Little Things of Beauty

It's been mostly quiet, though I've managed to fill each day to the brim. Some things never change. :)

Last weekend, the church I've been going to had a workshop. It concluded Sunday night, with some wonderful speaking by an American named Parker Henderson, who an old man, short and with white hair and classes and complete by being slightly hard of hearing. He and his wife Donna had been missionaries in Thailand, and then spent 30 years in Trinidad. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I certainly didn't expect him to preach quite so powerfully and with the energy he did. And then Dominic spoke. He has a beautiful faith and passion that comes through whenever he speaks, and that night was no exception. The theme was "A Light to the Nations," and the lights went out during Dominic's talk. It ended up raising the energy level though, and made the message come through clearer. The highlight of the workshop was the church (which was as full as I've seen it) was singing a beautiful song called "There is God." Can you imagine 250+ people singing a capella in four-part harmony with all their heart there is a God/He is alive/in Him we live/and we survive/from dust our God/created man/He is our God/the great I Am as an echo. It was incredible.

Sunday was also All Saints Day. Halloween here is just starting to become Westernized, but people light candles and celebrate the dead. To get to church, we drive by a cemetery (which is actually right on a hill overlooking the ocean...a place I'd like to be buried). It was late evening, already dark. Cars were lined up on the side of the road, and as we turned the corner, graves were clustered with flowers and people and alight with candles, giving it an orange-y glow in the twilight silence. It literally took my breath away for a moment.

On Monday, as I walked to work, it started to rain. In Trinidad, we'll occasionally get days or mornings where it pours heavier or lighter for all of it, but rain typically comes and goes over regions with the clouds. We'll get one dark set of clouds--and you can usually see them coming from the sea or the hills--and it will pour for ten minutes or so, but around you, there is blue sky and sunshine. Monday was like that, one cloud raining. I had my brilliantly blue and green polka-dotted umbrella up, and I was watching the sun, and I made the comment aloud: Why don't we have more rainbows here? I turned around, and there one was, a perfect arc. It stretched from the corner of the land, over the sea and faded away just above the refineries. I stopped; Oh God, that's beautiful! The colors seemed to become more brilliant as I stood there, seems to multiply and magnify. I was reminded of the double rainbow I had seen while leaving the lab last summer, where the second one was as vibrant as most single rainbows. As this thought passed, I noticed a second, fainter rainbow above it. This one too, seemed only to glow brighter with time. I just stood there staring at it, beaming, for a few minutes. What more can you say but thank you?

Blessings to you all, and much love! Thanks for listening :)