His Mission, His Leading, His Calling

Sitting, ready to leave, I am a bit nervous as the check in lady had to make a call to and punch in some numbers before printing me a ticket, notifying the voice on the other side, my destination as San Diego.  Ready to arrive home and yet a question mark.  I asked her if everything was okay and she answered an unconfident, yes.  While tentatively perched near the gate for my flight to Munich, I recognize because he has in hand a pool cue case, a man that arrived with me on the flight to Split.  He seems to recognize me as I was the only oriental that flew with him here, and there aren’t many oriental ‘tourists’ or travelers at this time of year.  The duty free shops begin to open as we arrive as if by plan they hope us to make a final purchase.  Then, an announcement come over the reverberous speaker in the mostly empty room.  "Would a Mr. R-ee, Robert, Allen, please immediately contact the ticket desk."

I now know what all the ruckus was about.  My departure plane delayed, I would miss my connection flight to Munich.  If I hadn’t arrived early at the airport with my other returning friends, my delayed incoming plane planned to depart to Munich would not arrive in time to make my connecting flight home, and in doing so, I would not find myself here now.  Instead, I find myself now joining my friends on the plane to Zagreb, Croatia, and will jump another jet to Munich.  All smiles, the attendants are seemingly ‘trying’ to be encouraging.   

As I arrive in Zagreb, I hear my name, am asked to wait until they check the passengers deplaning with me.  Once done, I am handed all my tickets to home and personally wisked to the passport check again, eventually jump on the bus from the gate, shuttled to the jetway stairs of my next plane, doors of the bus remaining closed for a long time…a long time.  Finally an apparently ill passenger is helped up the stairs and once on board the signal is given for the rest of us to join her.  As I sit and have a moment to look at the paperwork handed to me with my boarding passes, I discover that I arrive twenty minutes AFTER the boarding time for Philly, leaving only 10 minutes to transition to my next flight.  From national to international?  Uh…no way.

As I continue winging my way farther and farther from friends and the familiar, being wisked away to what may or may not be waiting for me in Munich, it is here where faith, my faith in my God, and my trust in His divine plan, brings peace.  While the outcome may be fine, or could be riddled with trouble, if I pay attention to even my previous escapades of the getting me here, and the smoothness in spite of the chaos that could have occurred, I choose to go there.  Not that I’ll end up ‘there’, but rather that I choose to start there and hope all goes as before.  I have had issues on flights before.  Mostly, blessed travel has filled my myriad trips national and international.  Even in the worst of trips, while extremely delayed by weather, I did arrive safely home the day I expected.

This trip could either be fine, or fall apart before me as I progress toward the place I now set my heart on seeing.  With each passing moment, I long for the comfort of the arms of my beloved and her most precious smile.  She, being the gem of my life, the beauty that washes this soul with warmth and joy is now the primary reason I am drawn home.  And as I muse of her, the captain tells us we will arrive in Munich (along with all the other obligatory information about flying over Salzberg, speed and altitude) late.  Ten more minutes late.  Once again, I could worry and fret, but once again I choose to move toward trust, not panic.  Concern?  Sure.  It would be idiotic to just stick my head in the sand as if that would get me home.  The truth is, I will get there.  The only answer is?  When;  As planned and scheduled?  Or with delay?  Will my luggage, with 4 liters of Croatian olive oil and clothes, arrive with me?  Or will it be lost or ????  Sure, things cross my mind, but again, it will be as it will be.  It is only ‘stuff’.  I have so much more precious cargo at home.

My soul musing  ‘in the moment’ reminds me, as my writing last year served, and my friends of the dumping of orange juice in my lap, and the importance of these word altars.  If I take the time to revisit my musing, the altars of past stories and thoughts as I move through the difficulties and joys of life, I can find solace as I see and revisit the hand of God caring for me.   As one of my friends comments on my Facebook page, “these blogs combined with the pictures help us feel like we are there with you”.  The process of thinking, writing and musing work in my heart, and I hope in some ways yours, bringing understanding of this small life of faith.  I sit humbly and graciously in this seat, just another passenger heading home, joining some heading to another adventure.  I find myself heading toward both.  The adventure at home will be the next steps toward return, the dealing with what ails my dad, and the dog that has missed her buddy, the lovely lady who enriches my life with joy, and work.  I have walked the streets of Livno in abundance, preparing me for my walks with Honey, our dog.  I will continue to head toward the adventures that await, today and ?

