Day of Durban

Yesterday, my life became more complete. With great anticipation, we rushed to the shoreline until our toes finally mingled with the salty water of the Indian Ocean.

Check.

We had been waiting for this day all week. Finally, we looked forward to a Saturday that was not going to be overwhelming, stressful or something we look at with lots of dread. Weekends here are typically pretty rough. So you can image the excitement as we load up the car on Saturday morning, leaving Pietermaritzburg in the rearview mirror.

It took us awhile to get there thanks to our ghetto-fabulous Honda Ballade that hates hills and competes with buses and semi-trucks on the way up them. (We also had four in the backseat since Nathan Detweiler was also with us. Needless to say, it was a long hour). Also, we had a map and some previous guidance from Christine but really, all we knew is that we wanted to go to beach north of the actual city. But once we found a good place, oh man, my soul started to sing.

During our day at the beach, I started Mike Yaconelli's book, Dangerous Wonder, and as the ocean lapped in the background, the words on the pages became alive. In his book, Yaconelli talked about this child sense of wonder that is important to the Christian life and a risky curiosity that acknowledges and fears the power of the Almighty and still runs towards Jesus with our whole hearts – a reckless abandonment. I had just finished reading this part of the book when I realized that I was getting too hot sitting there on my beach towel. So I tossed down the book as Connie and I made our way into the water (which we later realized was a "no swimming zone." It was part of our living dangerously adventure I guess).

Okay, first of all, although I love the ocean it kind of freaks me out. This is the case mostly due to the fact that I am terrified of sharks. (Typical an irrational fear- yes I know). And it wasn't until this past summer at the beach in Charleston, SC that Jeron Baker "forced" me to play with them in the ocean. It was incredible. Being in the ocean is far better than laying on the sand, working on a tan (which ends up being a burn anyway). As we waded into the Indian Ocean a sense of wonder was once reawakened inside of me. The water was a little terrifying. The waves that day were extremely choppy, the water was freezing, and lots of people drown in Durban because of the strong currents and the plethora of sharks (yikes). So I was really wary as I made my way farther in. And even though I was somewhat fearful, it was invigorating. As each wave crashed over me, I laughed out loud like I was 5 years old. It was beautiful – yes, the water, but also the moment. It felt like the risky curiosity that I had been reading about in my book. The ocean wasn't tame. But it was good.

We spent a good 5-6 hours at the beach, ridding ourselves of stress. The sun, the water and the time together was a perfect balm (although a rather scorching). Days like this make me believe that I can go back and face anything again.

Or so I thought.

The rest of the evening turned out to be – well – horrific in so many ways. After we left the beach we headed into the city to watch Annika and Lydia Detweiler's ballet recital. I enjoyed it and like supporting the arts, but after a way mediocre supper at "Nandos" I was ready to get out of there.

And I really wish that we could've.

As we were leaving the city we saw the kombi in the lane next to us run into a pedestrian. Full force. The poor guy had no chance. I can still hear the thunk and see the man fly in my head. We have no idea if he survived that at all. For those of you who might not know, Kombis are the terrifying public transportation system in South Africa. They are these taxi type vans that are really sketchy, drive like maniacs, and apparently have no desire to preserve human life. Someone also told us today that if you are white you should probably not ride in them. And as a female, yeah, sorry Darrell there is no chance that I will ever ride in one of them. Especially now.

To make things even worse, we ended up missing our exit for the highway twice and ended up driving around in Durban – in the dark. Oh. My. Gosh. We've heard some pretty awful stories of crime in South Africa and how much of a reality that is here. So guess what was going through my head as we drove through this part of town where tons of men were out and about. Every time someone tells us about the city, they make it sound like the entire city is a gang – ready to destroy everything.

When we finally got back on the N3 and headed back to Pietermaritzburg we saw another accident that had already happened. When I realized what I was looking at, I quickly turned my head away. So I am not sure what exactly we saw. All I know is that there was a cop, a car, a body, and tons of blood.

I've had about enough of South Africa.

I hold on to that treasure I felt in the ocean yesterday, but it gets pretty muddled when all I can think about is how the rest of our evening went. We might have been better staying at the manse.