Uninvited guests

Sometimes we are invited to walk down a humbling path without our consent. On a recent trip to Zambia with friends Rich and Alice Krahn we encountered a rather sobering experience. We had all gone to bed after a fascinating day exploring Chobe National Park, crossing the Kazangulu ferry on the Zambezi River and settling into a quaint safari tent lodge on a river front. Waking up the next morning at the crack of dawn I was looking for my sandels to go out and do some bird watching when I realized that they were not there. Neither was a suitcase full of clothes, all my camera equipment, cell phone and a variety of other stuff. Someone, in the dark of night, had cut the screen in one of our windows, climbed in and made off without us hearing a thing. I am normally a light sleeper so this was particularly mystifying. To date nothing has been found and likely it never will. The local police force tried to be helpful but wasn't very successful at that! Someday there might actually be a police report. Resort staff however were very helpful and compassionate.

We are grateful that no one was hurt. We recognized again the vulnerability of our existence and that despite our best efforts we are dependent on the grace of God.  We had to deal with our discomfort, anger and fear.  Thankfully we had good friends with us to hear us out and to provide support and encouragement.

And to keep us humble the birds kept on singing, the sun shone warmly that day and we were awed again by the beauty and majesty of Mosi-oa-Tunya (the smoke that thunders) http://www.zambiatourism.com/travel/places/victoria.htm . Life continued on and we were invited to embrace the moment and flow with it and not let the distraction of lost possessions consume us - after all there was a world to explore.