Photographs and Memories

Today's photos did wonders for me. I confess, I was down about the truck, Wayung's continued oppression and the loss of the wallet and contents. Neil has come through a great deal and loves the rain forest and the people and the land. He finds these other hassles a necessary part of life, and indeed it is. I am a bit slower to rebound, as I find, after many years, I am very tired. At times I have asked, "Could we possibly have an uneventful time?".

So when Neil sent the photos this morning from the capital of PNG, I was really thrilled. I saw our house in the village. Tony was raised there. We tackled home schooling together there. I had the "joy" of skinning my first sheep there. I guess it has been the place of a many "firsts" and many tired and difficult evenings and many nights of saying, "God I thought I knew you but know I have seen you face to face". I would be poorer had I never lived in Samanzing.

I hope as you have the time, you will go to the photo gallery at www.vanaria.org or www.vanaria.info and look at the pictures of the people for whom you have prayed, and given and participated in giving the gospel not only to them but to their children, and should He tarry, to their children's children's children.

If you ever get time, do read Elizabeth Elliot's book No Graven Image. I believe it is the truest missionary book every written. It's supposed to be a novel, but anyone who has lived the life can tell you that she expresses there what so many of us feel, but which often is left out of books that require that the ends be neatly tied together. Nothing is neatly tied together in life. Jesus death was not neat. It astounds, confuses and offends. To those who choose to embrace His sacrifice, it also saves.

To pull together my thoughts: those closest to us realize that the last several years have been a painful and at times nonsensical journey. The unbelievable has been believed, the outrageous has occurred and when we cried out for help, it has seemed that God did not answer in the way we would have anticipated, but brought us along a new path. But when I look at the photos of the places we have lived, and to which, Lord willing, we shall again soon return, then I realize that the entire picture is so grand, involves so many people, and like most things of an eternal and perfect nature, doesn't make perfect sense from a mortal, finite perspective. But if Christ would have died to save just one, then for me, and thee and all of these, it is worth it.

Photographs are a wonderful thing. They let us visualize what we know in our heart.