Lunchtime Daydreamin'

Lunch break, and I'm dreaming of Guatemala. Two weeks from today, I will be touching down in Mexico and staying there for five days with my brother before we leave to Guatemala for a week. I'm planning to camp out, go running along the banks and take a boat across the lake. It's the most beautiful place in the world I've ever been. Sucker that I am, I'd want to go to Guatemala for a honeymoon. A few days on the lakes, up to Tikal, spend some time at the beaches and do some service projects in some schools, clinics and indigenous villages. I suppose I've watched "Love, Actually" one too many times. Love's a real ass kicker sometimes, but that's the way it's supposed to be.

It's been cool b/c planning for this trip has reconnected me to friends that I'd turned my back on, fallen out of touch or needed to seek forgiveness from. I've already been tremendously blessed and I haven't left yet. My friends in Guatemala are so excited, and it's been fun to work on my spanish again. I end my days reading through the Psalms in my Nueva Biblia Juvenil Bilingue (New Bilingual Youth Bible) complete with neon inserts and stories about kids that made a difference. It was a sweet Ollie's pick-up for a couple bucks that has served me well. There are about ten Psalms that pretty much sum up where I am right now and I enjoy reading through them in both Spanish and English. Last night I was sitting on my porch at 1:30 a.m. in the midst of a lightning storm and torrential downpour. It was so beautiful and peaceful. Sleep was almost traitorous because that time alone with my thoughts and God was so sweet.

As I sat there and read through the Psalms for a bit in between prayer and singing songs about God's power in nature, both languages speak to me differently. Psalm 139 has to be my favorite right now, which I suppose is fairly common, but the number 139 seems to be my comfort number of late. I love the idea of asking God to search us, search our hearts, know our thoughts and our fears. The acknowledgement that even if it were our desire, we couldn't escape from God's presence. He knows where we are going and where we are coming from. That he not only knows our hopes and fears, but that he knew us before we were even born.

It's kind of like a big pep talk, "Just relax, Pete! I've got things on lock for you, son. I got this. Don't you realize how big I am and how small you are. I know you think you've got things figured out, but you got to trust me kid. My ways are too much for you to comprehend. I got you taken care of. I love you too much to let you get in the way of my plans. Be patient and trust in me." I picture God talking to me like that sometimes. When He does that He's gesturing with his hands too. It looks pretty cool in my head. I know God has my future and my past in his hands. Shoot, He could write my blog before I was even born. It'd be much better, shorter and funnier too. My job is to be faithful in the present, and I'm trying.