I wake up on another average Friday. It is somewhat cool for a change, considering we live just a couple degrees off the equator. It is dark and quiet and calm in our neighborhood as I pack my lunch, eat my breakfast and grab my coffee.
Today I'm taking 2 short term missionaries out to the bush so they can encourage the full time missionaries there and experience jungle life for a week. As I pick up the passengers from a neighbors house I can tell they are already excited and a little nervous about their first time in a small airplane. I try to reassure them and put them at ease with some corny jokes, which usually does the trick.
Taking off out of Kinshasa it is a smooth cloudy day and we pick up some good speed as we transition into cruise. Bringing headsets along I had hoped to chat with 2 first timers to Africa but the early morning took a toll on them and they drifted to sleep by the constant hum of the diesel engine on the 182.
Time goes by and a song pops into my head while the clouds wisp by our wings. It had been a difficult but good few weeks in Kinshasa and I was reflecting on our almost 2 years there. Our curious and mischievous little daughter just turned 1. My beautiful wife and I just celebrated 3 years of marriage. Our house in this far off land was feeling more and more like a home. We had good friends in the country and had already seen a few good ones move on. And let's face it, I get to fly and travel all over the place for free :)
A smile emerges on my face almost out of my control and I just can't believe how God has blessed and loved me so much. The song, I'm now singing out loud, is "Who wouldn't wanna be me" by Kieth Urban (and I don't usually listen to country).
Many say it is dangerous just to live here and others can't imagine single engine, single pilot operations over the vastly un-populated once known land of "the heart of darkness."
I can't imagine being anywhere else with my family and we consider it all gain to serve Him, even though we have given up much. I only pray this feeling, this smile, these thoughts, can stay with me when times get very difficult and it seems we can't go on.
The way home had me flying a missionary kid to get some dental work done in the city. We also stopped and picked up 2 european doctors who had volunteered 2 weeks in small village hospitals with Doctors Without Vacation. And because we had space we added a congolese girl who was coming to visit family she hadn't seen in years.
The smile returns. "Who wouldn't wanna be me..."