Dolphin Cruises

I'm back, I'm back, I'm back. 3 weeks later too! Phew, glad to be in Austin where people are weird, the food is good, and paddle-boarding is on the rise. Florida, Nashville, Memphis, Jackson, College Station.

I've been experiencing mild to moderate symptoms of writer's block, so bear with me while I warm up my muscles again.

To be perfectly frank, I'm in limbo, straddling contentment at all times. When I'm in Africa, I'm longing to be home with my family, my small group, within reach of friends. When I'm in the U.S., calling my daughters in Uganda makes me weep, and I miss the brilliant sunsets over the cassava fields.

My calling is sure. To be a storyteller. To sit down over a bagel and coffee with everyone who will listen and tell them not about Joseph Kony, but about the people he has trampled. The real, tangible, people with stories, homes, families, and heartbeats. And the hope that is here, that in Jesus Christ, there is no fear in death.

I keep being reminded that the Acholi people are His people. Always have been, always will be. He watches them as they sleep. He knows their thoughts from afar. 

So I'm clinging to the truth that life is so much fuller with God's nearness and greatness in mind. 

Nearness, in that He never condemns, always understands, sits closely.

Greatness in that the worst thing the earth could do to Him was crucify Him, but He won that too. And this is the thing, 

Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

Isaiah 12:2

So God's strength is my strength, and the worst thing the earth could to me is take my life. But in HIM, I've already won.

Isn't that so great?

Thank you Jesus for Asher, Camp, James, dolphin cruises, rain storms, milkshakes, soul sisters who live in Nashville and eat cookie dough fried in wonton, and your promises that make it all worth while.

Love, Chloe

p.s. See those two little brown baby bellies? That's Asher and Camp. They're finally where they belong, in Wynne and Stephen's arms. Read more here.

Yellow poodles.

Yes, that is a yellow poodle. His sister was sea foam green.

It's drizzling outside, which inevitably puts me in one of those "sit down, iTunes on, blog while drinking coffee" moods.

And as I sit here and think, my fingers move, I think back to the things in the past month that have shaped my thinking.

Happy.

A documentary that looks into the science behind the human emotion of happiness. Montages of a foot-carriage in India, a primitive, unscathed tribe in Africa, the people of Okinawa, Japan, the old surfer in Hawaii. The conclusion?

Psychological happiness derives and is sustained by these things:

Get together.
Serve others.
Be outside.
Rest and balance.
Do things you love.

It's funny, isn't it? This film is not religious in any way, shape, or form, but the conclusions speak volumes of God being our source of life. He values these things, commanded them, because He created us! He knows what makes us tick.

Get together.

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Romans 12:9-13

Serve others.

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:13-14

Be outside.


Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on itand spirit to those who walk in it: I will take you by the hand and keep you... Isaiah 42:5

Rest and balance.


And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” Mark 6:31


Do things you love.


So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun. Ecclesiastes 8:15


Love, Chloe