Being afield has brought me to an unfamiliar place mentally. I couldn’t say why, but this morning on the bus I found myself fighting back tears; I did not have to fight very hard. As I was walking between buses I found myself pining for my mother. When I was 17 I had practice for a musical at my high-school every afternoon, and water-polo practice in the evenings from 9PM-10:30. I can remember sitting in the great-room of the house I grew up in, looking at my mother, and crying for no reason in particular. It was good to have her there. Years later, in that same room, I received a telephone call letting me know that one of my classmates from Dive School had died in a motorcycle accident. I cried then as well.
I would cry now, if there were someone here to look into my eyes while I did. Somewhere in my life journey I learned that shedding tears, like movies in a theater, or beers in the afternoon, have one thing in common. All of these activities only serve to make you feel more alone than you did when you began. This afternoon, on the bus home, a young man kept bumping into me for the entire twenty-minute ride. After awhile I gathered that he and I were both chipping at each other. Right before he got off the bus our eyes met, and, I didn’t remember until after that that Jesus freed me from such petty encounters as those. I should have apologized. 
So, what do you do when you are in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by strangers and your emotions are running ragged on you? If I come to an answer to this question, I will surely share it with you.
albaniacalling 
Joshua, you are NEVER alone…Mathew 28:20. I wish I were there with you, or that your mother was there with you. But someone very special IS with you!