Wednesday, October 17, 2012

To Red Dirt and Khao Neow


Man, I am going to miss this place.
The red dirt roads
The feeling of sticky rice between my fingers
The oohs and aahs at a culture so familiar to me.

The smiles when I mispronounce something
The black hair and dark skin
The spicy cucumber and
the way the sky looks at night,
Painted with palm trees and stars.

The newness of a sip of chocolate milk
And the bliss of freshly baked bread.
The risk of riding a bike on the side of a busy highway
And the unmatchable feeling of
Community,
Home,
Love.

The sound of the wind running past my ears as we speed
Through the city
Sitting, uncomfortable,
On a mat in the back of a pickup truck.


The flash of lights as we pull out into the night,
And the sa bai dee’s when we return home.
The miss you’s,
The beautifuls,
And the songs--so moving--in a language I cannot understand.

The murmur of foreign prayers late at night
To a God that is
So much bigger now.

The off key voices singing praises,
Joyfully,
To he who sees everything.

The pain of my wrist after a long day of fooseball,
The adrenaline that pumped through these veins when I first realized
What God can do through me.


The earnestness of each conversation.
The elation in each step of the day.
The cold water on my back
And hot sun on my face.

The learning to teach and
Most of all,
Teaching to learn.

No comments:

Post a Comment