Around the World and Back Again

I'm sitting in the Brisbane airport with only 10 minutes to go before my time on the computer runs out. I am reflecting on my trip to California where I visited my sister Kristina for 2 weeks! What fun we had! We went to lots of school and church services and went to San Francisco for a day trip and had an all around great time (minus my emergency trip to the dentist to get a root canal! Ugh!) But on the upside of the dentist trip, I haven't had to use the pain meds they gave me at all as I've had no pain (even though the dentist said I'd have pain for 2 weeks!)
Anyway, what does this have to do with a blog about living in peace? To be honest, I'm not sure. I know that at Bethel Church where Kristina goes to school, the atmosphere is amazing. I had so much go on in and around me that I think I will need to take a couple of weeks to let things settle down internally and then reevaluate. I am coming back to a changed city as my hometown of Christchurch had a 6.3 earthquake while I was gone that brought down buildings and left much of the CBD in ruins. I have such a conviction that now, more than ever, we need to know how to maintain - and carry with us -an atmosphere of peace that pervades whatever circumstances we have to face. I know that people's lives will never be the same again as lives were lost in this earthquake and the recovery effort for bodies is still continuing. I have such a sense of anticipation though that good will come out of this devastation. My heart goes out to those who have lost houses and loved ones and I am determined to find a way to reach out when I get home. I know that what I've learned about living in peace will help others, I'm just not sure how to walk it all out yet. I'm excited to see where it's going to go from here. I feel as though I embarked on an adventure to the USA but it hasn't ended just because I'm coming 'home.' In fact, it's just beginning.
I have so much to be thankful for and am running out of time to write as I've been informed my time runs out in 40 seconds. Until next time...