Islands of Adventure......yet far from Orlando

Check out our accommodations from a little Island trip off the coast of Corinto, Nicaragua. We slept in hammocks under the thatched roof hut, although some were on the beach, and one of our Nicaraguan friends slept under a wooden canoe-like boat that was laying upside down on the beach. I wouldn't have known except that I was up early for the sunrise and noticed a foot hanging out from underneath it. We stayed on the sound side but I hiked across to find some great surf on the Pacific side. The only people that live on this island are my host-father's brother and his family. Pretty wild, huh?

Smiling at Corruption

So Josh's girlfriend just had her gall bladder removed here in Nicaragua and her mom (like any good Mom), decided to fly in from Chile to be here for the recovery period. Josh and I were planning to take Pastor Antonio to the airport at the same time for his first trip to the States so it worked out well. Pick one up, drop one off, it was just a standard trip to MGA and back. That's right, I just called Managua MGA b/c this city has just thrust itself in airport code status. We all refer to Atlanta as ATL and Los Angeles as LAX. I can't help but delve out some love to this country that so desperately needs it. So, back to the airport run. Why do police officers around the world still think that aviator sunglasses are so hot? Yeah, we were pulled over twice on the way to the airport. First, for someone sitting on the edge of the pickup truck's bed and the second for doing 15 kmph over the speed limit. If you haven't done the conversion; 15 kmph is only about 7 mph. Who gets pulled for 7 mph over the limit? The first infraction was a 15 minute ordeal as the pastor began to accuse the officers of their own lack of safety (b/c this how you get people to like you in Nica) and then he pulled his holy god card (note the lack of capitalization) and informed them that he was bound for an Evangelical Mission to the United States and they had better let us go. I wish I could have heard this all in Spanish but I had to wait for Josh's translation. My only contribution was whether or not my bag of skittles would be an acceptable bribe for these two cops......josh thought it was funny. They let us go with no harm done other than the 15 minutes lost on an extremely time sensitive trip. The second cop would not be so forgiving. He went straight for his yellow book of tickets and it was 3 mintues and 200 cordoba later before we were moving again. I'll never forget that scene! An arrogant Eric Estrada wannabe, complete with aviators looking over his shoulder before taking 200 cords and then waving us onward. Ha! I love this country. The rest of trip was anything but uneventful as we handed over the keys to the Pastor's son El Gordo which simply means "The Fatty". This guy had apparently not driven in years as we learned the capability of our Toyota Tacoma's brake pedal. The pastors wife performed a test of her own on the strength of our rear windshield. Unfortunately, she used the left side of her face during the first excessive test of the before mentioned brake pedal. I was forced to laugh later as this collision was sure to leave a mark. I couldn't believe that she didn't break the glass! Don't worry, she was fine. We finally arrived with all of our limbs in tact at the lovely MGA. All of you can rest assured, El Gordo will never touch our keys again.

The Present on Purpose

So I started thinking the other day that I am in some transitional phase of life right now and then I realized that I don’t even agree with the concept of transitional phases. This IS life isn’t it? Tomorrow’s life will not be different from today’s or yesterday’s. It’s not like today was practice for tomorrow. Every day counts and it’s all real. A person can be effective whether they are teaching first graders, having coffee with a friend, going to a movie, or even laying in a hospital bed. Jesus, save me from waiting on tomorrow. You have a purpose for me today and I want to live it. I will choose to live it.

as so with any thought, there is always an appropriate songline:

“and I know that I don’t wanna die, sittin around watching my life go by,
and what we’ll take from this is what we’ll get
and we haven’t quite figured it out just yet
b/c all of us are all too stuck, stuck to a chair watching our lives blow up.”

-Who said it?

We Are Them....

I just got back from the great city of Leon where I had a lovely dinner and watched a movie (in English) with a few of my friends that are here with me in Nicaragua. The whole night was great except for one thing. As we walked into the theater there was a mother on the side of the street begging as her son lay on a couple of cardboard boxes with his head in her lap. I hadn’t given anything away thus far except for the last few swallows of a Gatorade so I gave her a dollar and continued on feeling only a small pain in my heart for them. I soon forgot about this as I bought some ice cream and entered the theater to watch Dejavu with Denzel Washington. Nearly 2 ½ hours later we walked out of the theater to find the streets deserted…..all except for this boy and his mother. The reality set in as we walked by and I considered giving them 100 cordoba which is 5 days wages for some Nicaraguans but less than lunch at Chick Fil-A for most of us. I didn’t go back to give them this money. Why not? Is $5 going to set me back at all? I sat in the back of our little Toyota Pick-up truck, facing backward as we drove away……all the while watching this pair on the side of the street. It hit me like a freight train. There was no difference between that mother and my mother, that boy and myself. We are equal in His eyes. I no longer saw this lady and this boy. I saw my mother and my head in her lap as I slept on the side of the street. I was all alone in the back of this truck……..and so I allowed myself to weep. God, help us to love the poor and oppressed. You are with them, and I am with you.