He became poor for your sake so that you might become rich

Wednesday afternoon August 17:
That was truly one of the most uncomfortable experiences I have ever had. Today I arrived at the Chaplains training base in Nimule, Southern Sudan. It's really cool here, built from the ground up over the years by Far Reaching. In the afternoon I decided to take a stroll trough town. Nimule is literally a border town. Two thirds of it is part of S Sudan and the other third is Uganda. It is the first stop on the way to Juba which is a booming town now that they have independence. I hear that there are 800 trucks passing through here every day with goods for Sudan. That makes Nimule a boom town, but also a little like the wild west. My walk took me out of the compound about a mile up the road. Every person I saw was gazing at me like I was from another planet. I might as well have been as they kept uttering "kawaja, kawaja" "white man white man." On the main road it was pretty awkward but then I ventured into the local marketplace. It was basically a bunch of huts with people selling candy and batteries out of their front porch area. The kids would yell and point and the adults would stare. Many of the men were drunk playing dominos. They were either curious or amazed but the feeling I got was that they we about to jump me at any minute. As I made my way through their huts I got the feeling I was right in the middle of their living room. Women did their laundry, naked kids with snot noses started following me. I passed the area where, between huts, they poo-ed. Then I came to a dead end. I had to turn back and take the whole route again to get back to where I came from. A young woman started asking me questions, "where are you from, what is your name?" as if to beckon me back to the dark doorway of her hut. This was not my world and there was no way I could blend in. I was out of place and felt in danger. It was then that I wondered what it was like for Jesus to come and walk among people. Not that I compared in any way to Him, but the strangeness and dirtiness all around me was awkward and strange. the Bible says, "He became poor for your sake so that you might become rich." what was it like for God who was in perfect glory to come down and step into our village? To be threatened and hit on and stared at? what was it like for God to be reduced to absolute obscurity of a Jewish village? To be a peasant? To be insignificant, but so rich in power and character so as to stand out? In light of my strange walk in Nimule I think the incarnation is the greatest miracle and act of humility there ever was. I'm thankful the Lord took a walk and embraced the uncomfortably and culture shock of this world.