shouts of joy

After a restless night and a full day of teaching I have nothing symbolic or figurative to write. My head has ached since yesterday, but my heart all week. Every morning in staff worship we pray for a student who is undergoing chemotherapy. Administration posted notices on Monday at the front door of the school that doors will be locked between 8:15 am and 3:15 pm. A frozen body was found yesterday in a field next to the school. What kind of hell are we stuck in? The collected dust of these hellish happenings have begun to settle in. Sometimes it's hard to see anything good past it all. Locked in our classroom this morning during worship, a student recommended that we watch this music video. As the video played, several students sang along and unknowingly began to wipe away that dusty build up from the roller-coastering week. 'And just like a drum I can hear their hearts beating. I know my God won't let them be defeated. These are our daughters and our sons. Brave and ...

Surprises when they're good are the best, aren't they? I very much love a good surprise. Surprises that jump out of the dark when we're afraid of the dark to begin with, aren't the same. I had something like that happen today. I stood in the bathroom straddling the two rugs over the icy cold tile floor this morning after blow-drying my hair. I had put on the first layer of beige powder and snapped open the yellow eye color case when a spider quickly moved across the opened case toward my fingers. I let the case drop to the counter, and breathing quickly I looked around for something to make the creepy crawler disappear. I shivered as I crunched him into a tissue and flushed him away. Because of fear I flushed a poor spider. Because of fear I've also flushed a lot of other good things. As I thumbed through the many sermon notes in my Bible today I came across notes taken from a series of sermons on Isaiah. Over and over it was written and underlined: say to t...

1 year. 1 whole year. I like to do re-caps every few months, maybe so that the end of the year doesn't bust out of the tunnel like a getaway train. And every time I attend to those recent events I find it hard to believe I am where I am. How did this winding, curving, never ending, motion sickening, pot-holed, yet ever so scenic and peaceful road ever lead me to this lovely place? As I prepared to welcome the new year with friends and family I spent several minutes trying to rewind to the exact moment just one year before. It wasn't long before I had rewound to a crushed-spirited girl, laying in a bed with an ice machine wrapped around her right leg, her mind lost in the darkness from the heavy painkillers, and an alarm set for 11:55. Deeply concerned, I wondered how she ever found her way out of that shaded grove.  How far she's come. What strength has been displayed. In fact, I'd hardly believe her to be a girl anymore. As she's relearned to walk, to talk,...

As I treaded the shattered rocks over the lonely ridge I heard a soft whisper. On my left tucked back into a clouded crevasse was a giant glacier pouring out into a puddle of a lake, opening it up was a cold antarctic breeze. And on my right there seemed to be some kind of tropical getaway, the kind a young couple might retreat to with warm sand, crystal water and green fruit trees. The clouds had dove in toward me as I climbed the ridge and the mist sprayed the front of me lightly, one side as icy as the arctic and the other a warm breeze through the trees. Through the air I could still hear the soft whisper in front of me. As I followed it, the nonsense it mumbled began to form definite phrases. It called me down from the top of the ridge into the tropical getaway. I scrambled down the rocks into the thick forest. It was impossible to ignore, just like the wind filling a sail, the whisper filled me and pushed me head on. When I arrived to the so...

The other day during lunch with Lindsay, Nate and Coto we were recounting unexpected events from over the years. We all shared our reflections and I mentioned to the group that this may be be the first thing I ask God about when I get to heaven, these unexpected, path bending occurrences. There were a few chuckles and Nate kindly intervened, "I don't think that's something we'll even think about." And after thinking about it more, he may have something there. In all His majestic wonder I doubt I will want to know why this one thing happened, this one time. But eventually? Or maybe we won't need to know, the enchantment will be so real. With few hours left before departing this part of Argentina that has been a home for almost 3 months it's hard not to wonder why I came here, or why now.  A year ago I was finishing finals, saying goodbye to friends, co-workers, and employees and packing my things for Argentina only to be set back. This experience, 9 month...

Nate and Lindsay had been classmates from 1st grade up through their very last days of high school. Nate, a quiet kind of guy, had at the time "no interest" in Lindsay, an attractive and well-liked red-head, who also at the time had "no interest" in Nate. After high school, he went in the direction of studying the Bible at a Bible college and Lindsay took some time off to "find herself" where she ended up at an orphanage in Guatemala for a year with quite a life-changing, eye-opening experience. Neither of them really keeping in touch, but going their separate ways they met up again when she returned from overseas. They spent the summer hanging out before Nate left to study medicine in Argentina and Lindsay stayed in Tennessee. They emailed a couple of times, but nothing serious since Nate had met a girl in Argentina. When he came home to Tennessee for a Christmas break, he had told Lindsay and their group of friends about his latest relationship. The st...

Daniel is a Theology student at Universidad Adventista del Plata. He's a Venezuelan from Tennessee living in Argentina. When Daniel left the states to study Theology in Argentina, there was a chance that he might never be back to the states again due to complications with visas and passports. He said goodbye to his family, knowing he was following God, which was and is the most important thing to him. I've known Daniel for almost 3 months. I met him through a friend, who knew him from English Sabbath school at the UAP. When I first met him he couldn't stop telling me about all of these friends of his I needed to meet. Just one big social network hub. Which I must say has been the best part of being in Argentina. Thanks Danny! Daniel is known for his excellent listening ability. Students from the UAP come to find him in his apartment across from the bus station when things go wrong, when they just need someone who will listen and accept them. I'd be lying if I denied...