Between the day job and this here documentary, I think I’m as busy as I’ve ever been… Yet, here I am with a blog. You’re quite welcome.

I was talking with Stephen tonight about love, and specifically what it means to love, like really love, God. I’m paraphrasing here, because the conversation was pretty long, but if our relationships here are models, however flawed, for our relationship with our Father, what does that say about our ability to love Him? Put another way: if we can’t (and, we can’t) choose who we love here, on this terrestrial ball, how do we begin to love God? Sometimes it seems like all I have is a desire to desire Him. I meta-desire Him. I meta-love my Father, who gave me life, and all the authority and riches of Heaven.

Oof. I need a breath…

A day late, but whatever. Hope it was great. As all our families live in different towns, Bedouins scattered to the four winds this week. Our reunion will be that much the sweeter, when we’re all back at HQ on Saturday.

Speaking of, I guess there’s a game on, this weekend? Someone told me about a game… You know, out there. On the gridiron.

I don’t actually know anything about football.

Anyway, two weeks until the premier! That’s pretty scary. I have to be honest: I have a lot of work to do in the intervening days. But by God’s grace, it’ll be there. We’re really excited about it. As you probably know, we’ve got the page up: bedouinsinternational.org/caribbeangold. Tell your friends.

In other news, I don’t have a voice for narration. It’s just so bad. I do twenty takes for one line of dialog. Maybe I should sing the voiceover parts? That would be unique…

Edit: Actually, scratch that. We’re supposed to be a worldwide, collaborative media organization, right? So, does anybody out there on the webs want to donate their time and talent, narrating our Haiti documentary? We’ll supply the copy, and you supply the strong, clear voice. There’s no money, but we’ll give you a professionally sharpied Bedouins International t-shirt, one of our fabulous buttons, and credit in the… well, credits.

The first trailer’s done, and should be up soon.

We had a board meeting this weekend, peeps in town from all over. It was fun, but more importantly it really set the tone for the next year, and I’m excited to see what’s coming down the pike. Biscuet led it from China(!) which was interesting, and occasionally funny, as the movin’ picture streamin’ box had to catch up with itself, leaving the top half of his face on the left side of the screen, and the bottom half, misplaced and horribly scrambled.

I need coffee.

My head is full of hot mud, and my eyes are all puffy and sore. I don’t have health insurance right now, so I’ve been popping vitamin C like skittles, and praying for health to return quickly. Let’s make it a group project. You pray, too.

Still digging through footage… Here’s Stephen and Jessi, enjoying a relaxing drive through the savanna. Standing up. In the bed of a chartered death trap. At 60 MPH.

For this project I’m having to learn Color and Motion, industrial-strength applications for color timing and motion graphics, respectively. It’s fun, but it’s a lot of work. God is helping me absorb this stuff at an accelerated rate, which is great because I already need about 30 hours a day.

And, back to it. Whee!

I’ve been at it all afternoon, with only a few breaks for coffee, digging through all this footage I brought home from Haiti… I came across a scene I’d forgotten about somehow, when we went into the main market at Cap Hatién to buy food for the school.

As we made our way through the market, negotiating for fifty pounds of rice here, a dozen peppers there, we secured the services of a man with a wheelbarrow. This is different than saying that he was a man who owned a wheelbarrow, as the man and the wheelbarrow were a matched set: where the latter went, the former followed, and never were they parted. I feel confident saying that the wheelbarrow comprised the better part of his livelihood, and his possessions.

It wasn’t until a half hour into our acquaintance that I made a closer examination of the bright designs covering his barrow. MERCI BONDIEN, or bountiful thanks, was emblazoned on the sides and front, and the handles and wooden frame were covered in scripture references, painted with a careful hand.

The one that stuck with me, long after we’d paid him for his help and struck out for Coco Beach, was 1 Rois 18:39, which decorated the right handle: When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God!”

Awesome…

The trailer for the movie is coming along nicely, and very soon we’ll have the Haiti page live… I can’t wait for you guys to see it. Josh brung it, for reals.

Thanks for reading! God bless your smiling faces…

Paul