McDonald’s. Text messages. Amazon Prime. ATMs. Google. The retired Concorde. What do all these things have in common?
They are all spelled the same way: F-A-S-T
In the United States of America, we put a special emphasis on receiving things and accomplishing things as quickly as possible. On the one hand, that’s okay, since our life is a vapor and will soon be gone. On the other hand, we tend to settle for less than the best when everything is done as quickly as possible.
One of my weaknesses is my tendency to do things slowly.
I like slow. I like deliberate. I like to think about what I’m doing and enjoy the moment.
When I worked at IRBC, I loved my job as the photographer because I was never in a rush to be anywhere after meals. I could sit down and eat for 50 minutes. Dining hall girls were gone after 15 minutes, dishroom guys were gone after 22, and lifeguards departed around the 30-minute mark. I’d eat until I got lonely and then I’d leave. Being given 20 minutes to eat as Contender last year was so painful.
For the first time in two weeks I woke up and went on a run. I slacked off way too much the last couple weeks, so today I made sure I woke up early (6:30) and got in a good run. It’s so easy in life to stop doing the good things, and once you stop, it’s hard to start doing them again!
It was by far one of the most enjoyable runs of my time here. I decided to push myself much more than I had so far, and I ended up running 10 kilometers without stopping. But what made it enjoyable was that I spent the whole run talking to God. For about an hour I tried to thank God for as many things as I could and offer up a few requests.
Monday was a really busy day. After a breakfast of granola, coconut yogurt, and milk, all five of us in the house went shopping to get some more things for the three-day Hope Encounter.
Aunt Julie and Jennifer went to Atacadao while Uncle Jim, Danae, and I went to Juazeiro. We picked up several items at the shops in town and then we came back and went to Assai, the new grocery store across the road from Atacadao. There we purchased, some chips, spices, and some doce de leite for Danae and I to bring home.
Ahhhh! What a great day this was! It easily ranks up there as one of the most exciting days of the year for me. We had our first of three orchestra concerts last night, and the other two were today. Our first concert was this morning at Batista do Novo Juazeiro, the largest regular Baptist church in Juazeiro and perhaps the largest one here in the valley. It is the home of Pastor Renato, the aforementioned director of the Semana de Musica Sacra.
What should I write about next? Are there issues that you are facing or that the church is facing today that need to be addressed? Take 15 seconds to let me know!
