slivers

Opio came up to me today, he said he had a sliver in his hand. I looked at it and it was no surface sliver, if it was in there, it was in deep, with infection already setting in around it. He's only 8, but strong. I would try to squeeze the thing out, and he would pull my arm away. Finally I went for the stronger artillery...the nail clippers...when I came back out with them, I looked at Opio as he tried to hide behind the house at the site of the shiny metal tool, and I called him to come, but he didn't. After some waiting I called to him again, and he moved hesitantly toward me, I saw the fear in the eyes. Then i told him, "opio, i will try to get the thing out if you will let me, but I'm not going to force you." And I went back inside. He never came and gave me permission to pull it out again. And it's then that it hit me. Me and God. God is never forcing me to come to Him, always inviting, but never forcing...When i have some sin in my life, whether it be murder in my heart, or bitterness, or pride, or some deep wounds, it causes me to start rotting away, it causes pain in my heart, and I may go to God at first, but then realize that it may hurt worse before it gets healed, so I back away slowly and settle to move on with that pain and that sin, or that wound in my heart...BUT...if I trust the Surgeon, if I trust my loving Father, I go to Him knowing that yes, it may hurt quite a bit to deal with this sin, or to deal with this deep wound in my heart, but I know that He is good and He is an excellent Surgeon and He does not fail, and so I allow Him, and instead of my flesh continuing to rot away, life is brought back, healing happens, and it's a beautiful thing.

Apparently Opio didn't trust me, but i don't blame him, because I also don't trust my sliver removal skills. But when it comes to hearts, my Dad is best. And I'm learning to trust Him completely.

my friends

well, it's been too long, so to satisfy myself and all of my "sitting-on-the-edge-of-their-seats, can't-sleep-till-i-post-again-fans" i'm posting a couple pictures of when my friend rachel visited me with her husband wayne. It must have been something like two weeks ago now. And it was so refreshing to have visitors who know and love me. I enjoyed showing them my stomping grounds, introducing them to my friends. They used their camera most of the time, but i had mine for one excursion. We were taking Abella to Secondary school for the first time, and being dry season everything was very dry, and dusty and light brown and dull and what...but then we came to a river and the blue was so blue and the green so green, it was so refreshing that I had to stop and get out and get a closer look and enjoy the cool breeze offered off the water. So i waste no more time, the pictures are here:

This is me saving abella from the alleged hippos that are somewhere out there...

This is our traveling group, from left, my friend nuru and the child she babysit's on wednesdays, rachel, abella and wayne:
Rachel and I encouraging one another that the crocodiles are probably resting somewhere else, (take note of the brownness that lies just beyond the green grass on the waters edge. it's a remarkable difference.)
me and nuru:
Wayne and Rachel:

We had a good time being refreshed, and were in need of it. Two days before we had been out in Morungatuny capturing some of the stories from the former child-soliders, if you want to see some pictures from that time go to http://sliedrechts.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/edinburgh-exhibition-opportunity/ . I think I'll have to blog about that in another post. and hopefully i'm not just saying that, but i'll actually do it. Let me try. All that to say, I enjoyed my friends being able to visit.