All for freedom

Thursday, August 15, 2024

After a few calls, I fill my water bottle, shove it in a backpack, and grab sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat. It's my first hike in months. The dogs pile into the car, W stays behind to get ready for class while PakG and I head down the hill to pick up Veronica.

I shed flip-flops to pull on new hiking shoes and clean socks when we reach the Astro Highlands parking lot. There are 4 people and 4 dogs: we leave Bailey with PakG for a separate walk. We take our usual picture by the enormous tree trunk.

Half the walk is in the forest,

and half is looking across the beautiful mountains covered with tea fields.

The dogs sniff around the sides of the trail. Their experience is enhanced, compared to ours.

After a Point A to Point B walk, we give Irina a ride to her car. Pipin's headed home with her dogs, but Veronica and I stop by V's house to admire her two new puppies. One looks like our dog Gypsy, and the other looks like Gypsy's mom Molly. They're total cuteness, happily scampering underfoot.

Pak G parks at the edge of the runoff gutter. He manages to pull away without us falling in.

V gifts us a bunch of bananas and some cotton pajamas left over from her daughter's workplace. The bananas land in the kitchen: IbuS will bake banana bread tomorrow!

V and I have a leisurely lunch and conversation at Warung Ethnic. I always enjoy the nasa oncom (rice cooked in banana leaf) while V has her usual rösti (Swiss-style hash browns and cheeses). Then we part ways to walk home, she going downhill and I going up. W's still teaching when I reach our house, shower, and edit a friend's workbook.

Laurel is wrapping up 2 years in Bandung with the usual messy process of deciding what to keep and what to leave behind. On my desk, I find highlighter markers that will be put to good use.

Friday

We're out the door for a walk as usual. Bailey was showered and brushed out by PakG yesterday when we got home from the hike. He's a soft mass of fluff and draws admiring looks from passersby.

I grab a final handful of seed pods for next week's flower arrangements.

W notes this bench, missing a leg and now happily supported by concrete that's been lifted off the street.

With so many bare shelves, I snag some botanical paintings - a pastel by #CaseyKlein, an oil or acrylic by a Ukrainian friend's dad, and an old watercolor created after we lived in Cambridge (and had access to fantastic teachers.) A chore for next week is getting to the picture framer; we got a few new prints in Penang last month. 

Saturday - Indonesian Independence Day

It seems much quieter this year: we hardly hear fireworks. Each region hosts neighborhood parties. Our big one is at Bumi Sangkuriang, the old country club on the hill. There's one event and competition after another, with pop-up shops, picnics, and swarms of people.

Flags are waving, banners are flying. It's the 79th anniversary of freedom from Dutch colonization. People dress in red and white. With W's "upside down" Polish flag (a white stripe on top of red instead of Indonesia's red over white stripes) and my Canadian heritage (a red and white flag), we feel at home.

Sunday - International Sunday

Martin is speaking at #IES_Bandung this morning. He and his Japanese wife Sayaka share how they became followers of Jesus. It's inspiring and interesting to see how the Holy Spirit draws people to God around the world.

We have some international guests as well - Ruth spent years here in the 80s. She was part of the Hash running group, which is hosting their 50th anniversary. She connects with old friends and joins us for lunch, as does Brandon, another traveler who made IES his Sunday morning community of Faith.

Last week's bouquet is fading.

But Titik has made two wonderful red and white arrangements in honor of Indonesia's Hari Merdeka (literally "day of freedom:). She sends one home with us.

We remind each other of the freedom Jesus won for his followers - and that everyone is invited to accept the forgiveness and freedom God paid dearly for. Want to know more about how that freedom can transform your own life? PM me or leave a comment.

Read more:

*I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be their slaves no more; I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. Leviticus 26:13

*[Jesus told his followers:] I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends. John 15:15

Moravian Prayer: Friend Jesus! What a grace! What an honor you freely give! You encourage us to grow in awareness and action, seeking freedom from enslavement for ourselves and all your children. It is what friends do. Give us the courage to be your friend, and a friend to all we meet along the way. Amen.