Doors: Open and closed

One morning this week, I woke up thinking briefly about doors. This scripture came to mind.Rev 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Instead of reflecting further I went about my day.

I later thought about the folder of photos I had labeled entrances.  One of my patients asked their parent to move so they could see the television better. I snidely remarked " Your mother makes make a better door than window."  At the hospital, some of the rooms have see through door that curtains can be pulled for privacy. Most rooms have solid doors. If the child or infant is in the room alone, the door is generally kept open. This is so anyone, mostly nurses, walking by can see and hear the child. If a parent is in the room the door is often kept closed. Usually I call the nurse prior to coming to work with a patient. The patient, therefore, has a heads up that I am coming. Out of curtisy, I knock on the door prior to opening it. This knock, however, is more announcing my entrance than asking permission to come into the room. Every place I have lived, I have an open door policy.  This means that if my door is open, anyone is welcome to come to enter. I usually only close my door if I am sleeping.  

Doors provide separation from others and another area, privacy, protection. When locked they keep people and animals out. With the exception of storm doors and fancy windows in front doors, they are not see through. One has to either have the correct key to open it or knock to ask someone on the other side to open it.

In the context of advent, preparing and expecting Jesus' coming, the verse in Revelation makes sense.  Like me, he has announced his coming prior to his arrival. We should be listening for his knock declaring He is presence. Jesus is respectful. He knocks. He is asking to come in. He is not breaking down the door and barging into our lives.We have to open the door allowing Him to enter. Because He entered our world and died for us, the separation is gone. Not only will He enter, but He will share a meal.  He gives us dignity by sharing a meal with us. Sharing a meal with someone tells them they are worth taking time out of the business to listen, laugh, share. 

I have heard the analogy several times of hiding our sin behind doors in our hearts/souls. We somehow think we are keeping it from Jesus. Although He remains, respectful, He sees it.  On this journey called life, I feel like sometimes my doors become widows with iron work on the outside before opening it fully.  I think sometimes I try to make my closed doors attractive. Perhaps, He won't knock to disturb that area. Once the courage is enough to open the door, He gently helps me clean up the mess, clear the table, shares a meal with me. It is difficult to open the door and go through the sin and shame, but the grace, love, and peace of it all being known is worth it. 

Open doors are welcoming but it is also vulnerable. Do you hear Jesus knocking? Are you opening the door or all the doors to your heart?

Belize Part 2

After three nights in the jungle, we piled into a van to head to Belize City to catch the water taxi to Caye Ambergis. Caye is pronounce Key. The water taxi is a speed boat that makes the trip in 1.5 hours. I confirmed that I enjoy speed boats most when skiing behind them rather than bumping around on them.

Once we arrived on island, we discovered the transportation was mostly golf carts. They were abundant! The other option of vehicles was mini van taxi. I bet you can guess how we chose to get around...walking. We did have to watch out to avoid being run over by the golf carts. We were blessed with a sunny day the first day at the beach. After checking in, we quickly went to the grocery store for some food. Due to it being an island, nothing was cheap. We worked in a brief snorkel at the end of the dock.

Our first evening, we enjoyed a sail. It was supposed to be sunset sail. The sunset was overshadowed by rain clouds. The star gazing while sailing gently over the waves, however, was worth the trip.  The evening finished with dinner by the sea.

We had breakfasts each day by the sea as well. We spent the day times snorkeling, relaxing by the pool, reading, in hammocks, walking around town. Each day we ate a different place for dinner or lunch. The snorkel trips were about 2.5 hours including travel time.

The first and in my opinion best snorkel spot was Hol Chan. We saw trumpet fish, snapper, grouper, angel fish, different types of parrot fish, blue tang, many different rays, Christmas tree worms, coral, green turtle, nurse sharks, and others. Our guide would point out the different fish and then come up to the surface to share the name. We also went to Shark Ray Alley. This location is where many nurse sharks and rays hang out. The boat drivers feed them so they come very close to the people in the water. I will admit, I was uncomfortable. I know they were nurse sharks, but sharks are sharks in my book. On the way back, we saw a loggerhead turtle.

