Times of trial

In times of trial, doubt and uncertainty, we need to run towards God, not away.  May your faith forever increase and your fear wash away.

Make sure you are still living in the present, not an uncertain future.

If I loved you

If you need me to cry

a thousand oceans

to sail you home

I will mourn

If you need me to oversee

your weary brow

to supply you strength

I will be strong

If you want me to follow

you over summer fields

Be sure that I will run

I will be there

If you need me to remember

I'll give my memory

Of all our love, our path

I will, I can't forget

If you need to find your way

Let me be your light

Your beacon, the safe place

The lighthouse

I will be home.

But if you need to go

I won't keep you from flying

I'll supply the wings

And the wind to carry you.

If I loved you.

Like I do.

Hypnotized

Has anyone ever figured out why the sea is so hypnotizing?  

Why does it draw you in and refuse to let go?

Birds talk to me

Pelican Limerick

"A wonderful bird is the Pelican,

His beak can hold more than his belly can.

He can hold in his beak

Enough food for a week!

But I'll be darned if I know how the hellican?"

- Dixon Lanier Merrit

c. 1912

Seething

"The desert and the ocean are realms of desolation on the surface.

The desert is a place of bones, where the innards are turned out, to dessicate into dust.

The ocean is a place of skin, rich outer membranes hiding thick juicy insides, laden with the soup of being.

Inside out and outside in. These are worlds of things that implode or explode, and the only catalyst that determines the direction of eco-movement is the balance of water.

Both worlds are deceptive, dangerous. Both, seething with hidden life.

The only veil that stands between perception of what is underneath the desolate surface is your courage.

Dare to breach the surface and sink." 

- Vera Nazarian 

The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Maybe

"I may be going nowhere, but what a ride."

- Shaun Hick

Those mad intensities

"It's not all bad.  Heightened self-consciousness, apartness, an inability to join in, physical shame and self loathing - they are not all bad.  Those devils have been my angels.  Without them I would never have disappeared into language, literature, the mind, laughter and all the mad intensities that made and unmade me."

- Stephen Fry

Moab Is My Washpot

Unspoken

"That was one of the saddest things about people - their most important thoughts and feelings often went unspoken and barely understood."

-Alexandra Adornetto

Halo

Being the Beloved

"Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection.  Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection.  When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions.  The real trap, however, is self-rejection.  As soon as someone accuses me or criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone, or abandoned, I find myself thinking, "Well, that proves once again that I am a nobody."... My dark side says "I am no good...  I deserve to be pushed aside, forgotten, rejected and abandoned".  Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the "Beloved."  Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence."

- Henri J.M. Nouwen

What one feels

"One can be the master of what one does, but never of what one feels."

- Gustave Flaubert

Happy New Year

And so this last day of the year 2015 arrived, and in Swakopmund, it's a cloudy dreary day with rough seas and the promise of rain in the clouds.  As I reflect on the year it has been, I can see that I have been embroiled in many stormy waters but, with God's grace, I have survived the all the turmoil and emotional roller coasters of missing home, missing family and just missing being close to loved ones far away. 

 I also know that I could not have had a happier and more blessed year in 2015. My family's been blessed with health and happiness and my children are thriving in our new home.  We are living in one of the most beautiful countries in the world and have so much to be thankful for. 

So, looking forward, to all the dear family, friends and fellow wanderers, travelers and bloggers out there:

I hope you all have a hearty, happy and healthy 2016 with no more stormy waters than what you are able to handle.  

Happy New Year!  

Let's be romantic

"Let's be romantic and dance in the rain.  I'll prove my feelings for you by bringing an umbrella, because I'm drowning in my love for you."

- Jarod Kintz

This Book is Not FOR SALE

Don't miss them...

There's a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they're absolutely free. 

 Don't miss so many of them.

So let me be

"She had been defeated by herself alone, and the sadness of it left a dark shadow in her heart.  It further sapped her confidence and left her ever more withdrawn, ever more capable of suppressing her feelings.  Like her roughened hands, her sensitivity was slowly being hardened, and she drew relief from numbness creeping through her."

- Yo Yo

Ghost Tide

Mindfulness

In pursuit of a mindful life, I am trying to let my thoughts go.  Wherever they want.  I want to know what consumes me.  It's interesting to see where they take me.  Where do your thoughts take you when you let them go?  

Mine are consumed by the beauty of Namibia... 

The photographs I still want to take... 

Where I still want to travel to...

What I want to do when I have the time...

How I miss my family back home...

My family here, their happiness...

So many things.

And so I drift on...

The sound of the Sea

"I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else."

-Nikos Kazantzakis

Zorba the Greek

Quiet

"Have you ever heard the wonderful silence just before the dawn?  Or the quiet and calm just as a storm ends?  Or perhaps you know the silence when you haven't the answer to a question you've been asked, or the hush of a country road at night, or the expectant pause of a room full of people when someone is just about to speak, or, most beautiful of all, the moment after the door closes and you're alone in the whole house?  Each one is different, you know, and all very beautiful if you listen carefully."

- Norton Juster

The Phantom Tollbooth