Hello my dear friends.
Well I’m now in San Jose for a day of rest and reflection before flying home tomorrow oh and hot showers and air conditioning too!
Earlier today I was walking down a street in San Jose , looking to buy a razor to shave my legs, as a flood of memories came rushing into my awareness . Memories of the last two weeks here in Costa Rica... I felt a sadness for leaving and wondering about my friends old and new. I felt a sense of desperation thinking of the people and all the little village dogs I left behind .
God is teaching me a very special lesson:
I want to tell you about Max;
Max I met for the first time on this trip, he was weary and untrusting when He first saw me. He had other friends but they never hung out together , it seems to me they were competing for acknowledgement and attention. After a couple of days as I walked by them i smiled and spoke softly a few kind words, they seemed to be less scared of me. When my team left on Saturday of the first week, I stood alone in the little house ...
Max decide on his own to guard the house every day.
I soon started making breakfast for me, max and his friends, and every time I did this they fought amongst themselves for attention and more food.
A couple of days later I was packing to go visit a church in a remote part of the mountain. When I left Max, he intended to follow me... I had to explain to him, he could not come , and that I would be back soon.
After my return I was very surprised and happy to see how we all got back on our routine of eating together, but this time max and his friends were not fighting...
The time came when I had to say goodbye and as I was walking to the truck that was taking me to the river ... Max ran after me and set himself in front of the car and refused to move . I had to call a friend to take him.
Max is a little dog, sick, fragile old and hungry, “He loved me because I loved him first”.
1 John 4:19
19 We love because he first loved us.
This event, I felt, did not only happen with Max.
I felt the same way with the older, lonely, fragile ladies from the remote church and the kids that came to visit and play in the little house and the friends that prepared my meals and ate with me every day and the ones that accompanied me every night so I would not sleep alone.
John 6:35, NIV: "Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
I’m getting text messages and voice mails from my friends today saying that they miss me and I miss them too 😢 and Max.
God’s teaching through this experience; it’s not so much that we miss each other’s company or the time we spent together or the food we eat. What we (I) miss is the love we shared with and for each other...
Karina