With Fiestas Patrias in full swing, this meant a month full of intermittent holidays and chopped up school weeks, the month everyone had been long expecting: November.
One of the adventures four other teachers and I got to share on a day off was visiting Isla Taboga. A forty-five minute ferry ride from the end of the Amador Causeway, we watched as the city skyline shrunk into the horizon. Our Clayton apartment, CCA, our weekly routines and frequented places, all left behind. It felt like Taboga was a world away. A different Panama.
White sandy beaches decked with colorful seashells and clear water with a gentle tide all made Isla Taboga a perfect day trip from Panama City. We read, walked on the beach, swam in the cool water, and explored the little town with as a local put it ^solo tres restaurantes^. Meeting some British ladies who were also searching for a place for breakfast, we discovered a hotel cafe with an amazing view of the ocean. We exchanged international experiences, and I was inspired to hear how traveling changes and expands one`s perspective on the world. It was a special and refreshing time.
The ferry back allowed us another opportunity to look around and admire the paradise around us, seeing the Bridge of the Americas, Playa Bonita (where we had had our church women`s retreat just weeks ago), and a line of ships getting ready to enter the canal. As I unboarded the ferry and gazed back to see where we had come, I reflected on the journey from where God had brought me: from Illinois to California to Honduras to Costa Rica, and now this new chapter in Panama. Multiple times in my life God has affirmed that He is my help and deliverer and gives me a firm place to stand (Ps. 40). Wherever I am, I can serve Him with the confidence He is there.
Psalm 40:1-3
I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him.
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