The next morning it was rainy and windy. There was not a snorkel trip going out until the afternoon. In the afternoon, despite the rain coming, we went to Mexico Rocks. It is mostly coral. I did see an eel and a green turtle. The guide was not nearly as helpful or friendly. The water was quite choppy due to the wind and coming rain. Kalinda was brave and went out the next day to Hol Chan again. She enjoyed seeing the variety of fish. I read and napped while the rain came down most of the afternoon.

One day we went to town and found the craft market. It was small, but had beads, headbands, wooden bowls and dolls. Not far from the market, we found an ice cream shop. It had rich, creamy, homemade coconut icecream. It was delicious.

Kalinda and I also explored a local place for dinner that had King Conch Shell for the spout on the bathroom sink. The water handles were also shells. My favorite food was genuine papusas. I have been looking for these and wanting authentic ones since I left Guatemala. Yes, they are originally from El Salvador, but I first had them in Guatemala.

All in all, it was a great time of relaxation, seeing new things, and good food. I, however, would not recommend Ambergis Caye (at least in rainy season) unless you scuba. There are many more scuba divers and sites to go to than snorkelers.

Jungle of Belize

My friend Kalinda is teaching me the ropes of traveling while holding down a "permanent" job. Although the travels tend to be shorter and geographically closer, they are not less adventurous. We recently traveled to Belize for 8 days. Since we both have been working and learning, we decided to make it easier on ourselves. We arranged transportation to and from airport and around the country prior to arriving.

Exiting the plane, we were welcomed by the warm humid air Latin American colorful airport. Seeing the homes, shops, and people, while driving through the outskirts of Belize City made me feel at peace. Immediately you are aware everything is different than the routine of life in the city and hospital in North Carolina. After riding for about 1.5 hours through the open countryside, the trees became taller, closer together, and more variety. We turned off the main road to arrive a wooden building in the dense jungle.

After the grand tour and explanation of the schedule, we promptly gather our cameras to enjoy the botanical gardens. Many of the plants were labeled with the name, medicinal uses, food/oil uses. We also found out that during rainy season, mosquitoes have a very healthy population in the jungle. After a swim and swing in the hammock, I enjoyed an outdoor shower in the jungle. While there was plenty of privacy, it took some adjusting trusting it was private.

Private outdoor shower

View from the pool

We arrived to dinner in the main area. Dinner was served buffet style but seating was family style. This set up was great for fostering community. During dinner, we picked our activity/adventure for following day. Here is a sample dinner: homemade chips and different dip every night. Second course: pasta dish, two homemade hard cheeses, two choices of homemade bread, fruit, salad fixings, two salads or veggies. Main course: Beef, chicken, and local (Belize) fish, same cheeses and fruit, potatoes someway, two different veggie dishes, rice and beans made with coconut milk. Dessert: three different options each night. One always had "Hershey's Chocolate Syrup" on top.  The grouper and snapper was delicious. My favorite desserts were homemade coconut ice cream, lemon something, lime pie with solid chocolate "crust"/no gluten. We also enjoyed several drinks with local rums and fresh fruit juices.

During the night or early morning, torrential downpours awoke us. Sometimes I could go back to sleep; sometimes not. Breakfast was not served until 8AM. Breakfast did not disappoint. The options were: omlet bar, fresh local fruit, yogurt, granola, boxed cereal, scrambled eggs with cheese, sauteed veggies, a bread (pancakes, fry jacks, french toast, etc), potatoes somehow, cookies, meat (bacon, sausage, etc). One could have orange juice if you squeezed it.

After breakfast we, met for our adventure of the day. The first day began with 11 of us and 3 guides piling into a open trailer behind a diesel truck that would not pass emission tests. We wound our way through a large orange grove, in and out of the river and through mud. This way our shoes were already wet before the rest of our bodies entered the river. We all tumbled out of the trailer to receive a helmet with headlamp, life jacket, and an inter-tube. After a brief walk through the jungle we entered the first of 5 caves. Plopped down in the tube and began paddling with our arms and hands. The river was slow except for a couple rapids in the second cave. The third and fourth caves were shorter, so we did them without our headlamps. This is a way to appreciate the darkness in the caves.

