Déjà-Vu

I'm having a "déjá-vu" experience right now. I'm sitting at the Greyhound station in Atlanta waiting for the next bus. I made it here on time from Chattanooga, however, when my connecting bus was announced, I heard them say all kinds of places but not Columbus. So either I didn't hear it or they forgot to mention. Since it was still 25 minutes until scheduled departure of my bus, I didn't consider this to be my bus anyway. But I wasn't aware that they usually do the boarding 20 minutes prior, and so I missed it!

Now I will still have to wait another 4 hours, and hopefully I will make it back to Columbus by 9:15pm. That's very annoying of course, all the more I had to pay another 20 Dollars penalty. But I have to make the best out of my waiting time now - so here goes another blog!

My time with Nathalie at Wildwood was very blessed. Even though it was quite hot, we had the most beautiful weather, and only today it started pouring down. It was nice attending Wildwood church, and when we went to the cafeteria for lunch, I was surprised to see Angélique, a young lady from my church in Brussels. She has been at Wildwood as a student for 6 months already, which I had no clue about. I wish some more young people from Belgium would go to these places.

Yesterday, we enjoyed a beautiful nature hike at Cloudland Canyon. Driving back home, Nathalie felt impressed to read Psalms 121:

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help [cometh] from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD [is] thy keeper: the LORD [is] thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore." 

Well, the last verse has been especially meaningful to me, in particular as I'm facing my current predicament: "The LORD shall preserve thy going out and they coming in." Indeed, so far He has preserved and protected me during all my travels. I've been through far more inconvenient situations, and at times I've even been in potential danger. But "the angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear Him..." So I'm thankful for His protection and watch care!

In the meantime, I got word that Sister Wanda, a member from Uchee Pines church, passed away. She came as a lifestyle guest back in May, when I was the Resident Lifestyle Counselor. I applied her poultice every evening and we had a nice time together. It's weird, but it seems each time I leave Uchee Pines for good, there is a funeral taking place. It was the same back in 2009. But I know Wanda is resting in Jesus now. I look forward to seeing her again - together with all the other precious souls I have been privileged to work with at Uchee.

At Cloudland Canyon - we had a beautiful hike

My Greek-German friend Nathalie

At Lula Lake Resort

With Angélique

4th of July

Countdown

At the time of this writing, I'm sitting at the Greyhound station in Atlanta, on my way to visit a friend at Wildwood for a few days before I'm going to return to Brussels. At this hour, I was expecting to be on my connecting bus to Chattanooga, but unfortunately they wouldn't let me on. The driver of the bus from Columbus to Atlanta kept my ticket, apparently ignoring the fact that the segment Atlanta-Chattanooga was on the reverse side of the paper I had given him. I actually meant to ask him to return the copy to me, but a lady in the bus told me that what I had (i. e. the receipt for the luggage) was enough to get on the bus to Chattanooga. But no way - I had to go inside the station and print out another ticket. In the meantime, my connecting bus departed and I had to pay 20 Dollars to change my ticket to get on the next bus!

Well, at least I have some time to blog now. I meant to do that for some time already, but my schedule has been packed lately. We just finished a very busy 10-day Lifestyle Session with 20 guests, most of them coming from the Bahamas. We have had many people from this island coming to Uchee Pines (mainly due to the fact that there are a lot of Adventists watching Dr. Thrash on 3ABN and also because she used to go and lecture there), and they can be very particular. But all in all, the good things they experienced outweighed their complaints, and everybody left happy. One of my guests was a very nice lady from Puerto Rico. One of her issues was a uterine fibroid, a condition I first encountered when I took the Lifestyle Counselor training program back in 2007. At that time, we applied a special herbal treatment for this lady, and so I decided to do this for her as well - and it apparently worked! It's really exciting to see the effects simple natural remedies can bring about.

Other than zooming around in the Lifestyle Center from morning till evening, I've also been able to engage in some other activities. One thing I've participated in lately is a Sabbath afternoon outreach activity. Some of us have been going to one of the trailer parks in the community and have shared stories with some of the children living there. Usually, there are only a few kids coming out, but you never know what fruit this may bring in for eternity.

The temperatures have been tough around here. It has gone up to 98 F (37 C), but because of the humidity, it feels even warmer. But at least I can eat blueberries every day :-).

My favorite leisure activity on this campus is still gardening. I think I had mentioned before that together with some co-workers, I have started to plant Dr. Thrash's former garden. It's so exciting to see everything grow and to enjoy the fruit of our labors. I really hope that I will be able to continue growing vegetables once I'm back in Brussels.

My cucumbers

Tomatos

Working on the melon field...

...with my co-worker Nelly

Blueberries in abundance

Time is running so fast. The human resources department of my employer already contacted me, asking if I was still planning to come back to work in September. Things have changed at the EU lately. Brexit came a bit unexpected to me, but it's another evidence that the prophecy in Daniel 2:43 is true:

"And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay."

I feel for my British colleagues though. They won't lose their jobs, yet it must be awkward for them to work for an organization their country is no longer part of. I heard they were going to repeat the vote, but let's wait and see. At any rate, things are not going to get any better. I realize that I need to work more fervently to hasten the Lord's coming. With all this hustle and bustle lately, I've been wondering how I should ever be able to get all my tasks done and at the same time work for the Lord's Kingdom. But there is this quote from Ministry of Healing that recently caught my attention:

It is wrong to waste our time, wrong to waste our thoughts. We lose every moment that we devote to self-seeking. If every moment were valued and rightly employed, we should have time for everything that we need to do for ourselves or for the world. In the expenditure of money, in the use of time, strength, opportunities, let every Christian look to God for guidance. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." James 1:5.  {MH 208.1} 

Indeed, there is no time to waste. May the Lord help us to rightly employ every moment and to do our part to hasten His return.