Joshua

Joshua & I: shoes under the shades 

When your entire world crashes and everything you hold dearest to you only becomes a memory which loss would haunt you for quite some time in life -- I, mostly of all people, would know the measure of how it feels like. So when I saw this younger boy with his sleek pants and a modern, neat figure sitting on a rusty sofa in an old bungalow house looking extremely out of place, I knew he must have a story to tell of why he ended up there... What brings him to a smaller town which could hardly even be called a city.

Just this morning, I was standing at the airport waving goodbye to Joshua after almost two weeks of a surprisingly good, sometimes sentimental, mostly crazy company in town with him. Technically, considering how completely bazaar our family tree is, he's my nephew in spite of the small age gap of three years (and we both prefer not to mention that, you see why). Before I came to meet him after over a decade of not seeing each other since we were little children, I just knew one thing about him: that her mother was the prettiest person I've ever seen as a kid. Well it turns out that she still is as gorgeous as ever and that her son, in some way or another, shockingly makes my perfect "bruh-mate". It seems like he is the boy version of me. We identify with music, food, movies, recreations, likes (not to mention the that we both adore dogs), dislikes (we're both allergic to dust). But among all things, we identify with each other's life story. 

When life leads you to a detour, things become out of control and the tendency is that you may not know which path to take next. Much more even entertain the possibility of not being able to take a new path at all, the odds of getting stuck. Everyone will have to encounter a detour somewhere within a life span. Joshua was around for a detour. I didn't know the extent of life changes he was facing till we sat and talked one midnight. What changes I had to go through were apparently (and weirdly) similar to what he had. Hearing his story of an all-have-everything-kid-gone-empty-handed was like hitting a replay button of an old film I got to star myself in. That rich, soulful conversation was toned humorously and tragically (plus the fact that we enjoy good reads and deep thoughts) that it was like us narrating a dialog from a dark comedy script. It reminds me of one of my favorite literary piece in college, "Mother Courage". The only difference of that conversational exchange from dark literature was the lack of despair in my heart which was already replaced with joy upon finding faith in Jesus (I can imagine Josh saying "aawe" and looking amused right now). There were no actual tears. I was joyful even without the things I once held dear to me. I was hopeful with a kind of hope I couldn't comprehend. I had hope for that day and the next days to come. After all, "faith is confidence of what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). I have known that everyone needs a detour every now and then -- it is so that we discover some faith and learn the art of hoping. 

What seemed like a dead end and an array of impossibilities later on unraveled as a blessing in disguise. Josh met the grandparents he never knew and new doors of opportunities were opened up for him. He walks in with his mother still in the state of disbelief one night, Josh's head still floating in the air. It was because of three things; he found a new family, he's going home for a fresh start, and he's off to pursue becoming a pilot. Even I was dumbfounded.

It's amazing how things can turn around in one conversation.. in a one-time dinner.. in a short-term vacation. I'm reminded of how once upon a time, I too got aboard a plane and went home to see things finally fall into place one by one in the middle of winter like snowflakes landing beautifully on a mountain top. I hesitantly asked Josh the first night we talked, "do you believe that everything happens for a reason?" With furrowed brows, his chinito eyes got even narrower. His answer was a mumble of words he was trying to make sense of, a series of broken sentences. Yet I knew that deep inside, really deep inside like the young man that he is, he too wanted to believe.

I came to know the behind the detours in life are purposes, and seasons, and timing. I cling on to one of the most beautiful verses in the Scripture that simplifies the complexity of living from my favorite pages of Ecclesiastes:  

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

-Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

As I stood there and bid farewell to such a wonderful, down-to-earth, kindhearted boy I came to meet, I had to do so with a smile because of how good God has been. My encounters with Joshua reminded me of how it's like to let go and trust again, to rest in assurance of the perfect timings the heavens has in store for each one of us. The departure gates were opened and there goes Joshua chasing after a better destiny laid out for him after a life-changing detour. As sad as it is that I will surely be missing this lad (and that sounds a little bit Shakespeare-ish), I still am happy that he gets to go on his journey. I have the highest hopes for him -- just as I continue hoping in God's everlasting grace.

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, 

just in fact you are doing." -1 Thessalonians 5:11

All bible references are taken from the New International Version

(Image 1: Original Photo. Copyright 2015.)
(Image-2 Source: Doggywoof  Staff)

(Image-2 Source: Alice Wilson)

(Image-4 Source: Rovena Naumann)