Categories
Crossing Cultures Memoir

Blue sky

Images of blue sky and a raging torrent of destruction fill my screen in recent days. 

Bringing back memories. 

There was blue sky when a tsunami roared into Aceh. Then pulled out. Taking with it precious lives along with whole buildings.

Today these scenes are not a coastal city, but a mountain haven. 

Nepal. Villages built along the meandering river wiped out in a matter of minutes.

Image by Sushanta Rokka on Unsplash.
Categories
Crossing Cultures Devotional Memoir

Gates

Gates. I love a good gate.

Carefully carved and crafted. 

Designed for beauty and strength. 

Providing entry or denying access. 

Image by Bruce Barrow on Unsplash.
Categories
Devotional Memoir

Hope during a tsunami

The slow but certain flood of a tsunami moves across the globe today.  

I’ve watched videos from the one that marked our lives in 2004. The wave that advanced silently. Powerfully. Into Aceh. The water just kept coming. Pushing further inland. One bright, blue-skied day. 

And then, as waves do, it pulled back out to sea. Leaving devastation. Empty communities. Unimaginable loss. 

Today. The other tsunami. Changing the topic of our daily conversations. To quarantines and lockdowns. Limiting spread to flatten the curve. Shortages of medical supplies. Death counts.

And I remember the Scripture verses that gave hope to the inexperienced. In the December 2004 tsunami and the year that followed.

Aceh. Devastation as far as the eye could see. Nearly two months after the tsunami. February 2005.