A Safe Place

The sunrise lighting the trees behind CIT

I open my eyes. My window shows the light of day. I glance at the clock. It’s 7:20; I’ve actually slept for 10 hours. Gingerly, I bring my hand out of the cocoon of blankets in which I have snuggled throughout the night. Is the air as frigid as when I settled in? No, it doesn’t seem to be. Perhaps the heater has finally caught up with the unusually cold temperatures outside.

I look around the room and remind myself where I am and why. I am at the Center for Intercultural Training in Union Mills, North Carolina – the next step toward my 2-year mission trip to the Dominican Republic. It is a place where I will learn to live with people who are not like me, who do not have the same worldview, who do not process information the way that I do. As I think about this, I wonder, considering the diverse, small world we live in, why such things aren't taught beginning in elementary school and throughout the years that follow. How much trouble would be avoided if we understood that so much of what we consider “wrong” is simply “different.”

The Administration Building
where classes will be held.

My hope and prayer while I am here is that I will be open and willing, a sponge that can absorb all that is offered – not just the information but the heart and soul of this place. Hundreds of missionaries have been here before me. They have been different nationalities, personalities, lifestyles and education levels. They have all struggled and discovered things about themselves and other people. They have grown much and have left this place better equipped to serve and love and be “Jesus” to the world. It sends shivers down my spine to think that I can and will be one of them.