Category: Travel

A Jon Post

In just one week we’ll get on an airplane and begin a voyage back to the country where we were born (except Anaya).

It’s exhausting getting prepared for that. Trying to put things in order, say goodbye to people here, making sure all of my responsibilities are taken care of. It’s much, much easier to simply put it off… not really think about it… and let it just sneak up on me.

I was standing next to a hospital bed this week and it hit me that João Filipe (the man on the bed) and I have this in common.

It’s exhausting getting ready for this.

He too will be taking a voyage soon. He too is faced with saying goodbyes, preparing for his children (he has 4), and passing on his responsibilities to those he can. He too is exhausted and would much rather simply rest and let the voyage come to him.

His voyage is different than mine. His has no return and his destination is much sweeter than mine. João Filipe will not long stay tethered to this earth. He too is going back to where he was born. And the Jesus to whom he often mutters incoherently is waiting with open arms.

I stood next to his bed for what seemed ages last week. Resting my hand on his younger brother Mateu’s strong shoulder who attends him day and night, I prayed deep, yearning prayers for comfort and for rest. João Filipe’s times of lucidity are short though never without a smile. When he is aware of his surrounds he lights up the room with his praise to his Savior and his gratitude for the visit (I am not sure whose visit he means, mine or Christ’s).

So this week, as I prepare to say goodbye to friends I may never see again, as I prepare my home, as I prepare my family… I remember João Filipe and his smiles. I remember his battle and his time to prepare. I remember how exhausted he is. I remember his brother’s tears…

Get ready João Filipe…

There is nothing better than your coming voyage.

A Jon Post

On Vacation

Gasher

On our way back from South Africa to our home here in Maputo we made an addition to our family. We’d like to formally introduce:
Sir Gasherbrum Walter Bonati Heller IV
We just call him Gasher. I won’t give you the whole story to his name but he’s named for an incredible mountain in Northern Pakistan. Gasherbrum is actually part of the Balti language (spoken in Northern Pakistan) meaning “Beautiful Mountain”. Believe me he is beautiful and he will be a mountain of a dog (at only 3 months old he’s already more than 50 pounds. His sire looks like a small horse). Every time we call him “Gasher” we are calling him “beautiful”.

After arriving back home our time back at the hospital has been sweet. It was hard to go away for the time we were in Cape Town without knowing if dear friends we left at the hospital would be alive by the time we got back. One of the men I’ve gotten to know and prayed with often was very sick when we left and left the hospital while we were away to be at home when he dies. It’s hard when we’re not able to say goodbye. With the abundance we’ve seen in our lives and the pain and death we daily see in others lives it forces us to come humbly before our God. So many times people ask “Why me God?” As Layne and I see death’s triumph so often, we find ourselves asking “Why not us God?” We are so sheltered by His mercy and we realize we deserve none of it. It’s not our goodness or our faithfulness to Him that keeps us healthy, fed, safe. In His wisdom and goodness and faithfulness we are provided for. And we know that when we do suffer it’s still in His wisdom, goodness and faithfulness.
“For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows” (2 Cor 1:5).

From Table Mountain