Today is a mandated “no car day” in Bogota. I am not exactly sure when the mayor decided this but yesterday we got the notification. As diplomats we have the privilege of driving but everyone else minus taxis and buses are restricted. The streets are very quiet this morning. I glanced out the window while we were eating breakfast and there were a few risk takers driving the streets! I am guessing many people ended up staying home because it would be impossible for everyone to fit in taxis and buses. I could make a lot of money today driving our car as a taxi. Somehow that doesn’t seem safe to me!

What would you do in the US if today the government told you they were going to not allow you to drive tomorrow. You had to find a way to walk or ride in a bus with 50 other people to save gas and minimize pollution. I know the new movement about “going green”. But honestly as Americans, do we want to be inconvenienced?!  I imagine the minute “going green” stripped us of our choice to independence we would be less inclined to wear “going green” t-shirts and bumper stickers!

On a side note, we had a new bedroom set made that was delivered last night.  Because of the no car day today they were panicking to get deliveries done last night. Our bed, etc arrived after 10 PM! It was so crazy. I was so ready to be in bed and we were waiting for men to haul furniture in the pitch black!

For years I have heard older people saying things like “I can’t wait for heaven”.  There were times when I honestly could not agree with them. As a Christian I know that Heaven is supposed to be an amazing place filled with unimaginable thing.  But I also looked ahead and knew that I really wanted to someday be married and have children. I wanted heaven but not until I had my chance to experience life!

Now looking back I am more aware than ever of our need for Heaven. Each day that I live I see more pain and more human life that convinces me that there is no way out of this except through the cross and through our “escape” to Heaven.  As a mom, I experience so many amazing joys, but as a mom I am brutally aware of the fact that I cannot protect Jackson from the evils of this world.  I am unable to protect my parents, husband, child, my siblings and my friends from the evils of this world. I can cook a good meal, wash Jackson’s hands after playing, avoid spending time with unkind people and I can put one step in front of another. I cannot (no matter how organized and worried I am) stop a friend from having an eating disorder, a relative from an addiction, a friend from having an abortion, my maid from being lazy. It’s only through the power of Christ in our lives that change can come. We are all here in this world, living and trying to battle against the evil we encounter. I am not trying to be negative, there are joys and triumphs in this world too that we have all experienced and savored. But those aren’t the things that make me long for heaven.  I think part of this new longing is getting older and having more life experiences.  To have experienced health problems, unexpected loss of someone special, diagnosis of cancer in Jackson, 2 moves, living far from family and friends, and everyday threats of being killed in a bombing all in 3 yrs there is no way I can convince myself that this life is sufficient.  There is more for us to look forward to and thank goodness there is more!

I now have a new longing for the day when we will have no pain and sorrow. There will be no death and there will be no chains that bind us to our burdens.  We will be new creations! Heaven sounds like a very attractive place to me now that I have gained a little perspective.

I love this picture. It was taken on a rainy, dark, dirty night in Bogota on our way back from a trip. In the midst of the darkness we saw a rainbow.  There is hope of something so much better!  Beyond the streets of Bogota for sure!