Susan LaffertyEighth grade. My bike traveled smoothly, softly in the quiet. On the dirt path through bamboo forests.
Shaded relief from strong tropical sun on a humid day.
Freedom. Breeze lifting my hair.
Lacework of bamboo shadows flowing over me. With bits and pieces of bright sunlight.
Rest.
Specific names. Or initials. Scribbled in ink. Indelible. On lined paper in plastic-bound journals bought at the local bazaar.
Thirty years later I’m reading the pages. Details about our encounters with them.
Conversations. Situations.
Prayer requests recorded. Hospitalizations. Heartaches. Crises. Losses. Spiritual confusion.
Sarah. Wife of Abraham. Her desolate womb is noted the first time she’s ever mentioned in the Bible. What an introduction.
Beautiful Sarai left all she’d ever known because God called her husband Abram to go out. Out from the familiar. Out from his land, his relatives, his father’s house.