FROGLEGS

An update on my travels home. I got home to a dark house, a very ill dog and 15 heart stopping minutes of the Spanish cup final. So much for my romantic musings about “coming home”. They are probably true at any rate. Sometimes when one theorizes about pilgrimage, blisters on feet, cold nights sleeping on the floor and loneliness are not the first things to come to one’s mind…

Kati (our dog) was very ill over the weekend. I was very concerned on Sunday night that she wouldn’t survive until Monday morning when I’d be able to take her to the vet. I’ve never seen a dog as ill as she was that night.

I thanked God on monday morning when I got up and she was still alive. I took her down to the vet’s straight away. He took some blood, did a few tests and came to the conclusion that she has a form of Lyme’s disease. This is a bacterial infection that can effect any biological system in her body and could be fatal if not treated. Thankfully, we’ve caught it pretty early on and Kati will eventually be fine. Phew!

The EDUKATORS

Originally uploaded by juss.

Go see it if you can… It should be hitting the US this year, was a big smash in Germany this year and Europe earlier this year.

The tag line of the movie reads:

“We are the Edukators.

And we believe that society has become fat and bloated by greed.

We despise the so called high society and their decadence.

So we’re going to be knocking on your door,

disrupting your life, re-edukating you.”



Its a great movie about the morality of debt, interest and capitalism. It is also about being true to your values regardless of your station in life (i.e.- it’s easy to be a socialist when you are poor… what about when you are rich?). Asks pretty penetrating questions about what happens to us when we grow up and (possibly) lose our youthful enthusiasm, ideals and activism.

I left the guys in Dresden this morning soon after breakfast. German breakfast is actually something to behold. I think I already blogged something about that a couple of weeks ago.

Although saying goodbye to friends is always sad (and I did have a very good time… I never quite feel totally understood on the subject of music by anyone except Markus), there is no sensation quite as satisfying as the one you feel when your feet hit the road that leads you home. Familiar faces, hugs and conversations await. After a train to Berlin, plane to Málaga, train to Sevilla and bus to the Alameda; I know that Kati will greet me at the door with her usual gusto, Heather will give me a hug and a big smile, Jim will grin and tell me the Spanish Cup final result and Sophia will give a little kick to let me know that she is there. Home.

And yet, I know instinctively that another home awaits. My heart tells me there is more than all this. Even now, I am on a path that will lead me to another home. One day I’ll roll up to my Father’s house and we’ll party “like it was 1999″. That homecoming will be even grander than the one tonight.

The things I think about…

I’ve landed in Germany to grey  dreary skies and cold weather.  A friend picked me up last night in Berlin and I caught the train to Dresden with Carla Trundle this morning.

Leaving Shmuel, Robyn and Josiah in Madrid wasn’t easy.  Feels like my body is here, but my heart and mind are somewere between Sevilla and Madrid.  I really would have liked to have left those guys in a better place.

At any rate, looking forward to a good couple of days in Dresden,  one of my favourite places.

I wanted to let you all know that Robyn, Shmuel and their new baby Josiah are doing a lot better. Do continue to pray that they will all heal soon. Especially that Josiah would start gaining weight so that they can get out of the hospital and go somewhere more comfortable.

More from them here.

I shoot off to Berlin tomorrow night, then down to Dresden on the train the following morning.

… that we are all mortal.

Tuesday before last, Jim and I went out for a simple jog. The next time Jim came home he had a wrist full of metal and a cast on.

The tuesday after that, I played an innocent game of football and ended up getting home late at night with 5 stitches in my chin.

Today, I was walking along in the city centre with a couple of guests that are visiting when I got a call from Samuel and Robyn (our friends expecting a baby) in Madrid saying they had just had an emergency c-section the night before… 5 weeks before the baby’s due date.

So tonight finds Heather and I staying at a virtual stranger’s house about five minutes away from a hospital in the northern part of Madrid where some good friends have had 48 life-changing traumatic hours. They mother and baby are fine, but could use prayer. Emotionally it has been really rough for these guys as the hospital staff and doctors have been less than kind. But they are all alive, in one piece and there is a future and a hope for all of them.

Things change so rapidly. Life is so fragile. We are not as invincible as we think.

More news to come… God willing.