My wife and I have recently returned to living in Brazil after an 18 year absence. Adjusting to another culture after 18 years is a lot different than when we arrived in Brazil the first time back in 1979. Back then, energy was as abundant as my hair!
Now we are only two--Pam and me---back then 5--dad, mom, Ken, Kevin and Rachel.
It is amazing how much has changed in Brazil and how much has not changed. Technology is here and the Brazilians are using it really well. Corruption is still here and it, too, is used to the max. Friendship is here and it is still as strong as ever. Crime is still here and it has grown.
One of our new neighbors who knows life in the U.S. put it really well. When comparing life i the U.S. with life in Brazil one comes away wishing the good in Brazil and the good in the States could somehow be found in the same place. She put it like this....Life in the U.S. is sooo good and sooo bad! Life in Brazil is soooo bad and sooo good! It loses something in the translation but it is still true.
I think life is not about where we live. It is about the direction we are going. God is going in the direction of pain. When we go with God we stop looking for the best place. We look for the place where He is going. The direction is the key. Jesus said "Follow Me." His direction for us led us back here. It is sooo bad and sooo good here in Brazil! It always has been here and everywhere else. As C.S. Lewis once said "Nothing good enough or bad enough can be said about life."
