Journey mercies
The ride back home to Malaysia was fortunately uneventful, by God's grace, and was passed painlessly in solid slumber. I have those who prayed for my safe journey to thank.
It is not usually my practice to sms people to announce a journey and ask for prayers, but walking out of hostel early this morning to catch the bus back home, something happened which upon reflection seemed rather to be an ill omen for a day of travel, prompting me to enlist additional prayer aid from several quarters.
Dawn had broken just minutes earlier and the morning air was fresh and invigorating. Near the bus stop, a pair of playful squirrels leapt out of the bushes right in front of us and scampered across the road, one in pursuit of the other, seemingly oblivious to the oncoming vehicles. One squirrel made it across safely. The other didn't. An oncoming car could not stop in time and ran over that squirrel. An involuntary scream escaped as I breathlessly watched the injured squirrel try to move, but could only manage to writhe and flip around on the road. I debated whether to run over and pick it up, but I was afraid injured animals would bite even a helping hand, and I had no material suitable for picking it up in. I could not pick it up by the tail, could I? The squirrel had stopped moving by then, and lay motionless on the road. I could not see how badly it was injured, but there were marks of blood on the road. It'''s dead, my friend said. And I just turned and walked away.
The incident and the thought of what I might have done bothered me all the way to the mrt. I thought it an exceptionally dreadful thing to happen on a day of travel and was half inclined to turn back and not take the bus trip at all, but I thought that doing so would be supremely irrational. Still I could not shake the nagging worry about the upcoming bus trip and I messaged several Christian friends to ask for their prayers. I'm not sure whether it was an unusual request to them or not, but everyone promised his or her prayer support. And now I’m back home. Thank you all and thank God for His journey mercies.
It is not usually my practice to sms people to announce a journey and ask for prayers, but walking out of hostel early this morning to catch the bus back home, something happened which upon reflection seemed rather to be an ill omen for a day of travel, prompting me to enlist additional prayer aid from several quarters.
Dawn had broken just minutes earlier and the morning air was fresh and invigorating. Near the bus stop, a pair of playful squirrels leapt out of the bushes right in front of us and scampered across the road, one in pursuit of the other, seemingly oblivious to the oncoming vehicles. One squirrel made it across safely. The other didn't. An oncoming car could not stop in time and ran over that squirrel. An involuntary scream escaped as I breathlessly watched the injured squirrel try to move, but could only manage to writhe and flip around on the road. I debated whether to run over and pick it up, but I was afraid injured animals would bite even a helping hand, and I had no material suitable for picking it up in. I could not pick it up by the tail, could I? The squirrel had stopped moving by then, and lay motionless on the road. I could not see how badly it was injured, but there were marks of blood on the road. It'''s dead, my friend said. And I just turned and walked away.
The incident and the thought of what I might have done bothered me all the way to the mrt. I thought it an exceptionally dreadful thing to happen on a day of travel and was half inclined to turn back and not take the bus trip at all, but I thought that doing so would be supremely irrational. Still I could not shake the nagging worry about the upcoming bus trip and I messaged several Christian friends to ask for their prayers. I'm not sure whether it was an unusual request to them or not, but everyone promised his or her prayer support. And now I’m back home. Thank you all and thank God for His journey mercies.