I have been in an emotional slump. I don't know if it was just the holidays, but I was struggling with staying positive. At some point, I talked to Alex and my mom about needing to see true beauty in the world.

     I went to Kenya on a mission trip in 2009. We spent a significant amount of time in the slums of one of the major cities serving at a school for the kids of the area. When I say slums, I'm not being dramatic. Here is one of the areas we drove through every day:

    We met families that live in these areas, and most of them would be living in a 10ft x 10ft structure with their entire family. If they were fortunate, they would be able to afford a single electric lightbulb to light their room. One of the people on the trip took a picture from on top of a building looking out over the valley where all these shacks were, I wish I had it to share with you to show the absolute desolation in the area.

    

    After we served our days in the school, our group got to go out on the Maasai Mara which is actually part of the Serengeti. 

On the way in to the reserve

Literally when we got off the plane

Sunset

Yeah this is really a picture I took and yeah we were really that close!

This is one of the last pictures I took: there was a field completely covered with spider webs and I snapped the picture. As we were driving, I thought to myself- each of those spiders was provided food from their web. If God cares enough about a dang spider to make sure that it has something to eat, how much more does He care for us?

This is what I'm talking about. God's perfect glory in creation

     While we were out there, Chris was talking to us about how much he appreciated the opportunities he and Brandi had in making trips out to this reserve. "I need to be reminded of God's glory sometimes," he admitted. "Sometimes when  you work day in and day out in poverty, it is easy to get overwhelmed with the sadness that exists there. Seeing the natural beauty that God laid out here for us helps me to keep my perspective of the bigger purpose." 

    That's where I'm at right now. I am struggling with my every day sadness, and I need to be reminded of God's beauty in creation. My mom recommended us going to a resort in Florida, but I told her I need to see something not man-made. I would love to go back to Kenya, but with my work schedule its just not going to be possible.