When I signed up for a Real Life trip, I never understood what that would mean. Now that I am back home and no longer in Uganda, I understand why AIM calls it a Real Life trip. The thing is: life has never been more real than it is now-not trying to be cliche or do a play on words, but seriously life is more real than ever before.
The reality- the reality of hurt, the reality of pain, the reality of poverty, the reality of need- have never hit me so deeply before. The reality that there are people who literally depend on the Lord or the church to provide their daily bread -day by day- and need complete support for every area of their lives hit my core. I understand that people need the basics of material provision before they are open to the provision for their spirit. I know they walk in complete faith and trust God for absolutely everything.
I knew and was somewhat prepared for the needs and poverty of the culture, but there was another reality that absolutely blew me out of the water and shocked me more than any other aspect of Uganda. The reality of joy that surpasses every situation, the reality of confidence in identity and in the character of God, the reality of love and loving deeper than the surface, the reality of a hunger for truth and for life that is far bigger than the understandable, the reality of life -real abundant life- that doesn't cower in the shadows of death or shrink back in the midst of fear.
See, what I learned was this- real life has nothing to do with where we are, how much or how little we have. It isn't about us, it isn't about our circumstances, surroundings, or expectations. It is about one Truth. It is about one Reality. It is about one mindset. It is a full focus on God and on His desires for us- which are good, which bring Him glory, and which want the ultimate best for us.
That is what absolute real life is and now that I am in America, I have to rediscover what it looks like– this culture is different, these people are different. Joy and hunger look different, but there is one thing that I can stand on. God is still God. God is still good. God is still real. God is still Life.
