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Global Urban Trek 2008
Displacing DepartureJuly 13, 2008
After four days of re-acclimating myself to the “tried-and-true” ways of my American culture, things have idled back to the point of previous monotony.
This means work at 7 a.m. on Tuesday was an absolute killer. Spending Sunday night in Miami International Airport allowed our student-team of four to unravel the sleeping bags once more in an empty terminal and space out (or wrestle) in community to reflect.
Emotions were drained and many of us were still hours from home, but something about the group dynamic and Burger King's breakfast sandwiches really helped to facilitate smart conversation. 'Smart' not because we resembled Benediction monks gathered around the Word, but because we were a group of honest young adults who experienced something truly special, and simply had too many questions and too much excitement to remain quiet.
Don't get me wrong, our patterns of thought have been absolutely decimated by this trip – we sought for black and white guidance, personal vindication, and divine communication, but returned somewhat distraught. Instead of the straightforward experience we had hoped for, some of us realized that jumping from A to Z is impossible, and the let-down was different for each of us.
I was never the gossip-queen around middle school lunch tables. I cannot even try to speak on my teammates’ behalf. So I challenge you readers to ask your own Trekker questions, and listen to what they have to say. I can promise you that this trip meant the world to each of us. We all have plans to serve the Lord, and undoubtedly our time in Honduras has shifted what that will look like. But until He calls us specifically, we can only prepare.
It was hard to enter Target the next day with a cute shopping list in hand and be caught once again under the corporate fluorescence of “Sales!” and “Hot New Items!” With my own stuffed wallet, and all the people walking around with a Starbucks in-hand, it took a fair amount of patience for me to keep from screaming and just to call attention away from these quaint, meaningless distractions.
In those moments, reason returns and I begin to think more realistically how I can involve myself and others in the injustices I’ve only just left. Programs, youth conventions, post-graduate convictions...these are all things we must handle practically, and keep safe from the mystical "what-if?" perspective that haunts far too many talented leaders.
In two years, I might be the one living in an American slum such as St. Louis or Detroit or perhaps in the chaos of a foreign mega-city in the likes of Cairo or Kolkata. Some might argue that such a lifestyle is a wasted effort or a short-sighted dream. But my fellow Trekkers and I have concluded that there is something both revolutionary and beautifully simple in living for Jesus' love and His specific yearning for the displaced and dispossessed.
That's all folks, God bless.
- Dylan
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