"Look closely, I am here..." is what God has been whispering into my heart since the first day that I was dropped off in front of John Wayne Airport, ready to head off on this great adventure.

"I am here... look at the details all around you." 

God has really been revealing himself to me in the small things here in Africa. I can't help but stop sometimes as we are walking down the road to look at the mountains and the light as it reflects off the waters of Lake Victoria. When we were driving to this widow's house yesterday I sat on top of the roof of the Paul's car and had one of those moments when the weight of where you are kinda hits you all over again. Living in Africa has become the normal to an extent... I am used to being here and life and luxuries typical to America seem like just a memory (some of them a dearly missed memory...but a memory none the less). As we drove I just tried to soak it all in. We were driving up into these green lush hills and it was so beautiful, more beautiful than there are words to describe, and it just hit me again... I am in Africa. Here I am, driving down bumpy roads in this car fit for a safari and passing grass and mud huts and people carrying fire wood and baskets filled with tomatoes or buckets filled with water on their heads as cows and chickens and goats run all over the road, and its just normal life. It seems like I am a world away but then again I hear all these things from home and know that days go on there like I have always known them to do. It's a strange thing to stop and try to take in... its so big and different that it almost doesn't seem real at all, like maybe I have jumped into a movie instead of something real. 

When I stop and look close, it all makes sense to me. I see all these details and I see faces and in doing so I see Gods hand on this place. He is hiding there in that smile and waiting for me to see him as he paints the sky with oranges and pinks and purples as the sun sinks into the water each night, he is showing me his power there in the shapes that he carved out of the mountains and revealing his heart as each dragon fly dances by me as I walk up the worn rocky path. He is here. He is in the details: hiding there in the fold of a leaf, in the vibrant greens, in the light that shines through it displaying each line and bringing new exposure to the intricacies of what he has made. God looks at each detail of his creation and says that it is good, he delights in it, and reveals himself through it. God I see you there. You are covering this place. You designed each detail that I see and it is so beautiful.