Friends

Today I am grateful for the friends I met in Lui South Sudan.  I thought of them all today because when I signed onto Kiva there were four loans available in South Sudan.  The first person looked a lot like one of the young men who was in the choir and helped with the construction crew in Lunjini. 

Because it is hard to communicate with people there I haven't heard very much since I have returned.  I miss them all, pray for them often, and when fitting keep mentioning them in sermons.  They are all tied in ways to my life and always will be.  That is what happens when we start a relationship. 

Maybe it has been made all the more poignant this week because of Ron's death.  I am tied to those I miss and cannot communicate with.  Also it brings up all of those questions about death and loss and missing someone.  Such as the miracle of deciding to risk again and again to experience the hurt that comes with loss.  Because there is something of growth in tilling this soil over and over again.  I think our love develops more, or becomes more fruitful, or becomes more of a piece of the kingdom of God on earth. 

This is all not fully developed in my thought, but still being turned over and thought of.  After all we experience on this earth loss may cut us inwardly the deepest.  The healing of this brings us to another side of realization and growth.  Making our soil richer and more willing to accept new seeds of love planted within.  May we be willing to be tilled and remade.