The plane from Split was delayed as they held it for my luggage and transition to Zagreb.  The delay in boarding of the ill passenger requiring assistance? An additional 20 minutes.  I arrive and miss my plane to Philly.  What is with this trip?  I looked on the flight board to find my gate and it was not there.  My slightly panicked state and the fruitless search delayed my front place in line exiting the shuttle bus as other passengers keep moving on.  We all have to have our carry on reexamined after getting off the plane even though our baggage had already been examined in a foreign land before being allowed into the airport.  Yes.  I got x-rayed, and my bags examined once again.  What is it with this?  I must look very suspicious!  After opening bags, taking pictures with my camera, examining every lens, looking at my pulmoaid and  finally being released, I searched for someone to find compassion on this disconnected traveler and find I did.  Definitely not warm and friendly looking, I found two policia.  One of them was armed with an uzi strapped to his chest, one hand regularly resting on it.  I ask him about information and he and his partner take me to the wrong direction further away from my transition gate.  I discover they are leading me to the Luftanza information desk. 

My heart pounding, maybe from being escorted by two men one with an uzi firmly strapped to his chest or maybe from hearing, in English as we passed some by standing travelers, “ at least we didn’t do anything wrong and need to be escorted by the local police.”, I arrive at the Luftansa ticket desk.  Three attendants are purposefully helping customers.   A lovely statuesque German blonde (I wish I had the nerve to take a picture of her)  whom one could easily tell she was statuesque even while perched on her chair was talking on the phone.  Noticing my stance of lost discomfort and weary traveler inquisitive eyes she recognized my silent call for help.  Rapidly finishing her conversation the precisely cut blonde bobbed agent asks how she can help me.  I pour out my circumstances to Angelika.  Something told me as I noticed her badge that she would be ‘my travel angel’, and indeed, she was.  Rapidly (as rapidly as one can typing with two slender but lengthy fingers) she typed away.  And typed away, and typed away.  Stoic and unchanging demeanor, she typed away.  My heart was trying to maintain expectation, but the longer she typed and then peered at the spreadsheet like papers on her left, I could feel my hopes fading as if thrown out of the airplane at 35,000 feet.  

Then, suddenly her typing accelerated and a smile broke her lips.  With one final jab at the keyboard she seemed quite thrilled with herself (well, as thrilled as this Germanic lady at the customer desk would allow herself) and she told me she found a flight and that I would arrive in San Diego EARLIER than I would have on my scheduled flight.  Earlier?  How can that be?  I will leave later, and arrive at Ohare, and then off to home, sooner.  The only drawback is that I am to pick up my luggage, go through customs, and jump my next plane home with only an hour and a half layover.  I told Angelika that she had become my travel angel and she responded that it is what she always hopes to be.  She quickly corrected my pronunciation of her name from my botched attempt calling her Anhelika rather than Anjelika (j in American, not Bosnian, Croatian or Spanish for that matter).   So, here my weary and slightly sore rear is posited in a chair on a different airline heading to a different location and we’ll see what happens.  

Needless to say, I do not like flying into Ohare.  Flight delays are frequent, both in and out and I have had cancellations etc. (not flight delays) there.  So, while I usually avoid Ohare like the plague, I now find myself soon soaring toward it.  But, I am heading to my homeland today!  Having just finished the peanut butter and jelly sandwich Carrie made for me when I left, and now chewing on some beef jerky from, where else? But Costco?  My heart once again remains optimistic, and it seems my God has not let me down so far away from home.  So more will be added as I press homeward….

