A mid-week musing about a common term here "boonie." For some of you that may bring up echoes of Billy Joe Royal "Down in the Boondocks, down in the boondocks....." When I researched Guam before coming here, I learned about "boonie dogs" --- those ubiquitous strays that roam anywhere and everywhere. The females waddle around, teats hanging to the ground from endless litters, and the males in canine gangs clumping themselves the middle of streets staring down cars. Sometimes they wander alone, ambling along the side of the road, or just sit around looking bored and hungry. Dave advised us if, while walking, we encountered any--just bend down and pretend to pick up a rock to throw and they will disperse. Hmmm, I think I'll stay in the car! Here is one of the ancient locals the Owens have dubbed, for obvious reasons, "Sadness":
There are the boonie chickens, and boonie cats, like the little tailless female below, who prowls the campus. There are boonie cars....wrecks alongside the road. You get the picture. Dave informed us there is boonie everything in Guam.
The other evening, as I was leaving campus, Jen, one of our teachers, stood like a boonie dog to face me down in front of the car. I rolled down the window and joked: "what are you, a boonie person??"Then, God got me thinking.
What about the disconnected, unattached, unwanted, unloved, and uncared for? Those who hurt, are oppressed, confused, or grieving? In thinking about this counseling center we are forming, I have really been pondering, praying and seeking counsel about God's mandate for this place meant to hold and encourage others.
Steve S. shared this verse with me today as one underpinning he holds for the center, from Luke 4:18:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors.
As I sign off tonight, I pray that I can look and really see the boonie people who cross my path here in Guam --- and back home. I pray to hear and know His word on how best to serve.
Steve S. shared this verse with me today as one underpinning he holds for the center, from Luke 4:18:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors.
As I sign off tonight, I pray that I can look and really see the boonie people who cross my path here in Guam --- and back home. I pray to hear and know His word on how best to serve.
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