White Butterflies

Africa, Day 5 (yesterday)

Some things on the 12-hour drive from Ndola to Livingstone:

a brown dog hit on the road by a van;

a little white dog surrounding the brown dog in mourning;

fresh mangoes;

yoked oxen (my yoke is easy and my burden is light);

6-8 police stops and two border stops;

1 police stop in which we are cited for not having a fire extinguisher;

the police officer who says: we have nothing like forgiveness here;

stop in small town to buy a fire extinguisher;

a debate about whether people in a field were weeding or planting maize;

discussion of our favorite person in the Bible other than Jesus (Nehemiah, Jeremiah, David, Philip, Paul (2));

watermelons, tomatoes, fruits, pots;

cactus;

open land green land;

irrigation systems;

fluffy, majestic clouds;

a Subway sandwich shop;

the trampoline at The Fig Tree Restaurant;

Chips Ahoy and Ritz Bits;

samosas;

using the 1000 Kwacha (20 cents) bathroom with no door;

fresh air blowing through the van;

sharing stories of our encounters with Christ;

cold Coke;

an overturned truck;

prayers for protection and expressing thanks;

and white butterflies going ahead of us all the way.