Having boarded my plane to the states, the pilot shares with us some new information.  The airspace over France closed, the powers that be, needed to recreate a new flight path so they can load it into the airplane computer…delaying our departure.  Yet another  complication that could raise blood pressure and angst, but yet again?  I am walking in faith.  Now I must admit, that after deboarding in Munich, not seeing my flight gate on the immediate board as I exited and then loosing precious time getting stuck further and further behind the x-ray scanner (yes Munich seems extra careful as we enter even their airport), that did affect my blood pressure.  I’d expected someone to meet me at the gate and usher me to my plane, and even my Lufthansa angel thought that should have been the case, but nope.  So now, after watching 3 Batman movies I have yet to see, I once again turn to my computer.  I find myself yawning like crazy and am not sure if I should sleep, or forge ahead awake. 

Me, sitting at the window, my neighbor one seat away is a cute 6 or 7 year old girl, her first trip in a plane. Positioned next to her in the aisle seat is her father, Rudy, a Serbian traveling from his homeland Serbia.  Most might be bothered by Anna’s antics, bumping me or stretching out her play area onto my tray table, but not this guy.  She is comfortable sitting next to me and I even get a chance to play with her a bit too.  Her dad, probably as old as I was quite pleased that I seem to be making the most of the time Anna and I get to spend next to one another.   

As the flight attendant passes out customs forms, Rudy and I, now standing by the bathrooms stretching our legs giving our posteriors a rest, talk a bit about life and the elections in Serbia.  Rudy speaks good English, speaking of all the promises made by elected officials and the lack of delivery after elected.  Hmmm....sounds familiar.  Having forgotten a pen, after he finishes filling out his customs forms and the visiting traveler's forms he lets me borrow his pen for my customs form (memo for next trip, don't forget your pen...already now in my backpack).  Okay..maybe time for a short nap.

As I arrive, my first stop in the states, even this weary traveler finds greater peace and security finding myself on American ‘soil’.  Once again, in an interminable security line, I find myself forging onward from the international to the national terminal.  Once again, told by security that I’d have plenty of time to make my plane.  Sound familiar?  Only this time, I did.  Not plenty of time, but made the gate, 10 minutes before boarding.  Calling my beloved, I finally rest confident, as confident as any traveler could be, that in four more hours, I’d be home.  So as I go, as I went, as I followed, this trip, while it could have been significantly more challenging, has had the way paved with care, prayer and with the peace that passes all understanding.  Thanks to a loving God and His kindness toward this small traveler, on mission, His mission, His leading, His calling for His servant.  And indeed, full of thanksgiving, I find myself, home.

What I Leave and What I Bring Home

In the Bible, Jesus is recorded as saying,

^{John 15:9} “As the Father has loved me,  so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.  ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Jesus says this after talking about himself being the vine and we his branches…and as I read this again, nearing the end of my trip, I am struck by a few things.  First that He says and points to his authority by linking himself to God and then tells us what to do.  Second, he himself did exactly what he asked of us, laying his life down for all and any who would acknowledge his love and follow him…and third, we who do become his friends as we give our lives to our friends.

Earlier in my blog, I spoke of these here, in the Balkans laying down their lives for their friends here.  It isn’t the throwing yourself in front of the bus while pushing them out of the way.  It is the holding loosely to the comforts and ‘goodness’ of home to invest lives coming alongside others in foreign lands.  When they came, they had no friends here, and now, as they have given up years, part of a year and for a few, most of a decade of American living, they have friends; not just a few friends, but many.

I have given a week, and it is what I have been called to do, and in this second visit, have made more friends here.  These friends are dear, having only spent two weeks of my life with some, one last year, and one now.  I cannot believe how much love and admiration flows from this heart for them and with them in such a short interval.  They are called to a seemingly impossible task, but empowered by great faith in and with a loving God.  He will help them love and be part of the river of change destined for Livno and Bosnia, and I get to be here?  Very humbling.

I have met and shared my love for teaching and some methods I use.  Meeting  students, in their classroom, I presented  a method of teaching not used here via translator.  I had coffee with two school administrators facing great difficulties keeping teachers and drawing them here.  I was even offered a job teaching here if I wish (but I’d have to share my $420 a month salary with my translator…or learn the language).  I have had coffee and befriended my translator, Predrag, his mother having lymph cancer in remission undergoing treatment this week now because of low white cell counts.  I have had opportunity to share some words with Dr. Garner’s son who came with last year; words of encouragement and care.  But mostly I have once again breathed the air that is Livno, walking the streets while passing the people of Livno, a chance to work with some amazing teachers and a few deeply devoted friends.

