1 April 2010
Villa Blanca, Colombia
I try to post purple flower pictures once a week,
an act of discipline,
creating a theme,
building an audience
(know that I deeply appreciate both of you).
However, today I did a blog post on Colombia for work.
And as I looked for a picture,
I came across this one
and it too me back
to a very special day.
At Villa Blanca, where displaced Colombians,
who in an act of courage and grace
beyond my imagining rebuild and start anew,
on a sunny April day, gathered
Presbyterians from Colombia and Presbyterians from the United States.
With agricultural implements
and symbols of faith,
a worship space was created;
prayers were said, songs were song,
love was shared.
I was there.
I remember the people.
I remember the time.
But until I saw this picture,
I had forgotten the purple flowers.
See you along the Trail.
Good news!
Please continue to pray and act for God’s children who have been disappeared in Colombia and around the world.
See you along the Trail
Filed under Current Events, Friends
I will not sleep well tonight.
It is hard to sleep, at least for me, when my heart aches even more than usual.
Thank you so much to everyone for your outreach in regards to the case of Antonio Ariza. We have received word from the US Embassy in Bogota today through numerous channels that they have our information and that they are working on his case.
We have also received feedback from many of our loyal grassroots supporters that they are experiencing issues with email bounce-backs from both US and Colombian addresses that we have provided you with. We apologize for this inconvenience, be assured that the addresses are correct, but their systems have a number of safeguards to prevent spam, and due to the volume of emails we have generated, some of them are being turned away by the automated systems. We have no control over this.
At this time we do not need to continue to send faxes to the US Embassy. They have received our message, and additional faxes would probably be counterproductive since they have been flooded today by our organization and our partner organizations. Please continue to fax/email the offices of Colombian officials as able.
Thank you so much—your solidarity means so much and we will continue to keep you posted about our continued advocacy for Antonio. Your prayers continue to be of great need and comfort to all in this time.
–The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
Filed under Current Events
We may only be able to view a part of the trail; it may disappear into the distance.
April 2010
Colombia
Filed under Photo
Gracious God,
the hurts of the world are legion,
the wounds of your beloved children exceed our counting.
Our spirits sag,
our hearts ache,
we grow weary.
Pour your Holy Spirit afresh upon us:
renew us
revive us
sustain us
guide us
for the living of these days and
for the loving of one another
we pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Filed under Worship
Without knowing
We host angels
Without knowing
We visit angels
Without knowing
We encounter angels
Without knowing
We journey with angels
Without knowing
We share life with angels
As we host
Visit
Encounter
Journey
Share
May our knowing grow
I made it back to Louisville. There was a bit of drama in Atlanta when the 45 minute connection shrunk to 25 minutes. Fortunately the gates were close — I was in seat 32C — and the gate agent was very, very helpful.
According to the Delta Web page, the bag is here. So I am off to pick it up.
Since everyone except Erik got sick, myself included – although I was one of the least sick, I managed to lose weight in Colombia. Hopefully I can build on that!
Filed under Travel
I am catching up a bit.
It has been a good trip. Lots of meetings. But the meetings went well and plans have been made for the future of the Colombia Accompaniment Program.
The poster promoting the Peacemaking Offering was posted on a door in the Pital Presbyterian Church. Pital is the one rural church in the Presbytery of the North Coast of the Presbyterian Church in Colombia.
Always good to see the Offering promoted.
Filed under Uncategorized
Barranquilla
Via Blanca is a community of displaced persons in Colombia who are framing on land given to them by the mayor. In this pilot project, they are growing tomatoes, melons, and peppers. Members of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) visited the community, we worshiped, ate sancocho soup, and planted an aloe vera plant (known as sabila in Colombia).
Filed under Uncategorized
Along the Graybeard Trail 