Distances

The distance from St Louis to Kampala is 7929.6 Miles or 12761.5 Kilometers according to a website I picked up for Google. And I just spend a couple of minutes in the dark trying to change St. Louis to a period. Sometimes when all of us are this far away it makes it difficult to hug the ones we love. Sometimes it makes us feel selfish that we are here and maybe we should be home. We don't love you any less, we are just 7929.6 miles away. I spent a brief hour with a fellow teacher tonight, who wishes she was with her brother. Just to say that she loves him. Unfortunately, sometimes the difficulties our loved ones have are not cured by a hug or a simple phone call. I know how losing loved ones in the past couple of years has hurt me, and the ones that I call my friends. Sometimes that losing does not happen in an instant or a few days, sometimes that process is long. The only thing we can do is to be the best person we can be. A.M.D.G. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam. Everything we do is for the greater glory of God. I truly believe that to be the best John Magee I can be is the best way to praise God. In our very small group of teachers, I have now had conversations with two good friends, TWO AWESOME PEOPLE, that worry about their brothers a long way from Uganda. Their brothers are not bad people or bad brothers--they just struggle with who they think they are. If they both saw themselves with their sister's love, all would be fine. Their sisters are my friends. I remember what my friend Frank said at times when he had done his very best for his foster children. He simply prayed and said, "God, I have done my best for your child today, please take care of them until I or someone else can help them again." When I send this to Frank tonight, he might quibble with my words, but he never quibbled with his love. Our task is just to AMDG and to love, love everyone we know with the best love we can muster, and then wake up the next day and love again. I know when you love 7929.6 miles does not matter and you can be that close. Tonight, I will pray my own prayers for my two friends and their brothers, and tomorrow before they leave for Safari, I will love them again, just as they love their brothers. And because they love their brothers, I will love them just a little bit more.