Just as last year, I leave part of my heart here.  It joins the part I left then.  It seems so small, so insignificant, so trivial a piece, yet is all I have been called to do and leave.  Once again, I also get to bring a part of Livno home with me.  Tomorrow I climb into the van with a few of these friends and head to Split.  I’ll be staying the night there with a few more friends before the long journey, home.  Where I go, I give, or so I hope.  Where I am, I find abundance and peace.   Even in the midst of personal turmoil and struggle, indeed I find peace.  It is unexplainable, it is sweet, it is real.  We get chances to make differences in lives if we get it right.  Amazed, this trip extends my opportunity to make a difference here, or so I hope.  I’m not sure of the scope of the difference, but even this life, these footprints of faith have had the blessing to walk the streets, once again, of Livno.   And once again, I get to bring a part of Livno, home. 

Not Normal...

This the the questionable picture....

The final day of teaching in the classroom, and my final lesson here.  After this morning, I will be done.  As I look back, this chapter in my life has been but a vapor, the time quickly gone; and yet, so much has occurred.  I find myself currently sitting in a power outage as it seems someone is working on the electricity outside the apartment.  I am told that outages are rare and that this is not normal…just like this trip…few things have been normal, with the exception of my teaching time.  

As I recount the events, missing my plane, the first time ever, was not normal.  Taking a picture of my bags in the airport in Munich and having an airport official take a picture of me and head off to an internet station to compare my image to other, possible criminals?  Not normal.  Having him try to be a bit sneaky about it, but not sneaky enough so that I knew I was being watched?  Not normal.  Getting shuttled to my final destination here by my friend Kent in Croatia? Not normal.  Staying with my friend Josh here the full time was not normal, but I did stay one night with him last year at the end of my trip, paving the way for this year’s decreasing my expenses.  Arriving late, not having some time to adjust before jumping into the mustard, was not normal.  Leaving while my dad faces what may be cancer, not normal.  My wife sending me an email about being emotional all week because of my absence and my dad, not normal.  Getting to walk the streets of Livno, often by myself, not normal…and sitting here feeling powerless, not normal.

I have learned that these trips will never be or go as I expect.  While I plan and prepare, I have come to realize that my preparations will be accomplished, but they are not the primary reason for the trip or the task.  This trip, as all others has been no different.  

My time here, my eyes constantly scan the moments and the times to peer deeply into all that surrounds me.  I have found it easier to ignore the stares and interesting looks I get from everyone, everywhere I go.  The kids still overwhelm me, the crowd around me and even afar off laugh, giddy as they see me.  I love kids.  They are so obvious…just like the airport security guy in Munich.

I have been asked by Dr. Garner to return next year.  I am hoping to bring Carrie with me as well, as the team here sees the need to work to improve healthcare here as well, having brought a nurse here from the states, and her husband who is very tech savvy and administrative.  I will be praying that they stay, should the Lord’s desire be to improve healthcare here.  This place may be perfect for Carrie and I to invest as a team. 

Once again, I feel connected and effective here; imperfect and not well polished, but effective;  Partly from the jetlag, partly because I am a bit out of practice in the classroom, but just like riding a bike or skiing, it comes back, requiring more effort and with a little less fluidity, requiring more concentration, but coming back none the less.   

Something tells me that there will be a ‘next year’ here in Livno, and nothing would thrill me more than bringing my bride with.  God has forged a partnership in us.  You who read and pray, but also with the right hand lady of my life.  She is, contributes and empowers much of what I am able to accomplish in life and on trips such as these.  Yet she herself has a great deal of skill and talent that could be effectively used here in Livno.  Healthcare has a long way to go here, even basic healthcare.  The quality of equipment, what little they have here is poor, down to the scissors that would have difficulty cutting paper, no less bandages. 

And so, the power now back on, things ‘return’ to ‘normal’…until the next entry…maybe.

