Bitter-Sweet Sunset

It’s Monday now…and I’m facing my last week in El Naranjo/Sta. Rosita. Has a year and a half really come down to a final four days? Amazing.

And while it is sad to say goodbye to ‘today’, I’m really looking forwards to ‘tomorrow’.

White Road–Dark Sky

Sometimes our paths stretch on before us –and run straight for as far as we can see. But beyond that distant point, it may turn towards new places and new experiences. While dark clouds threaten us, we are followers of the Light and Word –the Word that is a lamp unto our feet…

Take heart my friend, the Lord is with us
As He has been all the days of our lives
Our assurance every morning
Our defender in the night

                                  ~Fernando Ortega / Take Heart My Friend

The road towards Santa Rosita with stormy weather approaching….

Let Us Not Be Hasty

“When have I been hasty or unwary who have waited and prepared for so many long years?” 
–Aragorn, Son of Arathorn; Heir of Elendil and rightful king of Gondor   // Lord of the Rings

It was Treebeard, the oldest living thing in middle earth that said “Let’s not be hasty!” It was his motto. And Ellesar (i.e. Aragorn) who strode around with great strides who patiently awaited the day when he could come into his own.

Today, we have lost the blood of the men of Númenor, and we go about in a great hurry. Are we patient in waiting upon the Lord? The Bible is full of the examples and teachings of waiting upon the Lord.

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The LORD takes delight in his faithful followers, and in those who wait for his loyal love. (Psa 147:11)

Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.  (Psa 37:7)

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This is one of my ‘photo creations’. I took the photo of the clock, and borrowed the background offline.

Knife Edge

“….your Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and you will fail…”  (Galadriel to Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring)

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But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it.  (Matthew 7.14  NET)

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:25 NET)

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“[Jesus replied] ‘This is impossible for mere humans,but not for God; all things are possible for God.’”
(Mark 10:27 NET)

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How little I fully understand the ‘knife edge’ I walk on. Why should I, as Paul the self acclaimed ‘chief of sinners’ , have a sure hope? How little I fully understand the keeping power of God, making that path way as safe and sure as a highway…Thank God for His power over the impossible. 

There is no safer place on earth than this knife edge. No narrow way so sure.

Straight Street

   One way home. One road to glory.

   Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me:  for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
     (Psa 25:4-5)

Fimbrethel

She lifts her knurled hands to the skies, takes a knobby step towards the horizon. Ever upwards –yet ever still. Still and silent upon the hill.

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“In the willow-meads of Tasarinan I walked in the
Spring.
Ah! the sight and the smell of the Spring in Nantasarion!
And I said that was good.
I wandered in the Summer in the elm-woods of Ossiriand.
Ah! the light and the music in the Summer by the Seven
Rivers of Ossir!
And I thought that was best.
To the beeches of Neldoreth I came in the Autumn.
Ah! The gold and the red and the sighing of leaves in the
Autumn in Taur-na-neldor!
It was more than my desire.
To the pine-trees upon the highland of Dorthonion I
climbed in the Winter:
Ah! the wind and the whiteness and the black branches
My voice went up and sang in the sky.
And now all those lands lie under the wave,
And I walk in Amboróna, in Tauremorna, in Aldalómë.
In my own land, in the country of Fangorn,
Where the roots are long,
And the years lie thicker than the leaves
In Tauremornalómë“
                          ~Treebeard the Ent in the Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

 

 

* a lone tree on a lone hill near one of my favorite ‘get aways’

Working Together

Cher-i-os! Com’on boys, let’s do this together. These ants know how to work together to move an object many many times their size. Sometimes they didn’t quite move in a perfectly straight line –but they all worked together towards the common goal.

We too should work together. Our differences and disagreements may make us curve a bit at times –but with God’s urging, we should finally arrive at the same goal.

*these tiny ants move a cheerio fifteen feet to their home…..

Razor - - - - -

Not every string of razor wire is meant to keep things imprisoned. In this case, it is meant to keep people out. But it is always used for protection. Here, razor wire is used at a phone tower to protect expensive equipment from being ransacked –and to protect mischievous people from hurting themselves on the towers (I admit to having great desire to climb the towers to get a birds eye view). Prisons use razor wire to protect the people without from people within who have a habit of hurting other people.

In life we mistake God’s razor wires for things they aren’t. We say “God is holding something good from me” when really he is trying to protect us from what lies inside that boundary. Or, we feel that God’s laws imprison us from enjoying the real world –when really God is protecting us from this world so that we can pass safely into the next world.

When razor wires are crossed –blood and suffering are the result. When razor wires are respected –the peace of God is present.

*razor wire at our local phone towers here in El Naranjo

This Side of Glory

We wait on this side. IT is on the other side. In the light of Glory –something so much greater than just eternity- everything on this side becomes dark…and colorless. On this side we enjoy beauty. But we can only enjoy beauty on this side as we look past it into the light and hope of Glory.

*a simple shot through a window. This admittedly is not a good picture. It was highly dramatized to bring out my point.

