driving....

i feel like a teenager again. i have to say, that is the first time i have said that-i think , ever but i have a good reason. i got to drive yesterday for the first time since we landed in our new country. if you know me, you know how i love cars. our company has a great idea for helping us engage with people, learn language and build relationship....ride the local transportation. the purpose is served, and our skills are getting better all the time, though i have to say at this point that i still don't feel like i have enough language to get much past greeting and labeling a few things. but, i have made several friends over these friends. so, we have some friends who have been picking up the kids and taking them to school in the mornings, very cool. shout out to Ray and Luis! so, they were shifting flats (moving to a new place) and weren't able to pick up their daughter. they asked if i could use their car to pick up all the kids.

now we come full circle.. i feel like a teenager again. so after getting the truck in reverse, and carefully backing out of the spot, with much help from D so i didn't knock over the motorcycle parked in the same spot, quite literally, we were off. D asks, "what side of the road are you supposed to be on?" i was thankful that we were in the neighborhood still and that the car coming was going as slow as i was. i corrected that mistake and then once at the end of the block realized that i really didn't know how to get to the kid's school from our friend's house. we drove a couple of blocks, with guys trying to squeeze past us and telling me to move further into my lane, and finally i realized where we were. i mentioned how glad i was that we hadn't hit anyone to which i heard, "what a great standard you have set." i am glad to report that we made it to the school and back and am quite confident that no one was the wiser. it is quite common for people to drive offensively and sometimes are quite oblivious to others on the road. on the back of many trucks are the words "horn please". they are asking you to let them know that you are there. i have heard it said, that if you don't honk and you hit someone else, it can be blamed on you for not giving them warning of your presence.

so, one spiritual thought i have in this. does Jesus have to honk to get my attention or am i watching out to see if He is moving around me. am i waiting for him to scare me before i pay attention to Him? i think i want to be more aware of Him than that.

i also think that when i start driving here in the next year or so, i will be glad to honk to let others know that i am here.

seth