From Seed to Towering Redwood

Maybe its just jetlag, or maybe its just schedule lag, but for whatever reason I can sense my musing messy.  Remembering back to last year, and re-reading my blogs of those days here in Livno, my state of mind confirmed that it wasn’t just in the state of Indiana, Michigan or even Livno, but rather some state between here and home.  So, of one thing I’m sure, the lack of visual verbiage will surely be evident this time around as well.

My goal and hope for every trip I make is to return ‘used up’.  The time is brief and to make the most of it, one need be stretched to one’s limit.  I ask God to allow that, and not let me be consumed in the doing.  Indeed, I need supernatural strength to do what I do here, and every time, it seems, I get it…or maybe it’s just the jetlag fogging up my better judgment.  I guess if that be the case, than to already be invited back next year by Dr. Garner, is due to his state of jetlag too, or the former reason.  And I am hoping it is for the former reason I am being asked to return.

There is something about this place and the expanding team of super talented, driven servants here that inspires this soul’s heart and soul.  I have mused of heroes here in this blog and the champions of education and care here are more of those I speak.  It seems that Bosnia is stuck somewhere between Communism and liberty, at least the liberty we know and appreciate.  Many seem to believe that ‘things were much better under ‘Communist rule’.  We know what lies ahead, if they persist and start to dream. If they choose to invest in the hearts and souls of kids, change for the better will result, because we have seen such change, create America.  But these people have been beaten down and left in the lurch time after time.  The transition to liberty comes when individuals, one by one, turn from hopelessness to hope, and inspire others to join.  Against seemingly insurmountable odds, the best of the best can move mountains and change the tide.  Indeed change is slow and yet, a decade ago there were none here to show them hope around the corner, and a belief that these things are possible.

Such is the growing team that is here.  With odds seeming insurmountable, they cling to a most heavenly charge to be those who choose to make a difference in the lives and living circumstances of the citizens of Livno.  While some teachers have risen beyond the call of duty to forge ahead and pour themselves and potential opportunity into their students here, one has to wonder if the big machine will wear them down.  Empty promises, absconded funds, and a host of burdens weigh them down every day.  To date, these champions have not let these hurdles hinder their hearts, their call to teach and be the best of teaching and teachers.  I had privilege of inspiration from educational leaders, and now I get the opportunity to be as they were to me, to these wonderful teachers here.

I am sent as a champion for kids and the special need population, sacrificing only one week of my life a year, while those who live and remain, do it day in and day out.  I see students light up here, just as they did in my classes at home, with even the high schoolers enjoying this, their first ‘lab’ in their physics class.  And I am also surprised to see many light up on the stoop of the school as well, student smoking allowed here.  My wonderful translator, Predrag, informs me that he was never allowed to smoke in school, yet he, currently a smoker probably started in junior or senior high.

I suppose if I were to stay for long periods of time, my asthma would kick into full gear as smoking is allowed everywhere (except in the classroom).  And I will return, my suitcase filled with cigarette smoke tainted clothing.  It is almost like I am being thrust back to my childhood days where smoking adults were prevalent, remembering my one voyage into the teacher’s lounge in elementary school to deliver an urgent note from the office to a teacher in the lounge.  I was overwhelmingly surprised it was filled with the smell and smoke of cigarettes, and worse yet, to see my teacher, smoking…but I digress…

I am amazed that with 65-70% unemployment, most, even kids have cell phones, many being iPhones.  And here I sit, my phone rendered useless because of the exorbitant charges that would be dumped on me should I connect here to the local carrier.  I believe this proves that whatever is perceived as valuable, or even necessary, people will find the resources to possess.  And that is why I believe I get the opportunity to come.  If I can join this team and continue to infuse hope and educational excellence into the best of the best, and even potentially inspire those who have been long overwhelmed by the economic machine in transition, to find new hope, a new cause for a better land, the time I give will be worth more than I can fathom.  

I love the teachers here in Livno, just as I loved my teachers from elementary school through college.  These teacher here, the best of the best, inspire this heart like the best of the best who were my teachers.  I get the chance to challenge them to rise and raise the next leaders of this nation; leaders who could and probably will bring change and economic success to Bosnia.  Inspired by my inspired teachers and mentors, I come to inspire these here.  It starts as a seed and grows.  It is the great call to be everything we were made to be, standing tall growing through joy and adversity.  Indeed, what started as a seed, can grow into a towering redwood.