The Same Heaven–The Same Sun :: June 15

My tickets to fly home are bought. And the words of a beautiful Spanish song are ringing in my head…

Aunque es el mismo cielo,                                          Even though it is the same heaven,
Y el mismo sol -                                                               And the same sun….
Son las mismas calles, pero yo no soy -                 They’re the same streets, but I am not
No soy el mismo.                                                            I am not the same.
Y como turista puedo caminar,                              And like a tourist I can walk,
Descubriendo cosas nuevas al andar…                  Discovering new things while walking…
                      ~Marcela Gandara

As I think back over the last couple of years I see a lot of things that have remained the same. The sun is still shining down. The same stars, the same constellations. God is still the same. As I think of going back to the States, I look forwards to driving those same streets and visiting the same libraries. But I am not the same person as when I came here. I have a new outlook – a better vision. We can’t stay the same for two years. God wants us to continually become…

I could have grown more, I feel. That is my regret. My weaknesses are a hindrance that I seek to push aside so that I can be better at becoming…

 

*The sun rising over the river one Sunday morning…

II Towers

Where two are together there is symmetry. Parallelism. Beauty. But without the rest of the picture, two are nothing to look at.

God is the rest of the picture.

“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor.” Ecclesiastes  4:9 

*two beautiful coconut palms on the way to El Naranjo from Santa Rosita

To The Hills

"Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate
And though I oft have passed them by
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun."
— J.R.R. Tolkien

*Southern Guatemala near the El Salvordoranian border…

La Luna Super

Last week. The moon came closer to the world than it has since 1992 (or 1993 according to one reference). It was big. It was 8% closer (or 14% according to another reference). It was also brighter. It was 30% brighter according one reference (it was noticeably brighter according to another reference).

So I went camping on the hill above Santa Rosita and took a picture. Not a perfect picture. But my setup consisted of holding a binoculars in front of my lens, so it was all very intense.

I love the night sky.

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credits to Wendell Diem for helping hold the binoculars and focus the camera!

Fire

If you play with fire long enough, you just might get burned

Track

Straight.Narrow. Solid. Right on track.

House

Placid, pale moonlight on the cool concrete wall of a house filled with cheer. Shadows from the dark things outside flee from the light within. All is peaceful.

the front of our house in El Naranjo

The Orange

 

The Moon to Rule By Night

We are the frontier of Guatemala – the edge of national park where there are no cities, no electricity, no running water. It is here in the dead of night that you step outside to catch a breath of fresh air and find you cannot breath because of the splendor of the heavens. When there is no moon, the stars give light enough. But when the moon appears in all its fullness, nothing but the sun can outshine it. The stars fade, and the world flickers in the blue light of tranquility and peace.

We as Christians are like the moon –reflecting the light of the Son. Reflect it.

El Naranjo, Frontera

A Tiny Hero

 

She sits there and watches as the white giants come crashing into her world. Terrified she cries forth the anguish of her heart, unwilling to part the two eggs she sits on. For these two tiny lives she has bent her every thought. Through wind and rain she has sacrificed her comfort for the lives of her offspring. As I approached she finally flew –but as I silently stood just inches from her nest she approached once more –and finally landed there oh so close. I admire her bravery –what an example!

 

A Simple Life

A simple work – a simple rest –a Bible to read. Simplicity.

The Road

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

~J.R.R. Tolkien

The road to El Mango

The Walk

Some days you just have to focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

Happy Birthday dear Mother!

I guess words cannot describe what my mother means to me. Beautiful. Loving. Very kind. A gentle mother whose done her job willingly! Have  a wonderful year Mom!

Thoughtful

When God resides we stop and meditate upon the truths of his precepts.

 

Blue and Green

A sheet of blue and a puff of white, with a tall, green pine tree to set it all off.

A Morning There

Sunlight flickers across the upper courtyard of Headquarters, and warms a few spots in its earliest beams. Here I often check my email and await the coming of the day when I am in Guatemala City.

To Fly

Sharp and at the ready.

Yesterday’s flight to the Petén was delayed a couple hours due to heavy fog. When the tower finally cleared everyone to taxi we made it to zero-one before everyone else, but had to wait for all the airlines to take off first. We allowed probably fifteen aircraft to take off before we were finally cleared.

Grounded

Years ago a MAM pilot tried to take off, realized it wasn’t going to work, and tried to abort –only to go past the end of the runway and over the side of a cliff. Miraculously everyone  survived (a tree caught them). This is a picture of the fuselage of that airplane… and in the second picture our current mission pilot tries heroically to get it off the ground. 

Focus

Moonlight on the windmill pulls your eyes towards one place –and there you focus.

Marching Brown

A golden sun upon a boring brown fence becomes an array of marching solders. They all reflect the light -but one outshines them all.

*second floor of mission headquarters

Black and White

A mind bent in thought, a grin or two on the side, and a prayerful gaze on the future -these men come from different places, countries, and cultures –but they hold one thing in common.

They walk the walk and talk the talk.

Neither Here Nor There

Soft and glorious with a gilded sun dropping into the western reaches of the horizon. It’s here high above the clouds that we touch the very edges of space, yet our eyes take in with awe not what lies above, but rather the splendor of this middle earth.

*As I write we’re closing in on a final descent into Guatemala City. It’s been a good furlough!

Pink

Scattered pink flowers in a sea of grass. Even now they wither, and tomorrow they are gone.

Green

Old and well used, it got left there after our Thursday games with the children. While the activities of life flew all around, it sat poised and ready in a sea of calm.