Blantyre Survival Kit

Today as I was running, I was praying for you all and praying for things that I 

thought might be useful in a survival kit for you there in Blantyre.

I'm sure there are many more things I will be adding to the kit as the year goes on, but these 6 things came to mind on the run today. 

1) a four leaf clover (to give you good luck and to give thanks that you've found an Irish running partner-- tell him I'm green with envy.) 

2) a copy of the prayer of Confession: 

Most merciful God, 

we confess that we have sinned against you 
in thought, word, and deed, 
by what we have done, 
and by what we have left undone. 
We have not loved you with our whole heart; 
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. 
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. 
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, 
have mercy on us and forgive us; 
that we may delight in your will, 
and walk in your ways, 
to the glory of your Name. Amen.

As I read your account of the speeding ticket, Bill, I was so grateful for your transparency and your humility as you processed it. This prayer above has been like a warm bath to me on so many occasions where God washes me clean and puts me back on the path again.  What I love about your story is that even though you lost your cool, you went back to the police officer and you owned up to your rage. You also modeled for the boys what it looks like to make something right that was broken.  What a beautiful picture of grace working its ways through the broken glass and shining light through. 

3) some M&M's for Micah as a reminder that I miss baking with him and that chocolate just seems to make every day a little better. 

4) a maple bar that I could somehow transport to Liam from Top Pot doughnuts that would remind him of his old stomping grounds and remind his of how sweet it is to have time with him... 

5) an extra dose of patience for standing in lines at the ATM 

6)  a ball of sting (like in the story of Theseus and the Minotaur- see below for a bedtime story for the boys:) Elizabeth, I thought you could stick this in your Sherpani bag along with your stethoscope as a way to figure out the labyrinth of the hospital there in Blantyre. 

In another version, King Minos of Crete had waged war with the Athenians and was successful. He then demanded that, at nine-year intervals, seven Athenian boys and seven Athenian girls were to be sent to Crete to be devoured by the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull monster that lived in the Labyrinth created by Daedalus.

On the third occasion, Theseus volunteered to slay the monster to stop this horror. He took the place of one of the youths and set off with a black sail, promising to his father, Aegeus, that if successful he would return with a white sail.^[10] Like the others, Theseus was stripped of his weapons when they sailed. On his arrival in Crete, Ariadne, King Minos' daughter, fell in love with Theseus and, on the advice of Daedalus, gave him a ball of thread or clue, so he could find his way out of the Labyrinth.^[11] That night, Ariadne escorted Theseus to the Labyrinth, and Theseus promised that if he returned from the Labyrinth he would take Ariadne with him. As soon as Theseus entered the Labyrinth, he tied one end of the ball of string to the door post and brandished his sword which he had kept hidden from the guards inside his tunic. Theseus followed Daedalus' instructions given to Ariadne; go forwards, always down and never left or right. Theseus came to the heart of the Labyrinth and also upon the sleeping Minotaur. The beast awoke and a tremendous fight then occurred. Theseus overpowered the Minotaur with his strength and stabbed the beast in the throat with his sword (according to one scholium on Pindar's Fifth Nemean Ode, Theseus strangled it).^[12]  
After decapitating the beast, Theseus used the string to escape the Labyrinth and managed to escape with all of the young Athenians and Ariadne as well as her younger sister Phaedra. Then he and the rest of the crew fell asleep on the beach. Athena woke Theseus and told him to leave early that morning. Athena told Theseus to leave Ariadne and Phaedra on the beach. Stricken with distress, Theseus forgot to put up the white sails instead of the black ones, so the king committed suicide, in some versions throwing himself off a cliff and into the sea, thus causing this body of water to be named the Aegean. Dionysus later saw Ariadne crying out for Theseus and took pity on her and married her.