Light and life

 Wednesday, January 15, 2025

It's a wild scramble to get on the movie night list on Mondays when the invitation is posted. But eventually everyone is included: usually there are 50-60 attendees. The sun goes down late at this time of year, just south of the equator. I take this picture at 6:20 PM, admiring the sunset with several young adults. By the time everyone else arrives, it is dark.

Cautiously, the newcomers venture into the group. Once people get their food, the room starts to warm up. We always have first-time visitors ("First time, a guest") along with returning attendees ("Second time, a friend.")

Our greeters are those who have come many times. They make sure others feel welcome. ("Third time, you're family.") The line stretches out the door as we load up our plates. Today, we come from 11 countries.

It's good to see people fill their plates and their hearts, chit-chatting as they make their way into the kitchen, and back out to find a seat for the first half of the movie.

Students and (mostly) young adults sit on the porch or inside. We've gradually set up the room with a chair for each person, not just a beanbag or pillow. After the first half of the movie, it's time for desert. Then we finish watching The Wild Robot with attending "ooh!" "oh no!" and "AHhhh!" as the scenes unfold.

What lively discussions afterward! The helpers have washed up and taken out the garbage before 10 PM. By 11, everyone's gone home. We shower, pray over those who came - that they experience God's care, friendship, and health ... and fall fast asleep.

Thursday

We leave for the mountain hike at 7:30 AM, after picking up Veronica and Brunhild, her friend from Germany. The route starts with a narrow chasm between cliffs. The trail is elevated over the muck below with bamboo stalks. Where the bamboo has begun to rot, boards are nailed across the span to hold the bamboo off the wet ground. We step from board to board. It's slippery but not difficult.

As the crest of a hill, the dogs watch hikers climb the trail behind us.

It's mostly downhill though 3 climbs upward lie between those descents.

As usual, the vegetation catches my eye.

PakG drops us at Ethnic for our post-hike lunch. Several retired hikers join us. We're only a few blocks from home, so W and I walk back. A hot shower is in order. I treat myself to tea and Trader Joes peanut butter cups. (Oh oh, the TJ container is half empty - we bring one home each October. Must space out my treats better.)

IbuA has baked pretzel buns, so W snags a hot roll on his stroll through the kitchen. The women have put the furniture back in place and the floors and shelves have been washed. The kitchen is tidy again. 

The women are glad that we've simplified the movie night setup. Art is still taken off the "screen" wall, and we bring chairs from upstairs down and back. But most of the room stays intact. (They used to haul rugs, the dining table, and shelves away.)

Supper with visitors from Germany is at their hotel nearby. The city sparkles from the opposite hill outside the windows. We enjoy lively a conversation about who God is and how he is at work in the world. 

W and I walk home in the warm mist. It's not worth putting up an umbrella. There are few public streetlights. Instead, every household must turn on lights near their entry to guide passersby. Most have automatic lights like ours that turn on at dusk.

On the Porch, W rehangs the lamp he put aside for movie night. The LEDs sparkle; the plastic bulbs tap against each other in the wind. Eight years ago, we found three of these chandeliers in an ACE Hardware Christmas clearance ($4). They faithfully ward off the dark.

Friday

Before 5 AM, I'm finally wrestling with ideas for Sunday.  In movie week, there's no capacity for anything but that - until we are refreshed by nature and the house is reset.

Sunday is coming ... and the topic is parenting. I've been tossing around the topic for 2 weeks. How does one raise children to love and serve God? I turn to the scriptures to see what God teaches us as our heavenly Father.

Then I walk around the block to reset my head. The Padma hotel is dressed for Chinese New Year, coming later this month.

We pick up a white birdcage and PakG takes home 2 free hamster cages for his kids, thrown into the deal. As we pass the main mosque, cars are double-parked for blocks as men gather for the week's prayers.

PakG cleans the new cage. "Oh look at this!" he exclaims. He points out a gap in the blue budgerigar's wing and a hole bitten in its body. "Probably was a rat!"

I put some tissues in the corner so the bird will have a warm "blanket" if it chooses. It hops into the opposite corner.

PakG and W doctor the wounds with iodine and put the bird and its companion into the new cage. "Usually a bird will die if it is injured like this," PakG tells us. It hops around a bit. Let's see.

This week, I've met with most team members, one on one. I'm asking, "What do you sense that God intends to do in you this coming year?" and, "What goals are you setting for your work?" The answers intrigue me and give me direction for prayers.

Saturday

The budgie is alive and moving around the cage. I cruise the yard to see what's blooming. The flowerbeds are filled with color.

The lemon tree is fruiting, big clumps of lemons hanging from its branches.

Under it, seedlings from a potted red flower have matured and are themselves creating seedlings.

I spend most of the afternoon puttering. I walk +4000 steps, back and forth between rooms, returning art to the walls, clearing office storage, and storing the final Christmas items. Finally, I put some prints (from Penang, last year) into frames and sort the papers on my desk.

The last stacks of books from my office get shelved in the little library in the main room. The space has become a tranquil corner to curl up to read or meditate. I dig my toes into the shag rug beside the armchair.

Read more:

*In you, Lord my God,

    I put my trust.

I trust in you;

    do not let me be put to shame,

    nor let my enemies triumph over me.

No one who hopes in you

    will ever be put to shame,

but shame will come on those

    who are treacherous without cause.

Show me your ways, Lord,

    teach me your paths.

Guide me in your truth and teach me,

    for you are God my Savior,

    and my hope is in you all day long.

Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,

    for they are from of old.

Do not remember the sins of my youth

    and my rebellious ways;

according to your love remember me,

    for you, Lord, are good.

Good and upright is the Lord;

    therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

He guides the humble in what is right

    and teaches them his way.

All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful

    toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. Psalm 25:1-10