Wouldn't you know it

We rented the house we live in a year ago last October. It is located between a restaurant and a very busy gas station/convenient store. The house is owned by the family that runs the restaurant and our back door actually empties into the parking lot for the restaurant.
It happens to be one of the most private houses I have ever lived in. Even though there are people constantly parking behind our house and going to the restaurant and there are hundreds of people that go to the station next door, if I mention where we live to locals, they don't remember a house being there.
When we rented it, we knew that the restaurant, a corner store and five other houses were for sale by the family. Today we were notified that they had managed to sell the lot and we are to have new landlords. Since the house is located in a prime location for a driveway, Sassafras and I feel that we will be given notice to vacate soon.
So we are now starting to look for another house, or property to build a pole barn on or whatever. Don't you hate moving?
Oh well, I guess this is just part of the adventure.

Pioneers

Yesterday, we said goodbye to a friend that was leaving for China. He was returning for his fifth tour in China, teaching English as a second language. He is also a Bahá’í pioneer. We talked about, this week, how he is not able to openly teach the Bahá’í Faith. On the other hand, there have been times when he has been told to please incorporate information concerning the Bahá’í Faith into his lessons. He can hold meetings in his apartment, but can’t call them meetings and other paradoxes like these.

And yet, he is convinced, as I am, that the message of Bahá'u'lláh is being spread quickly across the vast continent of China. This has caused me to ponder how this could be happening in spite of all the roadblocks that have been put up in front of the pioneers. These individuals, who have sacrificed so much, for little or no recognition, could be the true heroes of the New World Order.

One of the thoughts I had, that the big difference between the Bahá'í pioneers and missionaries from the past, is that the Bahá'í pioneer is not trying to convert anybody. They are just learning to live with the native population, living the life, becoming “brilliant stars” which, then, gives them an opportunity to share the principles that Bahá'u'lláh gave us. They are taught to teach the principles, and for those that are curious, to teach the source. It is these principles that have already and will change peoples hearts, one heart at a time.

These principles are:

-The oneness of the world of humanity
-The foundation of all religion is one
-Religion must be the cause of unity
-Religion must be in accord with science and reason
-Independent investigation of truth
-Equality between men and women
-The abolition of all forms of prejudice
-Universal peace
-Universal education
-A universal auxiliary language
-Spiritual solution of economic problems
-An international tribunal

We, non-pioneers, could learn from these brave and sacrificial souls. We must teach these principles and for those that are curious the source. For those that are not Baha’is, but can see the sensibility and logic in these principles, they too must share these principles, until they become axiomatic in the way we, as a human race, think.

I bow to these wonderful pioneers that have taken the banner of Bahá'u'lláh up and carried it into the night to enlighten the world of the new wishes of God. God bless all of them and I pray daily for their wisdom and strength.