Faces of Care

A week ago I was flown to Minneapolis to give a keynote presentation at the 2009 Ilula Lutheran Hospital fundraising gala. This photo montage was created for that presentation and (hopefully) helps to evoke what studying and practicing pastoral care in and around Iringa last summer was like.

The whole week was a pretty surreal experience. I turned in my final, Final Paper on Monday and hopped a plane to the Twin Cities the next day. Walking into the Humphrey Center at the U of M Thursday evening it struck me how fitting (poetic even) that this was my first action after finishing up my master degree, for it was with many of the people in that room that this latest journey began.

Back in 2002, when our feet first hit the soil of Afrika ya Mashariki, I don't think any of us had a clue where the intervening seven years would take us. The Ilula Hospital partnership had its genesis on that trip as did my own vocational wandering and wondering. . . the way lives have been woven together by our continued journeying is a source of both encouragement and amazement.

Soon I'll be flipping the tassel and then it is off to Malaysia and God-only-knows-where beyond that.

Eyes search the clouds as the sun sets . . . zooming out from Ilula and Iringa and people and faces I've grown to know and to love . . . Off to explore new horizons and encounter new faces of care . . .

Was that really goodbye?


[FYI - The photos in the video montage are all mine while the music comes from the Minnesota band Cloud Cult - a constant companion on my ipod during my time there. For better results playing it back, click HQ for a higher quality video.]