Not Yet

In some ways, Easter this year was a bit off for me. Here we go to church on Fridays anyway and, being rather new in the city, we didn’t make it to a service on Sunday.

Since then, it seems there have been many reminders of how much we live in a world that also hasn’t quite made it to the resurrection yet.

The news of a woman at Sari Bari, working her way out of the sex trade, who was murdered this past week was a tragic reminder of how broken our world can be.

One of my teammates nearly broke down at seeing a woman cooking on the sidewalk where she lived, her infant sleeping on the ground a few feet from a busy street.

Hard news from the States for another of my teammates, where one of the girls she was serving ran away from home.

Here, we are constantly reminded of the poverty and brokenness of our world. It is a world that has not yet grasped the possibilities of love or the opportunity of God’s grace.

We also struggle with the “not yet”. We are not yet able to speak the language of those around us. We can’t yet build relationships with the poor, talk to them, or move into their lives. We can’t yet be there for our brothers and sisters grieving at Sari Bari.

Yet, that’s why we’re here, learning the language and preparing to move.

Someday, we hope we are able. Able to join, to listen, to comfort, to be and to do. We just aren’t… yet.