Five Thousand and Counting
"What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?" (Luke 15:4). Not so very long ago after a long hard day of watching movies on Netflix I called up Momma for a little chat. Our incredibly stimulating conversation basically consisted of me complaining. She listened sweetly like a good mother. I knew it was coming but after just a few short weeks walking the dusty streets of a small Ecuadorian fishing village I was already impatient by the questionable quality of health care, mediocre local government, mosquito-borne illnesses, the lack of animal control and seat belts, and ineffective trash pickup. On this particular day I was suffering with the rest of town from bouts of fatigue and arthritic sensations brought on by my unfortunate contraction of chikungunya. By the time I finished unburdening myself to my poor mother my irritability levels were highe...