D.L.

There is a time and a place for everything, for everyone and surely for you and me.

I have been here in Donegal for now six months, it has gone fast and yet the pace of life is not what I expected.

Though I was warned about it, it is much slower, calmer and therefore now I am breathing this amazing clear air, being pushed by the wind and showered with rain, and then when the sun breaks in the most amazing rainbow appears as to remind you that you are indeed in a magical place.

So much in six months, but what really made me feel that I arrived was when I was able to transfer my car from a GB number plate to an Irish one, and without even asking, this land gave me a personalized number plate with the only two letters DL.

Trying to walk as much as I can, trying also to visit places that friends here have been urging me to go, and yet there is still more places to be. But there is a sense of familiarity from the place where I grew up, the sea. It is so close, I can hear it from our home.

The vast, deep, blue, and sometimes emerald sea brings waves of waves, a never-ending spectacle that I don’t get bored with. It reminds me of Valparaiso, of Vina Del Mar, of my time onboard the ship Logos Two.

Then at night, when there are no clouds, I am spoiled with a celebration of stars and constellations that make you want not to blink.

There is a place and a time for everything and for everyone. The two churches I am leading are slowly growing; I am getting used to them and they to me. We just finished the Prayer Course with encouraging attendance. Now we are looking to the new year and the possibility of doing the Alpha Course with our church members and friends it is something we are looking forward to.

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT-SE)

I am sitting this morning, writing this, listening to Brazilian music at Café la Casa, and then at 10:25 the bell of Dunfanaghy Presbyterian Church start to sound, telling people that there is a place for you and me. Today is is the second Sunday of Advent, and the theme is Peace.

Peace be with you!