The gentleman in the image above is their teacher.  He was observing his students and the activity as I taught.

I changed the layout of the classroom from rows tables to groups of tables. 

I have a short break and lunch on my own after teaching the 7th graders.  One young lady had the courage to come up to me after class and in her best English asked me to return again.  It was a very sincere and sweet gesture.  I wish I had more time to see a classroom in action and the interactions between teachers and students.

There is so much that confronts them as I come and teach.  First, my ethnicity is a shock for they have never seen, in person, the Japanese.  They clamor in the halls and out of classrooms to see me, surely not something many teachers may appreciate.  You would think that their favorite musical artist had arrived at their school.  Second, it is the way I teach, moving tables together in cooperative learning with 'stuff' in the middle of the tables.  Third, it is the activity that supports the learning, today's activity about Newton's laws of motion and collisions, a U.S. quarter, vs. a U.S. dime.  I wish I could hear the interaction between students in my class, and their friends as they talk in the halls afterwards. 

In many ways, these 7th graders are exactly like those I have taught, boys not wanting to sit or work with girls, and girls not wanting to sit with boys.  Girls working diligently and wanting to do the activity, boys wanting to creatively 'extend' the activity after a few attempts trying something not suggested by me, the teacher.

I taught at this school last year, and will do so once again Friday.  I will teach the same physics lesson and a chemistry lesson this afternoon at the high school.  With great joy, I look forward to teaching at the vocational high school this afternoon and 'evening'.  In Livno, they have two school sessions each day, a morning school day and an afternoon school day.  Students attend one or the other, and teachers either teach both sessions, or some work another job before or after they teach.  I was told of one teacher who is an auto mechanic and teacher, others who waitress, doing whatever is most lucrative.

Day one and two images

The first image is from my plane as I arrived in Split.  It is of the Trogir area, with hotel Medena in the center.  I stayed there my first day last year, but not this year.

The second image is of Trogir as we ascended the mountains toward Livno.

The last two images are of a few of the teachers doing the activities I have prepared for them as part of the conference.

Today, I teach at a middle school, and a high school.  The teaching here is mostly lecture and book learning, especially at the college bound schools.  The high school I will teach at is the vocational school.  It will be interesting to see the 'difference' in student response to my lessons.  In some ways, the vocational school has greater student success because problem solving and innovation are esteemed there.  Students work on projects and 'vocational' skills.  It should be an interesting day for me.

While You Were Sleeping...

I was teaching.  I am feeling...nearly normal...if that were ever the case.  The day of teaching went well, and I believe was well received by the teachers at the conference.  We also visited the vocational school and I got to meet with some very innovative teachers whose passion and vision for the kids are not daunted by the handicapping of government and shifting of funds.  These young minds are taught to innovate and problem solve creating impressive accomplishments, instructed by innovative and creative problem solving teachers.

Tomorrow, while you are sleeping,  I will teach one chemistry lesson at the same middle school as last year.  Then, while you are awake...in the morning,  the same chemistry lesson (at 3:30 pm here, 6:30 am there) and a physics lesson at (5:30 pm, 10:30 am there) at the vocational high school.  Indeed, it is only 7:30 pm here and I am fading fast!!!  I need to procure dinner, and head off to bed.  Hopefully sleep will be a bit more solid tonight than last, but just when I get used to this time zone, I will head back to there...should be interesting...NOT!

Thank you for all your support and encouragement.  I am grateful for your prayers as well.  Hope to get some pictures up soon.  I am taking them, just am too tired to get them up yet...

Set for Failure, Thankful for One Outcome

If ever a day of international travel was set up for failure, today would be that day.  Missing my initial aircraft departure yesterday has set into motion the same itinerary as planned, but with entirely different characteristics.  First, my luggage was supposed to return and then follow me as departed San Diego today.  The ticketing agent acted exactly as I was prompted yesterday, taking me downstairs to collect my bags.  Her daughter was traveling today and, sitting in the ticketing area had secured a suitcase dolly, the attendant ‘borrowing’ it from her to assist in our retrieval of my bags.  Things were looking up.

