Feeling like a hobbit – returning to your home country

I was watching TV the other night when I flipped to see the ending scenes to The Return of the King (last part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy) There is a scene where Frodo and the gang have returned to the Shire and are sitting in the tavern drinking their pints. They’re looking around in amazement. They’ve been on these great adventures in places the rest of the hobbits know little about. Their friends and neighbors have carried on living life as they always have without them. So they sit there huddled together with those that understand the adventures they’ve been on in the midst of what was once normalcy. While their appearance doesn’t seem to have changed, their experiences have changed them but its almost hidden. I understand how they feel exactly.

Krista, Alex and I have been back in the US for two months now. We’ve been huddling together some as we observe so much of how life here has gone on as it always has but also observing the changes that have occurred. We’ve talked to people who haven’t changed and say that we haven’t (well, at least me – Alex has definitely changed to everyone) – but deep down I know all of us have had experiences that have changed us.

I know there are a lot of people out there that may have gone on short term mission trips this summer or, like us, are returning after having even longer adventures.  You’ve changed and that’s OK.  People around you may not recognize it but know that that is OK.  The key is not to ignore your experiences but to now live them as Sam did.  In the scene that I described above, Samwise approaches the barmaid and does something (we don’t see what it is) but it makes the rest of the guys giggle and look at each other and then we go to the next scene where Sam is marrying her.  This is something he never would have done before their adventures but always wanted to do.  What about your experiences that have changed you now and how are you going to choose to live out those changes now that you are back in your home country? Did you experience helping less fortunate – so now how are you going to do that once you are home?  Were you challenged to share your faith abroad – are you looking for those opportunities now that you are back where you speak the language?