Dear Saints and Aints.
Shalom.
The sun has vanished behind the village adjacent to us. A fleeting glow marks its passage west and then too fades. The twilight that follows is brief lingering but for a moment, like a boy reluctant to stop playing at the end of the day, then it makes way for the dark of the early evening. From somewhere, weaving its way through the ambient noise of a village in the evening, comes the fleeting but haunting sound of a flute – the requiem for the day…
At the pan shop, sort of tea stall, not far from our gate, young men gather to share stories of the events of the day and some wistfully speak of their dreams. A momentary glimpse they had of a future possible; If only someone would come along and … But…
Sadly, they do not realize that the helping hand they are looking for – is right at the end of their arm. Neither do they consider the power of a life lived one step at a time; nor heed Tennyson’s,
“We have not wings; we cannot soar.
We have but feet to scale and climb.
By slow degrees; by more and more;
The clouded summits of our time.”
They are blind to the opportunity they are looking for because - quoting Thomas A. Edison,
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Their efforts don’t match their ambitions … And so their dreams, finding fulfillment - only in their dreams - are filed in the pigeon hole of their life under the rubric - “could have been”…
The crying of a baby brings me out of my reverie that had its genesis in listening to snatches of conversations from our college boys, with whom I worked a large part of the day, talking excitedly of what could be if…
Unlike them I look with regret at the work yet to be completed as I wander off to my room and the computer where other kind of work awaits me.
A beautiful rendering of “Oh Danny Boy” played on a piano fills my room. It brings me back to the reverie interrupted by the crying baby. But this time my thoughts turn to me, my own life. I ponder the question. “What dreams of yours are filed in the pigeon hole of life under the rubric “could have been”?
I always follow the leading of my heart in what I do. Frequently though I wondered if I was not following the promptings of a dysfunctional GPS as it was leading me all over the place in search of something that would offer the thrill the last place, the last adventure failed to do. What I was looking for I do not know but apparently it was not what till then I found. Some might justifiably accuse of me of chasing after the Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow; If, then it was not the gold that fascinated me but – the quest. Others who know me often wondered and some still do, “Quo Vadis, Frank? Where are you going?”
Time would tell. Where indeed? Finally, though torturous and circuitously my path often seemed it led me unerringly to my destination finding however, not the Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow but – the Pearl of Great Price – the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I set you apart;”
God’s word to Jeremiah.
I still follow my heart in the execution of this ministry placed upon me by my Lord - and in the greatest quest the human heart is capable of pursuing, as expressed by St. Paul, “that I may know Him” … because my heart, devoid of ulterior motives, is set upon God. But as for dreams filed in the pigeon hole of my life under the rubric “could have been” – there are none.
Sure there is a rubric labeled “Frank’s Pipe Dreams” which stoked by the myriad science fiction books read includes roaming among the stars – preferably alone; learning anything I wanted to know by osmosis rather than mental effort … I am revealing the boy in me … I also would love to sing but a life-time of practice would fall short of the time required to accomplish that. So, to musically express myself, I at times join the dogs at night on the playground and nobody is the wiser. Of course I also live in castles built in the clouds but the roof always leaks and the food served there is not very nourishing…
A flash of lightning followed by a thunderclap causes me to exit my day dream world and to return to a world of a sun-battered earth that looks with longing to the habitat I just left for relief from the long hot summer. But so far the dark floating clouds have renegaded on their promise to bring relief. No rain!
Undeterred by the scorching heat of the summer – one day the temperature reached 47.6° - the ten college boys, a warden and I worked hard on various projects; the main ones being the playground for the little kids, leveling the big playground, and constructing a planter for small trees and grass ca. 4’ wide and some 200’ long along the road. The fruit of our labor begins to show and so the effect on the kids who brought it about. “Are you sleeping?” I asked one college student who stood there lost in thought. “No”, he replied. “I am just thinking of how happy the little kids will be when they see this beautiful playground.”
Bapu and Yohan are busy with more serious endeavors like getting the big dorm and the new kitchen repaired and above all overseeing the construction of the first wing of our L-shaped clinic building. It has more windows and doors than walls and when completed will be bright and airy.
In addition to our other work, nine students join Bible College this year. Some of them are ours and the rest outsiders. Furthermore I also support a number of young pastors.
By the end of June all kids should be back. As far as I know we expect the same number of kids again. What at the present determines the numbers of kids we can take is the matter of accommodations. The dorms are overcrowded. Since we don’t have the half a million Dollars for the new dorm … Bapu wants to add a second floor to the dining hall costing ca. 1/10th of that. Of course he is dreaming…
As I wrote to some, Bapu turned the car, with 5 occupants, upside down on the highway while returning from the girls’ home. The car is totaled but nobody was hurt but Bapu who got a bad “scratch” on his left arm which is painful and refuses to heal. Please pray for him.
Over the years I seldom shared my needs, only my dream with you. I have offered you an unspoken invitation to become part of our dream. That the pigeon hole under the rubric “could have been” is empty is because you accepted the invitation and that we together are bringing that dream and others, to fruition.
For this our thanx!
Mega blessings and our love – Frank and all |
