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.

- - -

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