Christian Living
Pothole is an understatement. More like pot-canyon. In Nairobi the only way to preserve your vehicle (and your spinal alignment) is to drive with this technique: get used to oversteering. You’ll swerve to the right to avoid a shock-buster allowing one sacred moment to avoid a fatal game of chicken with a city bus. Then immediately slam the brakes to ease over a speed bump designed for the likes of Bo and Luke Duke.
As strange as it sounds, I actually find myself quite liberated by the road game here. Driving in Nairobi is actually how I wanted to drive in America...just made legal...-ish. If someone is in your way, you jump the shoulder to go around him. If you don’t like the stunt he pulled, you honk and flash your lights to politely educate your less abled friend of their folly.
But potholes are the dotted white lines of Nairobi roads. The flow of traffic is unique to each thoroughfare depending on which holes have been filled with gravel and which ones remain threatening. In fact, when it’s raining you actually have to have your potholes memorized. Fall asleep at the wheel for a moment and your undercarriage could be on a carriage.
I had a friend tell me when I first arrived here, to learn to make use of the minutes in traffic jams. So yesterday as I literally faced three lanes of traffic on a two lane road, I started praying through my frustration. But in the midst of my confessions, I found myself acclimating to the African way and searched for an off-road solution to the traffic plug. Trouble was, everywhere I looked...potholes. My Subaru Forrester wouldn’t be able to clear the black diamond escape route. “So what am I supposed to do?” I raged, forgetting with Whom I was speaking. Then, His gentle voice spoke through my frustration: “wait for me to make a way”.
In a split second the “potholes” of my life came into view. I realized my shameful attempts to navigate the course of my life around them is a skill warranting license revocation. The lengths I will go to in order to save my heart’s undercarriage is simply fascinating. Loneliness: veer to the left and spend hours on Facebook. Weariness: veer to the right and indulge in 20 cent sodas. Fish out of water: jump the curb and look for American style luxuries. What the Lord showed me in that mere moment was my vicious agenda to constantly dodge life’s unpaved roadways.
In Nairobi, there is only one alternative to evading a pothole predicament. Drop your RPM’s, go right through them at a snails pace, and exercise some very fancy steering.
Hmmm... so the analogy continues...
Back in reality I caught a glimpse of an escape route requiring one simple ATV stunt. I eased my way around a stranded cement block and over a small trash pile, emerging with a blue ribbon in my own mind. I smiled at my victory and thought to myself, “a more ‘comfortable’ solution would never have felt as good as my more African accomplishment”.
Trying vicariously not to miss the moral of the story, I thought to myself, maybe next time I feel lonely I should try reaching out to my muslim neighbor. Or when I feel like a fish out of water I should plunge into the local market and try out my Kiswahili. What if, instead of constantly pursuing my comfort, I drove slowly through my anxiety and employed some fancy steering? Or, what if I just sat still, and waited for Him to “make a way”? Yeah...maybe I should leave the dodging potholes for the road.
Jami Staples
[email protected]
PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
Reader Count & Comments
Date
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com. This is especially true with articles that
deal with personal healthcare and prophecy. We encourage the reader to make their own decision in consultation with God, His Word, and others as needed.
This article has been read 398 times < Previous | Next >
Read more articles by Jami Staples or search for other articles by topic below.
This article has been read 398 times < Previous | Next >
Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)
Read more by clicking on a link:Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
NEW - Surprise Me With an Article - Click here for a random URL
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE
FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.