Day 7

It's hard for me to think of what exactly to write here.  I'm tempted to retreat to a previous journal entry so that I can process my thoughts on the current day before releasing them to the very public realm where they will surely be torn apart and ridiculed without restraint.
I suppose I can explain the events that took place today and attempt to restrain my thoughts on most of these particular events for now.
I woke up this morning extremely tired and with a head/stomach ache.  Partook of a breakfast consisting of a peanut butter and banana pancake (singular, due to the stomach aching factor) accompanied by some sort of fruit juice.  Those partaking with me were as follows, my roommate Brent, Pastor Ed Schwartz, Shayne Shaw, and three elderly german-folk: Olga, Jacob, and Horace.  We can understand very little of what they say to us (Ed understands a word every now and then).  I suspect they hold a belief that somehow during the night we pick up German as another language and can understand them by the time we see them the next morning, because they speak to us in rather lengthy phrases when we are in the same room.  I find this quite humorous, and would have it no other way.
After breakfast we went out to work.  I spent most of the morning cleaning out the backs of freezers and refrigerators around the compound.  It was a nice change of pace, actually, from the construction type of job.  So then, after an early lunch of an orange soup with potatoes in it, Brent and I went back to the construction yard to prepare for a trip into town.  We needed to pick up paint, nails, and some lumber for school benches we will be constructing later on.  I generally enjoy the rides into town.  I like to see the mobs of people going about their business.  We smile at each other a lot.
Once we were back, more work was to be done.  At 4:00 we had a memorial service for Gabriel Reinhard to mark one year passing since his death.  An orange tree was planted as a symbol of his life after death in the Reinhard's backyard-ish area.  God touched my heart in a lot of ways during the gathering... more on that later, perhaps.
Immediately following the commemoration, I was summoned back to the construction yard.  I didn't feel ready to go back to working, so I took my time getting up to follow.  I was trying to process everything I had just witnessed and heard, and I wanted to look into the sky longer (it was especially gorgeous today).  But as I lingered, the one who would best be described as my boss turned around and called again for me to hurry back down.  So, I did.
Then we drove the four-wheeler back up to the Guest House where we met Ed and Shayne for dinner.  Dinner has now passed, and I am now lead to the current point in time where I sit atop my bunk journaling and blogging.


I know it's getting long, so you don't have to continue reading if you so desire.  But I hate to leave a post without some thoughtful content.  Sooooo...

I wish to share the journal entry I wrote the day before I left home.
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Day -1
Oct 10, 2010

I sit fireside beneath a blanket of stars.  Once the faithful souls have departed to tend to their sleep, I alone am left.  Although, not truly alone.  One other draws near.  He's squatting down beside me.  He doesn't speak a word, but silently gazes into the glowing embers with me, and it's comforting.
When he turns his head toward me, I cannot hear myself breath.  The sound of something like raindrops gently breaking upon a polished marble floor becomes the only sound I can perceive.  A gentle washing now begins as the water falls around me.  Cleansing from head to toe, I feel Him wash me clean.  Just as it came, the water fades out, and I am left clean.
The sounds I now hear are smooth and gentle to my ears.  It is purity.  An unadulterated peace envelopes my soul, and I feel safe.

I'm beginning to realize that I shall never be the same man if I choose the journey ahead.  I will change.  I realize that I won't be the same son, the same sibling, the same grandson, the same nephew, or the same friend I once was.  It's alright, though.  It is a better thing.  Where my Father leads me on, I will run head-long.  For I know he goes before me, and he is my rear-guard.

So, it is good to be beside this fire, beneath a blanket of stars, alone... -- with One other.