Sunday, May 20, 2007

On the road again - north Costa Rica

Hi everyone, how are you all? I´m back on the road four days behind schedule but doing fine. A particularly big hello to all the people back in San Jose who helped me out in so many ways - thank you. Damian & Tatiana, you guys are living saints. The court proceedings were tiring mainly for the fact that the translator couldn´t understand my Aussie accent & so we kept going round in circles. It took nearly 4 hours to take down my testimony of a 5min encounter. I know I can tell a tall story, but seriously, 4hours? The court case will rap up in a few months time. It was a real mental hurdle for me to get walking again & it wasn´t helped too much by having a guy walk in front of me within the first couple of km´s holding a large pocket knife. I was glad to finally catch sight of the half eaten mango in his other hand. Some food for thought; I´ve spoken to a few people along the way who have used a closing remark along the lines of, "Well, I guess in the end we´re all just brothers and sisters in the Lord and that´s all that counts." This closing line hasn´t sat well with me since I first heard it but I only realised why the other day - it´s tolerance (in the weakened form of indifference), not unity. We aren´t called to ´tolerate´ each other but to love one another into complete unity. It´s actually a very easy trap to fall into & calls for prudence in not allowing the search for unity to fall short & merely become passive indifference. In other stuff, my boots still haven´t arrived. I´ll post a photo with the next blog to show you what my old boots currently look like. They aren´t in good shape. I finished todays walk with 2 bleeding toes & a nasty blister. Damian & Tatiana (from San Jose) have ordered a second pair for me so they should be here soon. I hope. The big positive to come from the mugging has been the media exposure. Multiple newspapers & tv stations have carried some sort of story & a good percentage of people now know who I am & what I´m about. It´s great to have people stop on the side of the road, not to ask what I´m doing, but to tell me they are praying for unity. The pilgrimage rolls on & so does life. Thank you to everyone for your support during the past week, hopefully nothing like this will happen again. That´s wishful thinking though :-) God bless and please pray hard! Sam.
ps: Happy birthday Soph! (presents in the mail, for sure... via Panama)

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Sam, This is inspirational.
Thank you.

Can you please have your bank account details posted so that we can give some money.
I know that every bit helps.

jo and ray brennan said...

Big hello from the Brennans. Sam you are crazy!(in a really good way)We love tuning in to your incredible journey. We will pray for you and for unity, and especially for your safety and protection! What a mad idea- such an accident prone person walking around the world!! Take care, with love Ray, Jo and girls xxxx

Rie said...

Hi Sam,

I've just been catching up with your last three posts. May God continue to bless you real good! He was certainly looking after you on the road there when all your belongings were taken. What a trial for you all to endure!Through our challenges, we are strengthened. I sincerely hope that your boots arrive very, very soon.

Know that our prayers go with you daily, Patrick+Anne-Marie(Martin's sister), Gerard, Jacinta and Joseph

Martin Pannell said...

Sam!!! Where's the beard? The Goatie? The moustache? Anything?! You look so clean & sophisticated - good thing we know you're working hard for the Kingdom! Lets see some jungle-man shots, y'know Croc Dundee, bush-tucker man etc ;)

Sam, If you could confirm your own bank details via email I'll send an email around asking for support on your behalf. Anyone reading this who'd like to support Sam financially please send me an email (see below) & I'll email you Sam's account details so you can donate directly to him.

If you'd like an email reminder to check in on this blog every 3-4 weeks pls email me: martinpannell@gmail.com Cheers :)

Martin Pannell said...

Wollongong, NSW AU Time now is 7.54pm. The blog post time is different - is that Costa Rican time?

Martin Pannell said...

Details you need to support Sam financially:

Account Name: Samuel Clear
Bank: Commonwealth Bank
BSB: 067000
Account N0: 1016 6407