What we have in common

It's been a long day, two days actually. We left Bowling Green at 11am Sunday morning. We were a bit nervous about our flight from Nashville leaving on time because we only had an hour and 5 minutes to make our connection in Detroit. In Nashville we were informed of a new policy for international flights requiring the credit card used to purchase the tickets be presented at check-in. We sat, with our luggage, at the check-in desk until 20 minutes prior to our flight time. Our missions pastor was on his way to the airport and the airline agreed to let us board. we were told we'd be detained in Detroit if Jeff didn't show up, in Nashville, with that card. We ran to security and the zipper on my pants made the x-ray machine go "ding, ding, ding." Yes, I had my first full body pat down with 15 minuted to catch our flight. I turned down the option of a private room and got patted down in front of about 1000 other people going through security. We were the last ones on the plane and got lots of dirty looks. All of the rest of our connections went perfectly and exactly 24 hours after leaving Bowling Green, we arrived at the Guest House, surrounded by embassies, in Niamey, Niger. After unpacking and enjoying a wonderful meal with The Phillips, we are ready for a good night's sleep. During our prayer time tonight, I was struck with the things we have in common with the people of Niger. Niger is in year two of a horrible drought. A few communities had a really good early rain, this year, and got a good start with their crops. It hasn't rained since and the villagers have no money to replant. Does that sound at all familiar? Parents are worried that they will not have food and water for their children. Does that sound familiar? The literacy rate for the country of Niger is less than 15%. Parents want their children to learn to read so they can have a better life. Does that sound familiar? A few months ago I listened to an interview with Bill Clinton. He said, "Intelligence and effort are equally distributed around the world, opportunity is not." I believe this to be true. I look forward to meeting, this week, bright shining little children and the parents who love them. I look forward to telling them about God's love for them.