Did I ever tell you about the time a bird pooped directly in my eye? While I was driving? No? Well, let me tell you. It's a good story.
It happened about a month ago. A friend of mine had just moved into a new house, and some friends and I were going over to have a housewarming party of sorts. In Indonesia, though, when you're the one being honored, you treat your friends. So my friend with the new house invited us all over for a huge dinner.
(Fun fact - a housewarming party on Java is called slup-slupan. I just like to say that word. Slup-slupan. Slup-slupan. Try it.)
I didn't know yet where my friend's new house was, so several of us met up at a landmark in town, then drove over together. One friend had already been to the new house, so he led the way. For a large part of our journey there, we had to take a road that is heavily traveled but full of man eating potholes. You can't go very fast because of all the holes, and you also have to make sure not to get creamed by a dump truck as you swerve all over the road, avoiding all of the aforementioned holes.
Now, I wear a helmet pretty much everywhere I go. And every decent helmet has a visor that you can put down to protect your face. But my visor, for some reason, is in a constant state of dirty, and it's hard to see through. Also, when I put it down, my face gets all stuffy and claustrophobic. So I never drive with my visor down. Even when it's raining cats and dogs, which it wasn't on this particular day. It was a very sunshine-y, cheerful looking day.
As we were driving down this treacherous road, I was doing my best to avoid falling into a hole and/or getting run over by a truck while also trying to not let any traffic come in between me and the friend in front of me while ALSO keeping an eye on the friends behind me to make sure THEY didn't get separated from the group. So clearly, I was concentrating very deeply.
When ALL OF A SUDDEN, in my peripheral vision, I saw something dark FLYING at my face. Since I drive with my visor up, it is not uncommon for me to sometimes hit a bug with my face, which you can probably imagine stings quite a bit. So I ducked. But I was just a millisecond too late, and the flying object hit me square in my OPEN left eye (why did I not close my eye?!?). Then proceeded to run down my cheek and drip off my chin.
IT WAS BIRD POOP. IN MY EYE.
So now, on top of swerving around giant potholes, trying to not get hit by a truck, keeping up with the person in front of me, and not losing the people behind me, I had the ADDED challenge of...
1. Not letting bird poop drip all over my clothes. Or in my mouth.
2. Simply SEEING through my now-teary eyes.
3. Driving a motorbike with only one hand while the other tried to wipe all the bird poop out of my left eye.
4. And generally not dying.
Thankfully, when this happened, we were only about five minutes away from our friend's new house. Unfortunately, when we got there and all got parked, this conversation happened:
Friend 1: What happened to you?
Me: Where is the sink??
Friend 2: Why are you crying?
Me: Where is the sink?!
Friend 3: Why do you have black stuff all over your face?
Me: WHERE IS THE SINK?!
Friend 4: Are you OK?
Me: NO! WHERE IS THE SINK?!?!?!?!?
Someone was in the bathroom, so I ended up rinsing my eye several times in the kitchen sink, which I eventually found on my own. My friends are clearly no help and not to be relied on in an emergency.
Part way through dinner, my eye finally stopped burning and watering, and I was fine for the rest of the night. The next two mornings though, I had to use cotton swabs to wipe black stuff out from all the corners and crevices of my eyeball. It just kept coming.
Basically, I am now traumatized, and I duck like a crazy person every time I see anything flying through the air while I am driving. But I still don't close my visor.
Epilogue:
The day after that happened, a bat flew into the side of my helmet. I feel extremely grateful that it wasn't my face.
28 October 2014
22 October 2014
Overwhelmed
The title of this post describes pretty perfectly how I've felt lately. And it explains why I haven't written for awhile. When I feel overwhelmed, I don't really like to talk about it or to process it. I'd really just rather hide in a dark corner until it goes away. So sometimes I do that. Metaphorically. So if you ever notice that I haven't written something for awhile, maybe just say a prayer for me? Because I probably need it.
This week especially has been a week of high highs and low lows. The Bible says to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep. That generally comes pretty easily to me, especially that second part. I mean, the surest way to get me to cry is to show me someone crying. Or even just a picture of a sad looking animal will suffice.
