Thoreau

I need my "Thoreau" time. No contact by any technology at all. We just got four days of that special time. Books, The Word, my U.S. History materials, a lake, cool days and nights. As you can see our campsite was right beside a small part of Clear Lake. It appears serene and quiet but from 8:00 a.m. until 8 p.m. it is a constant buzz of boat motors towing all sorts of people on all sorts of objects. Still, it was fun to get away and watch families enjoying their lives. I do wonder if/where their "Thoreau" time occurs. Everyone needs time away from the fast pace of life. We don't need to replace a fast paced life with a fast paced break. The boaters, it was fast paced, attempting to squeeze every ounce of time on the lake. No time to sit and talk, relax, walk, watch, be still, be quiet..........as John Wayne said in The Cowboys, "We're burning daylight." What a motto for most of the lives in the 21st century.

Vicki and I have returned from our fifth trip to Altamira, Para, Brasil. This trip was very different from our previous work-centered travels. We focused on introducing our fellow traveler to the various mission projects of the Xingu Mission. We also spent our first week of the trip on the Xingu River. Four church services in five days with time spent daily in devotions, reflection, swimming, fishing and generally enjoying creation.
We traveled the river with a team from Ohio, Angie and the entire Simon family. Angie is a dear friend from an earlier trip who has actually been in Brasil the past six months teaching English at CDR and helping teach the Simon children. While we were there Angie was offered and accepted a job at Cedarville U. as a R.D. starting August 1. She will need prayer relocating in such a short time.
My image is a typical Xingu River sunset. It is simply hard to put into words the peace and calm of river travel. When visiting villages I am impressed with the joy expressed by the people when daily life is so difficult when compared with my relatively easy life. I will continue to post some images and reflections in the days ahead and try harder to keep the blog more current.