We descended in the elevator exited and crossed the expanse to one of several rooms.  She, while unlocking the door, told me to find my bags.  My heart immediately sank as we entered the small room with 9 bags, none the color or resemblance of mine.  The attendant then collected my baggage ticket numbers and started the electronic ‘search’ for that which appeared ‘lost’, only to see the trail end in Philadelphia.  I would need to go to baggage services there and hopefully connect with my luggage, sending them on to my next destination, Munich.  So, here I sit, in anticipation, or with some hopefulness that in the four hour layover I have there, I will be able to retrieve, send and jump aboard the next leg of this displaced travel to Split, Croatia…only time will tell what the rest of this long day will hold….

As I worked my way to the Baggage Service Desk, Good news.  My bags are here and while I have not set eyes on them, am told they will follow me to Split.  The rest, will become history…  The hard news?  My dad.  While I was relatively confident that I would not have any concerns about my dad after today, it seems my intuition was off a bit. In the brief time I was in Philly, my brother filled me in on the extra length of the procedure to remove the stones in dad's pancreas, instead leading to biopsy of a mass  While I have much reassurance in the progression of my trip, my mind turns and prays, for my dad.  Even now, maybe numb from my first stint of travel, and my dad’s first stint accomplishing the task of fluid flow in his body, I am surprised by the turn of events, still optimistic that things will work out OK. 

Suffice it to say, that I have arrived in Split, and yes, the luggage was here!  I had a brief time to visit with Kent and Cheri, and then off to Livno.  My final trip to Livno was an hour and a half, and after dinner and now finishing this update, this exhausted traveler will return to my home away from home and try not to crash before 8:30 pm, our time.  This will be a feat as I am very exhausted now.  

I teach tomorrow (Tuesday) and we'll see how it goes.  We are nine hours ahead of you at home in East County.  I set up and meet with my interpreter at 10, and teach two back to back sessions, noon to 1:30 and 2-3:30.  This has been a hard day, on many fronts.  But I am here and with some rest, should be able to successfully teach, tomorrow.  Thanks for your support and prayers.

I Missed My Plane, Plain and Simple...

I missed my plane...by three minutes. There are a host of things that can go through one's mind when this happens.  What ifs, why and just plain old embarrassment.  Especially because of the major inconvenience it imposes upon those there, all of them.  But, it is what it is.

Traffic was horrendous when we arrived at the airport.  Security was in a heightened state, or so I was told by the counter people at the gate.  While checking through security, I was stopped and my carry on bags completely unpacked, coffee, digital thermometers et. al.  I was asked why I was taking these to Croatia and generally interrogated but eventually 'released'...thanking me for my patience.  Rushing to my gate, I arrived to an empty waiting area, with a nice, courteous attendant stopping me in my tracks, telling me I missed my plane.  I didn't yell, or fuss much.  Her guard instantly fell, and she seemed quite astonished, her demeanor changing from one of confrontation ready, to instant sorrow.  Maybe she just saw my heart sink.  Maybe she'd never encountered such a 'timid' and unconfrontational response.

The ticket guy at the desk seemed quite surprised as well, and seemed to work diligently to find me another flight...of which I knew there would be none.  He offered me a flight to Philly and told me I'd have to stay overnight and continue on tomorrow, or just leave tomorrow.  Duh...easy answer.

So, with tail between my legs, stunned that all this had occurred, I called Carrie and she lovingly responded that she'd be there as soon as she could.  Returning home, I have been able to fix Carrie's car from an issue discovered as we drove up to see my dad admitted to the hospital yesterday.  I'll not bore you with the details, but there are hosts of things that have tried to goad my patience today, from traffic lights to having to travel to two different dealerships to purchase one $2.86 screw.

As for my dad, jaundice and liver issues have been diagnosed as a gallstone blocking his bile duct, with other stones near by.  He will hopefully have a procedure today to remove them.  I will be able to go back up to be with family and meet my brother and his daughter there at the hospital today, and spend some time, as family, together.   Today, feeling a bit 'numb', I am just going to forge my way, in quiet trust, through my day.  My luggage will return tonight, and I will pick it up tomorrow at 4 am before I leave and recheck it.  I sure hope it all works out.

