I am in Kerala, perched atop the world, listening to birdsong and children play, as I write this post from the balcony of my wonderful hotel.
On Wednesday, we began an adventure to Kerala. I had never been to South India, so my friends Bajirao and Sheela decided to take me; that it was a part of India I needed to see. So, in the middle of my work-vacation, we are on an escape-vacation. There is something freeing about having someone else plan your trip - I have no control over the plans, but I trust my friends (our friendship is now 18 years old!) to steer me right.
We started by driving to Nagpur and staying overnight to be ready for our morning flights. We then flew all day on Thursday - from Nagpur to Bangalore then on to Cochin.
Saying Goodbye to out hosts at the Agape Guest House, until we return.
We were picked up by a driver and friend of the Gawais at the airport and taken to the Agape Center to stay overnight in the guest house and then on Friday, we made the trip to Munnar, where we are staying. On the way to Munnar, we stopped at a waterfall (where the monkeys were terrorizing the visitors) and found a shop that sold me spices, coffee and chocolates!
We left on Wednesday and it took almost 3 days to get here, We’ll stay for 2 days and then begin the journey home. All this journeying to a place we’ll stay for 2 days had me thinking: Maybe life IS all about the journey and not about the destination. Wouldn’t it be great to pick a destination I could get to on the first day of travel?!? Imagine flying somewhere and then just BEING there?!?
When you are a pastor on a limited vacation schedule ( 4 weeks a year minimum -but I have been blessed with churches that use that as a guideline, willing to extend it as needed), 3 weeks in India seems like a long time. But most of the days are spent trying to get to places I want to be. I just counted…. 12 days of my 3-week vacation are spent traveling!
Thankfully, I love the journeying part: I love the time spent observing people in their own culture, thinking about how diversity is a gift, about how fortunate I am to be in a position to be able to do what I do, taking in the sights and sounds and smells of a new environment… Having extended time to sleep, think, reflect and store up all the beauty in my memory bank so that it will sustain me for another year, until I return to fill up my senses once again.