shells' Guestbook

Disappointed!
I can't beleive that you guys, given the allusions in your blog relating to seinfeld characters, didn't go to the diner and get something to eat! I was certain that you (Elaine), travelling with your buddies Jerry, George and Kramer would have been dying to order a big salad!! Epic fail.

It exists!
So excited to hear you saw the real DAR! I wonder if Rory was walking around somewhere too :)

So who needed the medical centre?

And here I was thinking there would be a fight over which two guys got stuck sharing the double bed...

Love seeing abe again...
Did you say hi for me!? And did you run through my water fountain in front of the washington monument yelling out "Forest!" ?

Awesome..
Looks like your having a great time shells! Looks great... Keep it up! And i reckon for every american flag you see on your journey you should donate 1c to me... I will be rich once you return there are millions of them.. They are very patriotic!

OMG!!!! u bloody lucky thing im so goin over there one day have heaps of fun n spend up big.... il check up on ya progess n great adventures soon :) x

Monks
You look like luminous monks in your ponchos!

Day 2
Sounds so good, you have seen heaps already. The natives must think you are all very weird! :) I am jealous that you have been to the MoMA.

sounds like you will be one very fit lady when you get home. what's with the kung fu squirrel. will pass this onto Gail. xx

horrors of humanity
now shell, don't wipe this one. my comment was along the lines that the world has not learned from history. we still go on killing each other, just because ???? you are not the same as me, you speak differently, think, walk, act, live differently. Nanna and Pop never dreamed that there would be a time after the horror and despair of the 2nd WW, that torture, killing would still take place en masse. Yet, there are the times when the human family does reach out to one another and care, comfort, share. and that is what we have to hold onto. Pop talked about the Burma Railway, Hellfire Pass, Nanna Musial, the horrors of the concentration camps - of having no homeland toreturn to. She was Polish. And yet we are capable of so much that is positive and loving. Yes, you, me Duch and a whole lot of others are all heading for the same place, and we are reliant on God's mercy and grace. Duch raises many questions for us all, most of the uncomfortable and confronting. but that is what we need.

won't be as wordy as most - not my way - but I did stop and contemplate what you described. Our second saving grace is that you are right - we can't understand what it is like. Can see it is having an impact on u too. Come home safe.

God's grace - limited?
Wow, so many things to contemplate Michelle… I can only imagine how surreal it must be to have a guide take you through such a confronting site of torture and destruction, walking in the steps of tortured prisoners of war now departed. Regardless of how genuine Comrade Duch’s faith is – I don’t get to decide that - I think it speaks to the all-sufficient grace of our incredible God that Duch can be saved from eternal death and destruction, and be called a child of God. Hebrews 3:14 tells me “We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.” That’s not to say there should be no consequences for Comrade Duch’s sin – as a citizen of this world I expect and call for justice, which the United Nations supervised trial of Duch has been called to implement. However this verse reminds me that sharing in Christ allows his followers to experience an eternal victory over evil, a triumph over any dictatorial persuasions of human governments of the day, and it speaks of a time when followers of Christ will have a perfect relationship with their everlasting God - free from the presence, power, and penalty of evil. There is a bitter-sweet beauty in Comrade Duch’s story, that despite the devastation, horror and ruin this man is alleged to have caused, our eternal God has a love for him that can forgive this evil. My hope is that people reading about Comrade Duch’s salvation would think that if God can forgive Duch, he must be able to forgive them as well. 1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Amen to that.