Faster, Faster, Faster, MOM!

-

Comfort zones.  Is it really time to be pushed out of one more???!  Isn’t driving  a car in Indonesia, enough??!  Apparently not.  The time has arrived.  Sigh.  Fear.  Anxiety.  Wanting to crawl into fetal position and NOT DO THIS.  However, my kids saw the need.  Made me face the task.  Especially my oldest Man Child.  He took it as his duty.  His job. 

 

TO TEACH MOM HOW TO DRIVE THE MOTORBIKE!!!

 

 

IMG_20160111_142132

Yes, the motorbike.  Over Christmas break, Aubrey became my teacher.  Several days he would grab the keys, helmets and bug me, pursue me, until I climbed on the bike and faced my fears.  He would sit behind me and give instructions into my ears.  So patient. So calming.  Matter of fact.  Practical.   “Indicate, lean on the curves, honk your horn, let off when you change gears.”  As we practiced hill runs he would shout over the wind, “GO, GO, GO, FASTER, FASTER, FASTER……”  And when my heart would calm down into the rhythm of the machine I would smile at the irony of it all.  Son teaching Mother.  “The roles are beginning to reverse”, I mumble to him, later in the comfort of our home.   “So soon!?!”, he says in disbelief himself.  Yes….so soon.

 

Not only is Mother driving the motorcycle, but Nathaniel has entered 5th grade at the International School.  SO SOON!?!!!!  This has been the real need behind having to learn to ride the motor bike on these crazy Indonesian roads.  The first day I had to pick him up on the bike, I am not sure who was more nervous, the boy or the Mom.  We were a bit wobbly, but we made it home! : )

 

 

IMG_20160112_071752IMG_20160120_152507

A friend reminds me, that when I was encouraging her to face her fears about driving here, I would tell her, “Soon you might actually come to love it, in a crazy sort of way. I do!”  Likewise, many of my girl friends are encouraging me as they prefer driving their motor bikes over their cars.  They feel they can get around all the traffic more easily and pop into stores quicker.  Already, after only a few weeks  of solo motor bike riding without my man child teacher, my fears are greatly reduced and I half way look forward to the new challenge.

So as we continue daily to face new boundaries.  As we continue to  be pushed  out of our comfort zones, we covet your prayers.  For safety.  For wisdom.  For joy in the journey. Motor bike or car.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Last Flight

-
Image
Bob and his daughter, Stephanie, flying on a different day in Papua . Jan and Bob It was another ordinary Wednesday in Papua.  The rain had come down all night.  Leaving the runway soggy.  6 a.m. I had finished reading my Bible and I hear Bob take off on first flight.  I think, “Wow, he is early this morning!”  Then the typical morning craziness starts in my house.  The cooking of a hot breakfast.  Packing school lunches.  Signing forms.  Arranging pick ups.  Off to school.  Exercise.  Home. Unfortunately, the freezer has frozen over so much that the door is on longer sealing.  It’s a forced, defrost the freezer day.  Out comes all the food.  Towels are laid everywhere.  Drip. Drip.  Jacob is on his 3rd day of not feeling well.  It has been a week of no routine.  No home school.  POP a video into the DVD player for Jacob and lucky little brother to watch.  I go into the office. I hear the plane take off again, 2nd flight. BOOM .  A sickening feeling enters my stomach.  That wasn
Read more

Change Never Happens Fast, Except Today it Did

-
Image
Today (Wednesday, Nov. 1),  Darron and Gary were leaving on an afternoon flight to the Philippines.  The nicer of our two cars had just been picked up from the repair shop ( it was an alternator this time).  They are at that stage.  Always, something falling apart.  With the mission mobile, we can’t complain.  It is 21 years old!!!!  Darron just popped down to the hanger to fill up the tires with air and I heard him pip the horn at the gate, to indicate he was read to go to the airport.  Yet, he had a different message.  The tire needed repaired…..or more probably replaced. Groan.  There is ONE thing, I disdain as a woman and that is handling car problems.  It’s hard enough to do it in your home country and a language you are fluent in.  Try doing it in a foreign country.  Also to me, it is a MANS world.  If you want to plop me in my discomfort zone, tell me I have to get the car fixed. So off we drive.  Air hissing out of the tire.  The good news, my husband is by my side.  The bad ne
Read more

Anguished Hearts

-
Image after image flashes through my mind.  I see little but “growing bigger and stronger” two and half year old Azarya coming towards me on the gravel runway.  Wanting to give me a high five and nothing warms my heart more.  Knowing that this is the little boy who drank his way back to life with goats milk.  More images of all over campus this little boy waving at me and smiling shyly, running and playing like normal children should.  Every time I saw him, I rejoiced in the second chance that Jesus had given him.  More images of being with his Mommy and Daddy and their JOY and gratefulness in Ayarya’s strength and change as he transformed before their eyes from being severely malnourished to vibrant.  Ida, his Mommy, is my closest Papua friend, and I see so many images of her and I chatting and laughing together and enjoying her new fat little baby boy, now two months old.  Despite that Ida was still morning the unexpected loss of her father and still mourning the loss of her first ch
Read more