I have etched in my memory the moment when we first arrived in the Refugee Camp in May 2016.
I can see the eager children running onto the airstrip to greet us as we stepped off the plane.
Their little bodies were coated in different patterns of dirt.
In the background a large cargo plane took off, kicking up a thick cloud of red dust.
Behind the dust plume were dark storm clouds.
To the right and left were small mud-brick homes and tall, pointed, termite mounds.
A few dirt covered shrubs poked through the brown earth.
Within days I encountered my first dust storm (an other-worldly haze of orange).
And very quickly I learned that my son would live with a semi- permanent ‘dirt tan’ like all the other children.
My first impressions were correct.
In the Refugee Camp there is lots of dirt and dust.
I know there is dirt most places in the world.
It’s just a bit more overwhelmingly present here.
After one of those first dust storms I journaled,
… the dust storm whooshed around our tent. I lay on my bed and started to wonder what to do. M was asleep. The wind was too ferocious outside to finish washing those nappies I had left in the bucket. It was too dusty even inside the tent to do anything. Our belongings were quickly becoming coated with dust. I left a streak with my finger in the already thick dust layer on M’s change mat. My mind wandered, thinking about the washing after this dust storm. I decided to just lay down and let this dust storm whirl.
I thought about the dust that surrounded me. Then my imagination took me back to the garden in Genesis.
Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Genesis 2:7)
I tried to envision the scene of God picking up the dust and forming human beings with his hands.
I wondered to myself, with ordinary dust God created You and I.
I started thinking about what He has placed within our jar of clay;…we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us
(2 Corinthians 4:6-7).
And what is this treasure? The verse before states that it is the light of the knowledge of God’s glory, displayed in the face of Christ.
As I thought about what God has done with ordinary dirt I also started imagining what He could do with our ordinary lives in the dirt in the Refugee Camp.
This brought me hope.
You see, for our family, the first few months in Yida were filled with many ‘ordinary’ tasks that consumed our day.
From cooking and cleaning to language learning and home building.
We had to keep believing that God would breathe life, His life, into these very ordinary dusty moments.
We had to trust that He would reveal His treasure under the layers of dust.
I am quite sure that your dirt looks different to the dirt of Yida…
And the dust storms around you probably cause different damage.
I want to encourage you though.
Look beyond the dirt.
Dare to imagine how God might breathe new life into your ordinary ‘dusty’ day.
Draw hope from what He has created from something so seemingly insignificant.
In faith bring your daily dust to Him.
As you read on about our faith journey, my prayer is that you will see His life and treasure in your ordinary daily lives too, for His glory.
Grace and peace
Hope
Hallelujah in the Mountains 