Anyways, it has been one of those weeks - a week of joys and a week of tears. A dear co-worker's father was killed last night when he was trapped in his burning home. Some co-workers who lost their baby daughter shortly before moving here announced today that they are pregnant. A student is in Singapore seeking answers to his declining health - for what doctors there now describe as the worst case of mono they've ever seen. A friend came safely home from a two week ministry trip to Pakistan, bringing lots of gifts and pictures and stories to tell. The mother of a student shattered her elbow and has spent the week seeing specialists in a city far from here with no indication of when she'll be able to return home to her children. A local friend sent me a heartfelt e-mail expressing how thankful he is for me and the work that I do here. A lady in our community suffered a stroke yesterday. A missionary family well known and loved by people here lost their 20 year old daughter to cancer. A student brought me a gift this morning, just to thank me for being his teacher. A mission pilot in a neighboring country had his leg cut off in an emergency amputation after an accident. Our school passed a government inspection on Monday, and they are even pleased with our work here. Someone who has been a huge help and blessing to me is quickly but bravely dying of cancer.
Someone described this week as "life according to Job", because it has seemed like bad news on top of bad news. I have a notebook that I write down Bible verses in. Verses that are meaningful to me in some way or another. I knew I had a few verses from Job written down, so I decided to look them up. I don't remember what I was thinking as I wrote down most of these verses, or why they were so meaningful to me at the time. Maybe God just highlighted them for me so that I would be able to go back and read them when I needed them - like today. This is a comprehensive list of all the verses from Job written in my notebook.
God hurts, but He also bandages up; He injures, but His hands also heal. - Job 5:18
God is gently calling you from the jaws of trouble to an open place of freedom. - Job 36:16a
Death is naked before God; destruction is uncovered before Him. God stretches the northern sky out over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing. He wraps up the waters in His thick clouds, but the clouds do not break under their weight. And these are only a small part of God's works. We only hear a small whisper of Him. - Job 26:6-8, 14a
Like, really. If you haven't read Job for awhile, do it. I think it's one of the most underrated books of the Old Testament. Because THAT is good stuff, right there.
I don't know if this whirlwind is going to let up anytime soon, so in the meantime I will continue to rejoice with those who rejoice, and maybe even more often to weep with those who weep. But no matter what, at the end of the day, I know that my God has overcome the world.
This week especially has been a week of high highs and low lows. The Bible says to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep. That generally comes pretty easily to me, especially that second part. I mean, the surest way to get me to cry is to show me someone crying. Or even just a picture of a sad looking animal will suffice.
Anyways, it has been one of those weeks - a week of joys and a week of tears. A dear co-worker's father was killed last night when he was trapped in his burning home. Some co-workers who lost their baby daughter shortly before moving here announced today that they are pregnant. A student is in Singapore seeking answers to his declining health - for what doctors there now describe as the worst case of mono they've ever seen. A friend came safely home from a two week ministry trip to Pakistan, bringing lots of gifts and pictures and stories to tell. The mother of a student shattered her elbow and has spent the week seeing specialists in a city far from here with no indication of when she'll be able to return home to her children. A local friend sent me a heartfelt e-mail expressing how thankful he is for me and the work that I do here. A lady in our community suffered a stroke yesterday. A missionary family well known and loved by people here lost their 20 year old daughter to cancer. A student brought me a gift this morning, just to thank me for being his teacher. A mission pilot in a neighboring country had his leg cut off in an emergency amputation after an accident. Our school passed a government inspection on Monday, and they are even pleased with our work here. Someone who has been a huge help and blessing to me is quickly but bravely dying of cancer.
Someone described this week as "life according to Job", because it has seemed like bad news on top of bad news. I have a notebook that I write down Bible verses in. Verses that are meaningful to me in some way or another. I knew I had a few verses from Job written down, so I decided to look them up. I don't remember what I was thinking as I wrote down most of these verses, or why they were so meaningful to me at the time. Maybe God just highlighted them for me so that I would be able to go back and read them when I needed them - like today. This is a comprehensive list of all the verses from Job written in my notebook.
God hurts, but He also bandages up; He injures, but His hands also heal. - Job 5:18
God is gently calling you from the jaws of trouble to an open place of freedom. - Job 36:16a
Death is naked before God; destruction is uncovered before Him. God stretches the northern sky out over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing. He wraps up the waters in His thick clouds, but the clouds do not break under their weight. And these are only a small part of God's works. We only hear a small whisper of Him. - Job 26:6-8, 14a
Like, really. If you haven't read Job for awhile, do it. I think it's one of the most underrated books of the Old Testament. Because THAT is good stuff, right there.
I don't know if this whirlwind is going to let up anytime soon, so in the meantime I will continue to rejoice with those who rejoice, and maybe even more often to weep with those who weep. But no matter what, at the end of the day, I know that my God has overcome the world.
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