There are reasons these things happen...probably most of which I will not know.  Of one thing I am sure; these footprints of faith are just that, footprints of someone trying to be faithful, trying his best to do as I am led.  I will make mistakes.  Things will happen even if I don't do anything wrong.  But of one thing I am sure, complaining, belching out profanities and rage will do absolutely nothing to change my situation or what will unfold.  Maybe the grace I can extend to those employees at the gate, and the humility I shared as one disappointed, not in them, but in me, might be severely refreshing.  Maybe for the first time they saw a traveler realizing they had nothing to do with my tardiness and that might be key someday to unlocking some grace in their hearts as these kind workers, deal with stressed out travelers rarely see such a response.

For whatever reason, I missed my plane.  I will get to spend some more time here, with my son, and grandson, taking them and Carrie up to the hospital to be with my dad and mom.  I will get to spend some time with my brother, coming down from Fresno and his daughter coming down from L.A. to be with my folks in this time of his health battle.   And a host of arrangements and inconvenience will be placed on the plate of my friends in Croatia and Bosnia.  But they too are so full of grace, the sweetness of their understanding and love fully felt by this guy, in this situation, this day.  God's people being and living as His?  I am blessed to know such sweet servants and hope that I continue being one with such humility and grace.

I missed my plane, and it is plain and simple that today, as every day will be just as it was planned, but not what I have planned.  And I will walk through today seeking that which was ordained by my God.

Life, Together

Once again I find myself sitting on yet another precipice of life, secure and filled with anticipation.  It is a rush from which I hope to never tire.  I go to join great friends with great hearts doing great things, and am humbled that I seem called to share, joining them from here.  Every year, for the past three, my wish to have my favorite travel companion join me, has been denied, but forged through it is a deepening appreciation of the times we do get to travel through most of life, together. 

As I ponder, muse, wrestle and diligently pursue the notion of life, together, I have come to profound conclusion that nothing else speaks joy into this heart, than walking a while with friends, and, I have many.  In a little over a day from now, I will find myself breathing cold Balkan air with warm Balkan friends, friends whom I love and esteem greatly.  Joining me, once again, will be Dr. Brad Garner, professor of teaching and learning at Indiana Wesleyan University and his son, Ethan.  Together, Dr. Garner and I will co-present, he as the consummate teacher of teachers, and I as one who demonstrates incremental lessons developed for understanding, using science as the leveling ground.

But again, it is this 'life together' aspect that forges the solidity of this event.  Our hearts meeting with theirs; these teachers tasting educational excellence, and just like many teachers here, desiring to invest with deep impact, in their life together with their students.  I think, if anything, this one aspect, sharing chunks of my student's lives is the one thing I miss, more than anything else of being in the classroom.  For those of you who know me, caring, deeply caring for mys students is and was my foremost trait as a teacher.

I was inspired by the best of the best; Miss Falconer, my first grade teacher, Mrs. Darnelle, my fourth, Mr. Burris, my 6th, Coach Sheldon Spicer, P.E., Jr. High Pre-Algebra and Geography teacher, Mrs. Porter, my High School Language Arts teacher, and my son's 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Grice who inspired me to take the steps to forge ahead to become a teacher.  Yep, life together with phenomenally gifted teachers gave me the courage and faith to learn, rise to the challenges of life, learning and living.  They lovingly helped me find success and joy as I hold not to the lessons taught, but the living and caring taught and caught from these most memorable teachers.

So, for a scant week, I get to leave life here, with my wonderful bride of nearly thirty years, to get beaten up by an 18 hour trip across the U.S. and Atlantic, to step into life there, without her, in Split Croatia, on to Livno, Bosnia.  The plan? To do as my inspirational teachers have done with me.  Yes, the plan is to invest sincere and real care into the lives of those I share a piece of my life with.  As they open the doors of their hearts to mine, it is my hope that they will become inspired as I, by those teachers who gave me their greatest gift of life, together.  The rest of the plan?  To be a gentle, warm breeze of encouragement to my American friends who sacrifice much to invest into a people they are called to love, living life, together in Bosnia.