xerophiliac
(n.) one who loves dry climates and arid lands
Xerophiliac would normally refer to cacti or desert shrubs. But I feel it most aptly describes us—my teammates and I.
The hot season is upon us. And it is hot. It is the season of four showers a day, of sweating throughout the night, of exploiting every inch of shade, of breathing hot air into your lungs, of burning the soles of your feet on the dust of the ground. Welcome to our home!
This vast sauna, filled with dust and sand, is the chosen habitat of the xerophiliac. We are strange organisms, poorly suited to the Saharan conditions with our pale skin, fair hair, and susceptibility to sunstroke. Despite a natural tendency towards wetter and cooler climates, we have overturned the evolutionary mold and migrated to this distant desert land. We are nonetheless determined to exist and persist in these foreign surroundings.
This peculiar behavior—the willingness to undergo conditions that threaten survival—can only be explained by looking beyond human desire. Underscoring the xerophiliac’s existence is a desire to live for a greater purpose. This is the heart of what it means to be human, to be made in the image of God: the realization that some things are more valuable than survival.
That’s why we, a whole team of xerophiliacs, are here. Though we say we love living here, this statement is spoken more from faith-driven perseverance than personal preference, more out of insistence than inclination. Our preferences are less important than our principles.
But our conviction to follow Jesus—wherever He may take us—is surer than any path that our own material compasses might lead us down. God has called us to this place and has given us hearts of compassion and love for those around us.
So here we are—xerophiliacs by principle if not always by preference—basking in the desert sun and running for shade at every opportunity.
What has prompted this reflection on heat and habitat? Well, when the thermometer hovers on the unpleasant side of 120 Fahrenheit, it has a way of sharpening the mind to recall why on earth we’re doing what we’re doing.
Heat is just one example of the many little challenges that life here brings: unfamiliarity coupled with monotony, lonesomeness mixed with lack of privacy, adventure tempered by bureaucracy, and idealism crushed by mediocrity. It is also the corruption, the frustration, the diarrhea, the brokenness, the darkness, the insecurity, the simplicity, the opposition,
the tedium, the separation from family that brings us to our knees in prayer asking God for help.
Only hardy xerophiliacs will make it.
And yet please pray for us to keep soft hearts, humble spirits, Christ-like attitudes, and that at all times, we would joyfully confess, “Christ in me, the hope of glory!”
**This account comes from a long-term worker.**
Original article: www.frontiersusa.org/blog/article/confessions-of-a-xerophiliac
