Simple and Wild and Free

The time is approaching. Soon I’ll be back in the cold world, and this one will be a memory. This world, where life rubs up against you on every side, where everything is simple and wild and free.

Bainbridge, Chagrin Falls, Cleveland, Ohio. None of those places are home. Similarly, the world of asphalt and busy people on cell phones, millions of cars and shopping malls, don’t strike a chord in my heart. I miss some people there, but not the places or things.

Here, I never forget that I’m alive. Majestic natural splendor rubs itself all over me, and I fit in as part of creation. But the rubbing doesn’t stop with a jellyfish or a soft sea breeze. Fallen humanity has a very obvious way of rubbing its grime all over you here. Evil is present, and it’s thick. But again, I know my role; and it is a priceless gift to be on the Victor’s side.

Soon I'll be going back. Back to where the air sure ain’t soft and society feels just as cold. I’d like to blame that on all the stupid asphalt, but I think the real problem is the mask. People there have perfected the skill of politely hiding sin and wounds and pain. Evil, too, is more hidden. And it all drives me crazy. I want to tear the polite masks off and find something real underneath.

So I’ve been asking myself: why? Why do I feel like a square peg in a round hole at “home”? And why – though I don’t really fit into Belizean culture – does it all make more sense here?

I think I know why. Good and evil feel more dramatically real here. And knowing my role in this battle, I never forget that I’m alive. I’ve never been more alive.

Part of my soul lives here, simple and wild and free.