Italy completes the circle – 14-30 September (Chrisna)

We are sitting in the business lounge in the Frankfurt airport, waiting for the plane to take us back home. When we departed on 30 Dec 2008, we were also in the business lounge (of Windhoek Airport, both treats with compliments of Trip Travel), waiting to start our 40 week journey..

The circle is completed. We did not plan or even think that it is necessary to plan a fullness of the circle of these 9 months of traveling the world. That is something that a person cannot really plan, that is part of God's perfect plans. Once again I realize that waiting upon God for guidance in making your plans, is so much better than planning on your own and then asking God to bless them. God is the Master Planner. Why? Because He sees the big picture, He sees the smallest detail in that big picture, He knows what will make it perfect, He is creative, He loves us and He WANTS to bless us and He CAN bless us.

So why do I say that our circle is complete? We started our "work year" of this tour in Switzerland, in a chalet high up in the Alps, in a solitary place. It was easy to follow a good routine and get out of the blocks for this 9 months race. It was a time in which God could prepare us for our tour around the world and for what He wanted to teach us. It was a place where we were forced to slow down, where the fast pace was ripped out of us and the only place to look at, was inside of our own hearts.

We ended our tour in Tuscany, Italy. We lived in a house built in the 1200's, in a small village where there is no shop, no internet and very limited cell-phone reception. The village is high up in the mountains with a narrow road winding up the mountain.

It was raining the first few days, and kept us inside the house – in the same manner as the snow that kept us inside our chalet in the Swiss Alps. We did not want to travel the road too much and chose to stay home. It was easy to follow a routine and "finish well" on all our goals. We noticed these similarities and shared with each other that the circumstances are almost the same as in the beginning of our year. Much to our surprise, we discovered that the area we stayed in , was officially called:"The little Switserland of Italy"! God already knew how He will complete the circle when we planned our tour in 2008! We only discovered the beauty of His plan when we were living it!

We were in a solitary place, where God could prepare us for going back to our homeland, to Namibia. We were forced to slow down and to use the time to look back at 9 months of traveling and summarize what we have learnt.

The circle is complete. Many small things of Switserland were repeated now. The church bell rang every hour to remind us of the hour of the day and God's love for us. The exercise went uphill, only uphill, until we turned around to go home, then we must pull in our brakes. One difference however was our speed, much faster than in Switserland. Come to think of it, also that completes the circle – because we have accomplished a much better level of fitness than what we had before.

With the circle completed in so many ways, we also prepared ourselves in our mind and spirit to return home. I cannot say that I am excited to go home, which almost makes me feel guilty. But I realize: it is understandable, because it means that our dream is over, our bubble will burst when we put our feet on Namibian soil. What I can say is that I know it is right that we go back and that it is a privilege to have a place to go back to. Another precious privilege is the fact that many other people are excited that we will be coming back. We also know that Namibia is the place where God wants us. We saw many places on our journey where we know we will have a wonderful, purposeful life, but we know more than ever before: Namibia is our country. And that is good to know.

We will continue to write blog stories when we are back home, because there are still many stories that have not been told – stories on Italy, on other places, on what we have learnt through these 9 months and I am sure there will be a story on "Back Home" .

As for now, I will end this completed circle story by once again just thanking God. He is worthy to be praised.

The God I know: Righteous and Holy

The God I know: Faithful and true

The God I know: a tower of refuge

The God I know: strengthens the weak

The God I know: Your Heart beats within me

My one desire: more of you