Idle and Blessed

The Russia team is currently somewhere in the space between Nashville International and the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. If I close my eyes I can see what they’re seeing, as they get off that cramped 9-hour flight and make their way through customs in a dim fluorescent hallway. They hear a foreign language; they search for luggage with sleepy eyes. They count heads and move out toward the sunlight and mild summer air of Moscow, trying to decide between sleep and exploring the new-yet-familiar world of the Capital City. I can see what those gray streets look like, what the Kremlin looks like at night all lit up in lights; I can hear the Red Square clock chiming. I can feel the whoosh of air in the underground Metro, and the embrace of dear friends I’ve not seen in a year. The dear Moscow-dwelling friends who’ve been the hands of God to me since before I understood a word of their language, or they of mine. I know the terror of the Aeroflot plane...

The best thing about running a loop is starting and ending in the same spot. The best thing about starting and ending in the same spot is that you know no matter how steep the hills, no matter how hard, you always get to go down the other side. Net elevation gain zero. Right now I'm running up a life hill, steep and rocky. I can't see the top and it feels like I've been doing more uphill than downhill lately. But the Bible says the story started in a place called Eden, and it says we'll end up in Eden too. I believe God means to tell us it will all be made right and all these uphills have other sides to them. Net elevation gain zero. "And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God make to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden , and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Genesis 2:8...

If you're ever wondering if God exists, go outside when the air gets cool, when the crickets start singing, and sit still. Look out over the earth, to the horizon where the black trees have for their outline a sky that's halfway between night and day, and sit still. Watch the blackness get deeper and hear the bullfrogs start talking down by the water and notice how the world lights up with tiny fireflies everywhere. See the fireflies? Then, believe.