The Running Dahlia

Do I have my jacket? ...Check... Do I have my wallet? ...Check... Do I have the keys?... Check… My helmet? ...Check… Mask and gloves?  ...Check… Hand Sanitizer? ...Check… Half a world away from where I grew up, I’m now 30 and this is what goes through my mind every time we’re about to leave. I’m closing the gate of the house, walking to get on the back of Ashraye’s motorcycle, double checking that I’m prepared, and praying for safety as we’re out and about.. It’s not quite the routine I foresaw when I moved here seven months ago. Yes, I knew about riding a motorcycle, but that’s about it. The jacket is to prevent sunburn in the 100 degree weather, (a more cultural solution than sunscreen, and recently a relief from random rain downfall as we enter the monsoon season). Masks and gloves were completely off my radar, as those only applied to me for snow gear. Hand sanitizer?? Yeah ok, that was usually stuffed in a bag somewhere.   Yes, it’s been seven months of adjustment for me,...

With anticipation of a lockdown lifting, we can almost taste the fresh air again. Dreams of roaming the streets and seeing life bustling again soon fade away with the news of an extended lockdown. This dream will have to wait for at least two more weeks. They’re calling it Lockdown 3.0. Although it’s creative to say 3.0, it still doesn’t change the fact that it means the dream of things returning to normal needs to be put on the sideline once again. It’s like we’ve been given a present, ready and bursting with excitement to open it, only to find out we have to wait two more weeks until we can see what is inside. Resilience is what comes to my mind in this situation. Things won’t ever go back to “normal”. There will only be a new normal for us to walk into, but the same God, in whom we find our patience and resilience. We need to strap back on our patience, our trust in the Lord and walk with the resilience God gives us. It reminds me of the story of Joseph at the end of Genesis, I’ve ...

It was pitch black in the very early hours of the morning. Hours when some of the teenage kids would finally be finding their way to bed. Skelly felt a pinch that came out of the middle of nowhere, followed by a sudden surge of itchiness. The type of surge where that itch was felt like fire and wasn’t planning on going away anytime soon. As she shone light on the injured area, she saw the smallest bump starting to burst forth. Then PINCH… it all happened again. “Seriously,” yelled Skelly. The enemy was back but Skelly wasn't going to back down from this fight. Furious, she reached for her racket. Skelly hadn’t been looking for this magic weapon, when it basically found its way to her just appearing on her doorstep one day, days before she would ever need to use it. It took a while to get used too, but after a little practice and lesson or two from her teacher, she found a technique that worked. Her teacher usually just swooshed the dreadful enemy away, but Skelly knew this wouldn’...

      This past month many of us have been forced to stay home. Not in the manner of physically forced, but in the sense that to stop the pandemic, for public safety, we voluntarily stay home. It’s like we’ve all of a sudden been forced to take a break, take a timeout, forced to let go of certain distractions (although we can always create more for ourselves)...we’ve been forced to rest. At the beginning of this quarantine, it came to my mind to “Reclaim” this time. What does this mean? To me it means space, using this space wisely. Have I done this successfully in the past three weeks? NOT. AT. ALL. but always thankful for God’s patience, this phrase hasn’t left my mind. Instead, I’ve been filling this space with the distractions of the unnecessary. It seems my list never ends, but just keeps filling my time..anyone else with me??      Sometimes we're checking the news updates constantly or keeping ourselves entertained by Netflix, Youtube or any other ...

Usually the first post in a new blog is about me, explaining why I have chosen to start a blog. But a lot of new things are surfacing these days, therefore my start will be a new style as well...so let’s jump to it...I’ll save the “why” for another day.  Oh Coronavirus, you sure have made your mark on the world. You become famous around the world, travelling to almost 200 countries & territories. Congratulations, that’s quite the achievement. Everyone knows your name. Constantly the news is talking about you and millions of texts/posts (including this one) mention you. You will be remembered in the future when people talk about the year 2020. Well, whether you want to go by your real name, Coronavirus, or a nickname like COVID-19 or Corona, you've made your mark! God is using you to make people think about life, innovatively show love to others in creative new ways, and using these lockdown and quarantine times to pray more. Now please, COVID-19, you can kindly go away...