‘Life on the edge’
By Kimberly Smith
SUDAN (ANS) – There was a time in my life that I felt desperate to find meaning – something that made my existence deeper and larger in scale than the sum total of the average 77.7 years I might expect to be in this skin. In those days, I was always looking for adventure. It’s a curious thing how we often consider a person to be “free” and “live on the edge” simply because they pursue rock climbing, bungee jumping, hang gliding and all manner of life-risking adventure.
Suzanne. Assist photo.
Now, having just returned from Sudan where the temperatures soared above 140 degrees Fahrenheit, my mind is steeping in real stories of life-risking adventure from those who consider themselves anything but “free.” Like Suzanna, who told me, “I am nine.” I asked her, “How do you know you are nine? Who told you that you are nine?” With a smile that could lure the moon to linger with the sun all day long, she said, “One day I told myself, ‘You are nine.’ So, I am nine.”
Suzanna is an orphan. When she very small, Suzanna was forced to watch the Arab militia brutally kill both her parents. The militia burned her family home, a small round mud structure with a grass roof. Suzanna tried to hang out near the market hoping to survive off of scraps she could steal or beg from local merchants. Desperate with no shelter and little food, it seemed her best hope for survival was to be taken as a slave. Now, there is life on the edge – filled with lots of life-risking adventure.
Then, there was Jesus. In the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew that if he submitted to God’s plan, it would cost him his life.
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http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2009/s09050157.htm
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