jamerican
my good friend rod and i were talking last saturday evening as i was driving from negril to portmore. he pointed out something that hadn’t really occurred to me: out of the last 12 months of my life, i’ve spent one month in jamaica.
according to my family / friends in morant bay, spanish town and braeton, i’m a jamerican (although some say i’m nationalized), either way, i think is cool. but “cool” doesn’t really capture the magnitude of the fact that i’ve been to jamaica more times than i’ve been to mississippi, missouri, north carolina or virginia - half the states that border tennessee; that i enjoy driving in jamaica more than i do driving in the u.s.; that i’ve been to more places in jamaica than many jamaicans (only 2 parishes to go!); and that i literally don’t feel like a visitor in jamaica.
you that know me, know how i am. if you could transport me to jamaica right now, with the few dollars in my pocket and the clothes on my back, i would be completely cool (regardless of where you dropped me on the island).
what’s cool is how all this has happened.
in the summer of ‘98, on my first trip to jamaica, if you had told me what all would unfold as a direct result of that experience i would have laughed in your face. the Lord used countless past experiences to prepare me - a 17 year old fired up new Believer - for that opportunity, from which, countless others have been impacted over the following 10 trips on which i’ve been able to serve in jamaica.
what a privilege to be used by the Lord - in spite of me and all my many shortcomings - as a vessel.
however, the Lord is at work all around me, all the time. every day is a mission trip and every opportunity is a blessing to be seized.
my personal mantra… “everything is possible.”