Good morning!! Spring has finally arrived in Michigan! Trilliums, daffodils, and tulips brighten the scenes, chasing away the chills and grays of winter. People are jogging in shorts rather than densely bundled against the winter breezes. Green lawns have returned as a place of work. Plant nurseries beckon as the growing season arrives. This has been my first spring in Michigan in many years. I, too, am enjoying wearing my shorts, digging and raking, and even planting a few trees and shrubs. Ah, spring! Read the rest of this entry »

Greetings from the Meads!! We are currently in snowy west Michigan. My body is struggling to acclimate to the change in weather. I looked out the window as I prepared my morning coffee to see a layer of fresh snow and a thermometer reading a cold eight degrees. I was cold just looking out! The landscape was beautiful as snow clung to the bare tree branches and covered the ground with a fresh white blanket. We have been gathering warm weather clothing to safely venture outside. A fresh spark plug and gas allowed the old snow blower to function. Ah, winter in Michigan. Part of me enjoys the snow and cold, and another part wishes to return to the temperate climate on the Great Rift Valley. Read the rest of this entry »

Hello from the Meads!! We are now currently in the State of Michigan! I found it very strange as I approached our home in Muskegon. We have never really lived in this house for any long period of time. We purchased this house and then shortly moved to Africa. Since then we visit the house on short trips ‘home’ to the US, always with travel plans in hand to return overseas. We arrived in Muskegon this trip on one-way tickets as the adventure changes its shape and substance. The darkness of early morning is still bathed in jet lag as I sip my coffee. What next? Read the rest of this entry »

Greetings from the desert!! I am up early today to enjoy the quiet of the neighborhood. The sky is an inky black with a lightening gray off to the east. I was asked about the stars here. Prior to living in the UAE, I resided in Kenya. Our home sat at 7,000 feet elevation, overlooking the Great Rift Valley. Few lights disrupted the darkness. When the weather was clear, the sky was amazing. The Milky Way would stretch as far across as you could see. The few constellations I knew, and I am sure many I did not, could be identified as you strolled through the fields or roads. My kids would often join their friends up on the high school football field for a night of star gazing and talk. Arriving in the UAE, I find the stars less visible. You can see a couple of planets (A star gazing friend pointed them out for me). The lights along the roads and buildings of Al Ain affect the view. The air is usually clouded with a fine dust as well. Even the daytime blue of the sky is tinted a little off. To see the stars you must leave the lights.

The desert at night is sea of different blacks and grays. When the moon is full, the view is very dramatic as the glow highlights the dune and rocky hill silhouettes. Driving out into the night desert, I found an eerie emptiness. The night is very quiet. Dunes block your view until you ascend their unstable surface. Reaching the top, you find an uneven floor fading away to total darkness. The sky now will show off its stars as they no longer compete with man-made lights. Off in the distance there will be a small island of lights or a moving beam of a car passing by. The roads are bright snakes coursing through the darkness. The view is so much more dramatic as you remove the man-made distractions.

Imagine you were crossing these sands back in the 1800′s. Only a bold people could set out to cross the deserts of the world. Water, food, heat, loose shifting sand, sand storms, and more challenge every single day, some days more than others. Even today, most off-road drivers enter the desert in groups in case of accident or breakdown. Cell phones could help, but how would you tell someone where you are? “I am at the base of a large dune sunk in loose sand.” I don’t think that would help too much.

I am finishing my last week of my time in the desert. The time spent here has been interesting, challenging, stressful, boring, and more. Life is often like that. No place in the world is perfect every day and in every way. Sometimes we leave a place in a “the grass is greener over there” mode. I doubt anyone leaving a place for solely those reasons will find contentment. Sometimes we leave to escape a terrible situation or to seek opportunities when none exist at home. I have met many such travelers here.

So what about the Meads? Why am I leaving? My answer is not an easy one for many to understand or accept. Aren’t the people working at Oasis Hospital nice? Yes, indeed, the staff is great! Do you need more money? I need money as a tool but have not based decisions on income, so that is not it. Aren’t you busy? Well, I am busy, but the work doesn’t fit. Fit? Fit may be the best way to start to explain.

When I left my private orthopedic practice to join CURE International as a missionary orthopedic surgeon, I knew I was to do so. Did God write on a wall? No. Did I kill a sheep and then take its fleece and try for a miraculous sign? Nope. I did spent a lot of time in prayer and reading. I spoke with friends I respect and trust. I counted the cost of obedience. But finally, I had to take a step of faith and go; I was called to serve.

My time since has been filled with trials and successes, joys and sorrows, weird foods and comfort foods, and so much more. Jana and I agree we would never trade our life for another. During this time, I matured my vision of a “holy discontent,” as Bill Hybels calls it. Holy discontent is that one thing, situation, abuse, lost group, or whatever that stirs you deep within. You cannot stand the current situation and feel someone needs to do something! More than that, you need to be involved and be that someone. That realization can be the start of a very scary, unsettling, yet exciting time in your life.

The famous character I watched as a child, Popeye the Sailorman, said something like, “That is all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!!” Popeye popped a can of spinach and jumped into the fray. Maybe for me it is a cup of great coffee, and off we go!

My holy discontent is to be a part of a team that provides emotional, spiritual, and physical care for the physically disabled child in the developing world. I need to be an advocate for these kids, to teach orthopedic residents in the developing world, to provide orthopedic care, to seek out supporters, to assist in finding adequate equipment and supplies, and to support all those working with similar goals. My desert time has allowed me to leave CURE Kijabe in capable, good hands and mentally and emotionally move on. Now the timing is right; I enter the arena once again.

I thank all of you who are joining me in this new journey. Without your prayers, kind words, and financial support, the journey would be a lonely struggle. Life can at times appear to be one of boring repetition, but life does not need to be thus. Look around you! Seek out opportunities. Try something new. Offer to help even though you are not a ‘perfect’ solution. God can equip you through education, friends, teachers, or what is needed if you are willing. Look at your gifts and pray God discloses a way to use them, and then use them. It is easy to be a fan; it is much harder to be a player. Life will lose its sameness and will look more and more like an adventure as you travel in His grip

“THE VOICE OF ADVENTURE”

There is a rawness and wonder to life. Pursue it. Hunt for it. Sell out to get it. Don’t listen to the whines of those who have settled for a second rate life and want you to do the same so they won’t feel guilty. Your goal is not to live long, it’s to live. Jesus says the options are clear. On one side there is the voice of safety. You can build a fire in the hearth, stay inside, and stay warm and dry and safe… Or you can hear the voice of adventure—God’s adventure. Instead of building a fire in your hearth, build a fire in your heart. Follow God’s impulses. Adopt the child. Move overseas. Teach the class. Change careers. Run for office. Make a difference. Sure it isn’t safe, but what is?

– Max Lucado

Greetings from the Desert!!! Did you ever wake up just knowing it is going to be a great day? Today is that for me. I awoke prior to the call for morning prayers ready to go. I exited the flat to go out into the neighborhood. The light winds felt comfortably cool as I started some exercise time. Returning later as the sun was lightening the skies, I searched out a cool glass of water or two. My shirt and hat were soaked and a pleasant tiredness announced an hour well spent. Grabbing a large glass of iced water, I approached the coffee area of the kitchen. I ground some beans and sipped my cold drink as the pot perked the deep brown liquid. Filling my cup, I returned outside to spend some time in my “Man Cave.” Read the rest of this entry »