Silence-

Last night in Somotillo the electricity was out, actually most of the time it is out here. Only in the evening and in the early hours of the morning is there power. But last night it was out and at the same moment a huge storm hit and I must say it was wonderful. I had forgotten how much I dislike electricity, and I was reminded how much I love storms. So what was there to do last night but walk across the little town of Somotillo in the rain. As all the city lights were out and the rain covered me like a blanket, it was the closest thing to heaven I have felt in a long time.

I was taken back to the mountains of Afghanistan. At night I would listen to the winter storms blow and alone I would sit in the silence of the night, no television, no radio, no electricity. I thought last night, 'What would our lives be like in the United States if we turned off the electricity in the night? What if the only sound that could be heard was the sound of silence?' I believe that it would change our lives, all the noise crowds our thoughts and the business causes us to miss life. Time is gone and all because we did not listen in the silence.

I have been challenged to have 27 days of silence. Why 27 days? Because for the last few years I have given up something to take a moment to reflect my last year and get focused on the year ahead. For every year of my life I give up one day. This year I am going 27 days without my mp3 player. This is a very big challenge for me because in the middle of the day when the road gets challenging, I put on my headphones and zone out of the silence. When I have been called gringo for the thousandth time in a day, a little music makes all the pain go away.

I wonder how many people in the States turn on the television to make the pain go away to live a false reality, to go off to a dream land where the problems seem to fade away. What would happen instead of going off into some false reality if we shared our thoughts and fears with those in our family and with friends? And what if we prayed for one another and lifted each other up with encouraging words. What would happen if we went to the Lord instead of the television, or the Internet. Last night was a challenge to me, and I hope this is a challenge to you, just to take one night without television, without the radio, ipod, Internet, just to sit and be silent. I believe this would radically change the family as we know it. Instead of trying to talk over the television, everyone just sat and listened to one another. Silence is a scary thing, and life without electricity is something unimaginable. But I challenge you to turn everything off and just be quiet for one night, and hopefully we can all learn to really listen.