Meditation

Today was fairly uneventful.  I called a friend to wish her happy birthday.  I worked through a number of tasks.  The only thing I actually did with the Africans was to work with the Bangui accountant on reviewing his entries for the salary and then help him work through a daily reconciliation issue.  If I haven’t said it before, the main thing I am trying to accomplish in my visit is to teach the African accountants how to reconcile and to create a consistent way of filing information.  Before my visit, everything was filed so hap hazard like that it was difficult to find or prove things.  Well…honestly, you could find things but it took forever and you weren’t always guaranteed to find it.  I hope this new system actually works.  Only time will tell.

 

Today was actually very cool at a low of about 77 degrees and overcast.  The funny part is that it was very humid and I had a consistent dampness to my skin.  So, if I was outside when a ‘cool’ breeze came through I actually felt rather cold.  I knew in my head there was no way it was actually cold but I felt it.   I wanted to go to the pool but that overcast sky actually brought rain from about 1 to 4:30...the exact time frame for swimming.

 

This evening I had to eat by myself but I forgot to have the guys get me stuff.  I had to ask the Jewells to send a sentinel to get me a loaf of bread (baguette).  Then I couldn’t find the milk powder to cook up my pasta side dish.  So, I just ate peanut butter and bread.  When all else fails, PB and bread always works.  It is sort of odd eating by candlelight all by yourself.  The city normally turns the electricity off each night for about 2 -3 hours.  So, I had a romantic evening with myself.

 

Later I decided to just sit again and try to focus on God…not to ask questions but rather just to be in his presence.  As I closed my eyes, I felt like I was on a merry go round.  My thoughts were flying around and around in my head…slowly spinning to a slower and slower crawl as I tried to just reflect on God.  Never completely stopping.  I tried not to get mad at myself as thoughts about things I needed to get done, people I missed, or the fact that the electricity was now out for almost 5 hours kept coming back to the front of my thoughts.  Yet, I slowly felt that God was just present…even in the midst of my merry go round thoughts.  It isn’t that I necessarily heard him say anything rather it was like peace just slowly inched its way into me.