Sorry I've been out of posting for a while, I've been doing my Christmas tour of America and didn't seem to get much of a chance to sit down and ponder. I had a good time in California with relatives, my other mission for my time there was to do my shopping that i've been needing to do for a good 3 years, (and hopefully will last me for a good 3 years more). So now, my shoes are not falling apart, my jumper doesn't have a huge giant hole in the sleeve, and i have more than one pair of trousers besides jeans (sort of a necessity in med school..).
The nebraska wedding was great. John and James (two of my ex-floormates) were kind enough to give Benjamin and I a lift from Lincoln Nebraska to Chicago....it would have been only a 6-7 hour trip had we not woken up to a blizzard. As we were on the motorway still inside Nebraska a car infront of us slammed on it's breaks, we we're only going 40 miles per hour, as the snow and ice was thick, but as John swerved to avoid the car in front of us our car lost traction and we skidded accross four lanes of the road. Because for some reason or another God wanted at least one of us in that car to still be alive, our car missed all the other traffic and skidded into the muddy median between the two sides of the road. Again, by the mercy of God, we were able to push the car out of the deep, and covered with mud, were able to get back on our way. When we walked into a McDonalds to get some breakfast and to see if the storm would get any better, the woman behind the cash register burst out laughing....we did look pretty funny, one of us had a huge chunk of Mud on his forhead that he hadn't seen to clean off.....anyway...the rest of the trip to chicago was pretty uneventful....although we did have some good times dancing in the back seat.....okay so it was only me who was dancing.....
Chicago: it really felt like going home. It felt so good to be in a place that I had spent 4 years getting to know, with people who in some ways know me better than family. It was great to stay with Matt and Ryan, who I had been in a prayer group with four 2 years, Sam, also part of that group, was there with us for 2 nights as well. Sunday night was a good time just to catch up with everyone as we saw in the new year, and then on monday, as we all eventually woke up, we headed over to "Father Paul's" house for Kenyan Chai, and ended up having dinner there too. When I was part of the HNGR programme, during the integration/consolodation part of the programme, we had a class every wednesday night during my last semester at Wheaton. After that class each week Dr. Robinson (whom we all seem to lovingly call Father Paul) would invite us all over to his house just for discussion, mentoring and 'most importantly' Chai (usually made for us by his wife Margie). It was a really good time for me, and was especially good to discuss the whole emotional/personal side of how HNGR affected us than was really appropriate in the classroom. The HNGR programme really has the capacity to mess you up....in a good way that is, it literally turns your world upside down. Anyway, on monday we talked a lot about our lives now, how we were trying (to more or less success...less in my case) to live out the values and things that we learned during HNGR. Our conversation ranged from gossip about who was dating who, to the effect of online media (such as blogging) on society and internationally, to God and the restoration of the world from all the mess that we're in. It was seriously a great time. Dr. Robinson encouraged us all to see Blood Diamond so we all decided to see it then that night. YOU NEED TO SEE THAT FILM. It's not something that will make you feel good, actually it will probably make you feel sick, but it is important to see because the exact same things are still going on today, not just with the diamond trade but also with other resources like the coltan in our mobile phones found in Democratic Republic of Congo. Maybe with more awareness, something can be done....maybe.
Anyway, it was great being in Chicago, and although I felt so at home, and was overjoyed to see such close and valued friends, i got a sense of peace that right now I am where I'm meant to be, in Southampton. So Sunday, I'll be on my way, back to Glen Eyre Hall and the Bolderwood campus to rejoin the long trudge towards qualification. Let's just hope I haven't forgotten everything over the break.
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5 comments:
So the story of how you almost died is definitely scarier than what you let on while you were on the phone, and it is just as well, lest Emmy have heart palpitations in the back seat while we were trudging through our own snow-covered roads.
I really do need to go see Blood Diamond. Maybe I can get someone to go see it with me.
Why would I want to go see a movie that actually made me upset with the way the west treats the rest?
The way I see it "sven" is that it's not something you'd want to see, and maybe you don't need to see it if you've already experienced it...and maybe seeing it for people whoalready know, or for whom it's not going to surprise or shock would just trivialize it as yet just another movie....but i'm hoping that some people will go to see it who have never thought about how actions in their own country affect those in others. It was hard to watch the film in our packed out cinema in the chicago subarbs, there was a teenage girl sitting up front with a group of her friends who couldn't help herself from laughing most of the way through the film. I think that's what made me more sick than anything else.
Wish I could have been there for the father-paul time... what a gift that last semester was, even though I was just a HNGR groupie. (;
Wow, so that's the full story off your going off the road-yikes! I'm glad you made it out ok to have what sounds like a wonderful time fellowshipping with friends (and Father-Phil!) in Chicago.
I would like to see Blood Diamond, but there's no one here who would be interested in seeing that kind of film, and it would cost $9.75 to do so-both of which are distressing (though obviously to different degrees).
I'm glad you can say with assurance that Southampton is where you are meant to be right now. Good luck starting tomorrow.
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