Walking

       I felt like Henry David Thoreau the other day. My friend was very upset about her situation with her family. Actually I was a little upset too. We were sitting in her car crying about just everything. And then I asked "what do you want to do." She didn't know what to do either. So I suggested we go on a walk.
       Just  long walk, with no destination. We talked and talked, our conversation following the aimlessness of our journey. I felt like Thoreau as we walked and talked aimlessly. He writes about walking aimlessly through nature. He basically says just walk, just go. Which brings a whole new meaning to everything. My walk was a literal reflection of his advice. The talk was a more figurative reflection. Our lives should reflect this advice as well. Sometimes people go through life waiting for a journey or opportunity or job or mission or command or passion or anything to happen before they start living. But we should just start walking, start living, start our journey and we will eventually find something. We should just go, and do.
       This kind of reminds me of Dr. Seuss actually. It sounds childish, but people should go back and read Dr. Seuss, his poems have so much more meaning now that we are adults. In Dr. Seuss' "Oh! The places you'll go!" he writes about the 'waiting place' (for people just waiting):
                           "Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or the plane to go or the phone to ring or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting. Waiting for a fish to bite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pear of pants or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting" 
      Dr. Seuss and Thoreau are right. We need to stop waiting and walk. Just find a journey, no matter how aimless that journey may be. Just go. Thoreau also says that there is a right way to walk and we often choose the wrong one. But I think the wrong path is simply picking the path that everyone else takes, which is often the life of no journey at all. I believe we need to stop waiting or blending in or being scared. We need to walk. We need to live.

sad day

     I hardly ever post and here I am posting something sad. I'm mourning a loss today and I'm mourning the sadness that is happening in Uganda.

     For anyone who reads this who doesn't know went to Uganda this summer. I was sick a lot. it was a love/hate trip. but now that I'm home I miss Uganda very much. when I get e-mails from my friends in Uganda I am so happy to know them and so sad that I can't be there. I love Uganda so much. I got to know so many people and got to love so many people. 

   As many people know US troops have been sent to Uganda. It's hitting me very hard. I can feel the pain and stress of those that I know and love. Not to mention the people who our troops are there to control thinks they are speaking in behalf of God. they are not. But many Ugandans only hear from the LRA, the Lord's resistance army, an army that steals children to become soldiers and sex slaves and perform terrorist attacks on behalf of God. Obviously God isn't really speaking to them, but Ugandan's don't always know that. And when our troops do something about it the African people may think we are killing christians. this is a mess. And I'm so scared for the safety of the friends I made there.
    Also my favorite pastor I got to know, pastor Edward, lost his wife this week. It makes me so sad. She was so young, they have so many children, they are such wonderful people and she died. The worst part? If they were in America she would not have died. This may sound like I'm questioning God's plan, like I'm mad about this loss. I am not. I trust God, and his plan. I know that he is doing things that I can't see or understand, and I trust it. But I'm so sad for them. I'm so hurt about the pain they are going through. Its hard to communicate in coherent words the emotions I'm feeling right now. I've never cried over the loss of anyone that has ever died in my lifetime, but this death makes me want to cry all day. I'm so sad for everyone in my Uganda.
   I'm longing to go back there. I miss everyone in Uganda so much. I love them. They are on my mind non-stop today. I'm praying for them all day.