We took a lunch break on a rock outcropping in the jungle between caves. The lunch was complete with a white table cloth, homemade tortillas, fresh cut veggies, hard cheese, salami, and hard boiled eggs.  After finishing the caves, we floated down the river to commercial area with tubes for rent and bathrooms. We rode in a van 45 minute back to Cave's Branch.

The second day, we chose the waterfall adventure.  We began this one piling into a school bus. After off roading in a similar fashion as the day before, we arrived at a small opening in the jungle. We all were given small day packs and 2 liters of water to carry. We walked about 20 minutes in the jungle performing the mosquito dance and enjoying the variety of trees and plants. When we came to the opening of the cave system, we donned our helmets and headlamps. Following the lead guide, we entered. Soon our feet and legs up to our knees were drenched by walking through the river. The stalagmites and stalactites were extensive. We saw a few columns, formations that looked like dams, pumpkins, scorpion-spiders, and bats.

2 hours walk into the cave we all donned our harnesses. Half an hour walk further into the cave we encountered the first waterfall. The second one was about 25-30 feet and required the harness and belay system. The others ranged from 5-10 feet. Upon completing the climbs we back tracked. This meant jumping down many of them. Although I did them all, I did not want to be first. Kalinda was brave a jump the tallest one first. At each waterfall, the lead guide would tell each individual one by one exactly where to jump into the pool below. Each participant would confirm prior to the jump. After completing all the waterfalls, we had the same lunch as the day before including the white table cloth. This time, however, we were inside the cave with our feet in the river. We returned the same way we entered.

Things do not dry during rainy season in the jungle :)

This about sums up our time in the jungle with Cave's Branch.

Life Lesson from Brake Pads

If you have been reading my blog at all, you know I get "random" thoughts while doing every day tasks. Well, this week I had to get new brake pads for my bicycle. As I had been commuting to work the previous few days, I had to squeeze harder and harder on the brakes. I decided to take it to the bike shop on Wednesday to see if the brakes could be tightened.

The bike mechanic asked how old the bike was. When I replied, "4 months," he responded it already has lots of miles on it. I reported that it was my main transportation. He proceeded to tell me that I needed new brake pads. He asked if I wiped my wheels down. He continued to share that dirt accumulates and acts like sandpaper contributing to faster wear of the brake pads. He also informed me the brake pads that come with the bike are soft on the scale. He put on firmer/thicker pads which should last longer.

Upon finishing up at the bike shop, I rushed to a happy hour with friends and promptly forgot to wipe down my tires. Today, a rainy Saturday, I took the time to do so. While I was, the following thoughts came to mind. From a bird's eye view, the roads and bike paths do not appear particularly dirty. The wheels, however, pick up dirt simply by turning over and over in the environment. Rain does not wash the dirt off. It takes a purposeful wiping to remove it.

We are like this. We try to live in the world but not of the world. Simply by performing our daily activities of grocery shopping, driving, working, interacting with friends and families, we accumulate dirt. We see the hurt, the sad situations, the difficult interactions among people, become frustrated with ourselves. We sin. Like the rims, we may not appear "dirty" on the outside.

The sin in our individual lives and corporate lives, however, is like sand paper to our minds and spirits. It wears us down. With time, it breaks us down so we cannot function no matter how hard we try to push through life.

The good news is that Jesus knows this and has come to live among the sinners and tax collectors. Because he lived in the sinful world and did not sin, his death and resurrection give us the ability to clean our rims/lives from sin.

Like the wheel rims, we have to be wiped and washed by the blood of Jesus. It is only by addressing the sin by confessing it and repenting that we receive new brake pads/ new life from Jesus. If we are not vigilant in "cleaning" the dirt/sin off we will wear down quickly. Well, I guess that sums up my random thoughts for today.