Post Tanzania Perspective

I recently went to Arusha, Tanzania on a mission trip. It was--as you may have guessed--an amazing trip that was both personally and spiritually fulfilling. The team worked with a Tanzanian Christian school. We shared in eight or nine different churches. And we went on a safari and saw some of the crazy stuff that people see when they go to the Serengeti-Masai folks, elephants, hippos, lions, and the like.

What really struck me about the trip was how much I missed my life back home with my family. I'm not trying to be corny, but I felt lonely when I was on this trip, and it wasn't because I didn't have good company because I had great company. I spent a lot of time with long time students, graduates, colleagues, and church members. I just didn't have my family and everything that goes with that.

I don't really consider myself much of a captain dad guy. I always look forward to time to just play games when my wife and kids are out visiting family. I love guy time. I sacrifice sleep so that I can have extra "me time." I guess I'm just trying to say that I 'm not one of those dudes who constantly pines about his family being gone for a weekend. You know the guy: the one who can't ever complain about his wife with friends because he feels like it's some sort of confession that he doesn't love his wife enough. We all have friends who treat their family like it's a Lucille and Buster relationship. I'm not that guy. I tend to give that guy a hard time. But I felt what that guy pretends to feel when I was in Africa for two weeks (maybe he's not pretending, I don't know). 

Now that I've been back for almost a week, it's pretty easy to forget the loneliness because I'm thrust back into my life that consists of family time, all the time. With my two boys, it's hard to feel lonely because they always need me.

It's funny how quickly the important things in life become mundane.