'Everything'

14 Sept 2014, Trinidad, Bolivia. 

Today, upon request from one of the students' aunts, we took a road trip to her village farm to vaccinate cows. For Foot and Mouth Diease. The 'accredited technician' had just signed the form (in the future, even!) and left the vaccine. The farmer wasn't quite sure what to do (and, to be honest, neither were we, but when in doubt, read the back of the bottle). 

Lasooing 20 odd cows, one at a time, attaching them to a tree, tying their head and legs - to give each one a single intramuscular injection...this is the kind of bolivian efficiency that I will never get used to. 

That done and dusted/y, we did little devotional. The dear lady expressed her gratitude: 'Muchas veces, tenemos todos las cosas materiales para la vida.. pero nos faltan cosas espirituales - gracias por venir, y compartir las palabras de Dios´*

And I'm standing there thinking:

Dear lady, you live in a mud hut, you have an outhouse as a bathroom,  no running water; your motorbike has been at the mechanics for 3 months so you walk 1.5km in the relentless heat to the nearest shop; you milk 5 cows a day to sell iceblocks for a living...and you are telling me you have 'every material thing?'

And I realise something: that its not how much you have, but how much you think you have. For her, she has everything she needs and wants. I, on the other hand, look at her and see everything she doesn't have... this bothers me, but not her. Shes bothered about her lack of spiritual things.  

How much more stuff do we have in our lives, and how much more do we lack the things of God (not in the least, contentedness!)?

* 'Many times, we have every material thing in life... but we lack spiritual riches...thank you for coming and sharing the Word of God with us' 

I guess theres a lot more to lose in life
than a backpack full of things.
Whats more
many have their things
yet they themselves are lost.
And in this state
I do not wish to be 

Lost in La Paz

10 Sept, 2014

So I lost all my stuff in La Paz last week. My backpack of wordly possessions, suspiciously disappeared from the bottom of the bus, sometime during the 17hr journey from Santa Cruz. After numerous visits to the company offices, hours of meetings, and even more of just waiting around, they compensated me roughly $175NZD for my loss.

Left with the clothes on my back (and, thank God, my valuables in my hand carry), I can't say I wasn't just a little depressed for couple of days. My back pack and I had become quite attached to each other over the last 4 months.  And I mean, I didn't lose any family heirlooms or my wedding ring ( helps if you don't have one...), they were just things - of little eternal significance; I still have blood flowing through my veins, a family who loves, (and my flight home, even!) but one still asks 'why?' and possibly sheds a tear or two hundred.

And with little trust in humans and their word, one learns to turn to God and his.

The day after I returned to Trinidad with my cheap, fake replacement gear, I found myself playing at church: It is well with my soul. Those not familiar with the hymn or history of its author should acquaint themselves.  Geez, I just lost my stuff. Henry Spafford lost his business in a fire and all his daughters in a ship sinking... yet he could still say - sing, even - It Is Well With My Soul. Which - and I'm still trying to comprehend it all - is not to belittle his loss, rather elevate his God. If his loss was great, but his God greater, how great must he be.

And in this unstable world, where else should our hope lie?

 http://www.sharefaith.com/guide/Christian-Music/hymns-the-songs-and-the-stories/it-is-well-with-my-soul-the-song-and-the-story.html