jet lag
Extreme tiredness and other physical effects felt by a person after a long flight across different time zones.

I’m jet-lagged.  I’ve been back in Bellingham for a few days now and I’m still feeling the side effects of my journey to Malaga Spain.  I’m pretty tired right now…but I think it’s more than just physical exhaustion.  I’m coming home emotionally tired, relationally tired, spiritually tired, and yes-physically tired.  And even though the trip made me this tired I really want to be back there!  This part of Spain is everything I was anticipating–and then some.  It is a beautiful place with kind and generous people.  The Church we were working at (Parque Victoria) was a short 10 minute walk from the Mediterranean Sea (you could see the water from the church-come on!!)  And you know when you watch movies and you see the rows of white houses cascading down the hillside right to the water–that’s where we were!  

So when you match this kind of beauty with the people we met while in Spain, you can see why I want to be back.  We spent a lot of time with the youth group of the church–but theirs isn’t a typical youth group like you’d expect here in America–their group includes 14 year olds through 25 year olds.  It was really cool seeing the older ones taking care of the younger ones.  One of my favorite memories of this trip involves Juan Fer.  We saw him get baptized in the sea while we were there and got to know part of his faith journey.  Juan is the drummer for the worship team (and he’s amazing!)  There were a few nights while we were there when 2 or 3 jr.high students would come in for drum lessons…it was so fun watching Juan relate to these jr. high guys–believing in them, teaching them, and messing around with them.  The thing that sticks out the most to me was when Sunday rolled around and the entire worship team showed up…there was Juan with his 2 students–they simply sat at his feet while the team rehearsed and they were glued to his every move.  I loved watching this image of discipleship!  It was encouraging to me to see how well these guys responded to someone who believes in them and who gives them a chance to belong to a team like this.  I believe that’s how Jesus treats us–he invites us to be a part of something larger than ourselves.  We are invited to belong…and to respond with our entire being.  I want to sit at his feet-and watch his every move-and live like Jesus.  (sorry if this sounds corny–but it’s true:) 

Anyway, these are a few of our new friends (Juan is in the black t-shirt.)  It was hard saying good-bye to them.  I hope to return back to Malaga one day soon to catch up with my new friends.