African Gecko Greeting

I almost started this post by saying, "I swear, I'm not making this up," but I won't. I had another sparrow-moment, but this time with a lizard.

A little background...

Last summer when we were in Ghana, our family enjoyed traveling to and working in the Volta Region . The four of us not only shared a room with each other, but with some wonderful striped bugs, and some house geckos. I got pretty good at simply flicking the bugs off of myself, especially in my sleep, and really felt as though I was growing in the Lord for doing so without shrieking and carrying on. But, I could not, could NOT get used to the lizards. I would go NUTS. Finally, one morning at breakfast I asked one of our Ghanaian pastor friends, Frances, what he would do if he, say... saw a gecko in the shower (an encounter I had experienced that morning, from which I was still recovering). I decided I wanted to know how a normal person and native of the area would've handled it, so I could try to model my behavior accordingly and, of course, continue growing as a person. He said with a smile and a flourish (with his wonderful accent) "Why, I woot say to heem, 'Good MOHning, leezahd!' " Well. He didn't say that he would wildly flail a flip flop at it, so I figured I should change my approach. I decided to try his "gecko greeting" the next time I saw one. Alas, just when I resolved to live at peace with our gecko friends, it was time to leave.

Flash forward to this morning. We have a team in Ghana this week, so my heart is very much there with them, excited about the week's work ahead and lifting them up in prayer. I was doing my usual dance-around-like-a-dork-with-my-ipod-while-the-kids-are-still-asleep routine earlier, listening to my praise music, and I naturally gravitated to my favorite Selah African songs. I "Yesu Azali Awa" 'd my way out the front door to water the plants on the porch, and there on the wall staring at me, was... a gecko! The song in my ears reminded me of the place where I had learned to properly greet a gecko, so I gave him (I decided it was a boy!) my best Pastor Frances "Good MOHning, leezahd!" We eyed one another as I gingerly watered the plants, trying not to scare him off. I thought about how much I missed his cousin in Ghana and how I wish I were there, trying not to freak out in the shower. As we both scooted off to find a place to stay out of the heat, I thanked God for all of our dear friends in Ghana. How I miss them, lizards included.

I can't wait to go back!