Safe place
<In world of Dreams>

  Parivel. Doubtlessly Parivel. Some people may find it strange that I don't consider Sirus to be my haven. Though everyone I know is there, and it is logically safer with its high arching structure and isolated location, it's too busy, too crowded. In a sense I feel Parivel is my safe place because it is far away from everything I've known.

Parivel is a medium sized village set on the cliffs bordering the western ocean of Galas. It is very distinguished from the brown rocky cliff with its small white stone buildings and most of all its flags. Due to an endless ocean breeze there is a continual wind flowing through the village, and everyone seems to utilize it in a wondrous way. Bells and great flags upon tall poles, each flag being more like a long glittering ribbon, are seen everywhere on the rooftops. Certain times of day and night when the wind is the heaviest, it the entire village is filled with a chorus of bells. It is a sound unlike anything I ever have or ever will hear. The wind itself composes an orchestra of sound, unique and unrepetitive every day. The rocky crags surrounding the village join with this voice in its many toned howls and whistles.

The village is actually about half a mile away from the ocean, the cliffs are not very sharp (as a sudden drop off to the ocean), but more like a large rocky hillside, with a gradual slope down towards the shore. Because of its distance you can't really hear the sound of the all the waves, but when the air is clear, you can listen to the muffled deep roars of the large waves crashing on the rocks.

And in the midst of it all I feel so much at home. The people there are filled with love, though I don't know any of them. It's strange that I'd feel more comfortable there then around the friends I've made. There's some amazing peace there though. Like I'm closest to a strange friend; the wind. Always so unpredictable yet, here in this village, there is a consistency, a friendship with it.
Also because of her. That's when I knew there was something different about this place. My best friend… ah It goes way back… when we first visited this village to setup a forward communications center, I was so changed by this place. All the battles we were fighting, and yet it was as if we stepped into another realm where such things had never existed. We felt so alien as soldiers, and yet something in us knew we were closer to home than we had ever been. As we stayed there I began to see something so strange happen to her,  a side that I had never seen before. For once in my life I saw the dark storm behind the shroud in her eyes lift, replaced by sunlight. I feel I'd give anything to bring her back to Parivel and see that in her again. So many things deep in her were being healed. I sincerely believe God moves with those winds. I was being healed too. For once the girl raised in the desert, and the guy left in tandem by everyone, felt safe. Felt home.

I just want to sit on the rooftops with her, with strange new friends, with God, and watch the sky turn into fire and gold as my ears are flooded by the wind's chorus. I want to watch the stars, stations, and rogue pieces of the belt, blink, float, and scratch light across the sky, as the ribbons float lazily overhead, mimicking the stars as they glitter. To lie listening to the unique chords of the deep roars of the ocean and the crystal bright tiny bells rustle in the evening gusts.
Something about that place changed both of us. It healed us. We fought differently after Parivel.
We fought for life. We fought  >With< rather than 'for' God. We witnessed life; we saw purpose to who we were. We saw something worth protecting in humanity; we saw the heart of God in people. We no longer fought our wars for Sirus, but for Love -For Agape.



(Reality)

Safe place
(Reality)
There is no set place that I can turn towards to feel safe. It has always been the presence of God that makes me feel secure in shaky times of life. I often remember the times I tried to fill my life with friends when I felt the need for safety, and I felt so cold and alone despite being around so many. Yet there were moments of time where, when we all sought after God together. I felt safe then.
Sometimes it would be in a dorm room. Sometimes it would be a short moment before class started as we bowed our heads for prayer, and suddenly the teacher becomes a transparent person in love with God. We all realize we just need more of God. Those 25 seconds were real, everyone touched reality, and it filled me with peace, yet then it ended and I wondered, why? Didn't anyone else so suddenly realize that what we were doing was so much more important, and so much more unfinished than whatever we were going into? Silence, then on with the lesson. The safest place is one that I am not torn from, somewhere I have no fear of it ending suddenly.
And I have never been to such a place in all my life. Even the presence of my greatest Love is violently torn from me all too often. But I know it is possible that such a place can exist somewhere here. I can't out-dream God's dreams of peace for me.
So I dream knowing all I imagine, He has more.

We sit under a large dark tree in the midst of a yellow grassy field with forests lining the edges. The world is burning gold from the summer's sun, but the shade gives us reprieve from the heated air. I smell the thickness of the forest and field and hear the rustling of grass with the clicks and chirps of bugs buzzing. We aren't talking. We don't need to. Without speaking we are talking to each other. Remembering all the crazy trials we have been through, wondering what's ahead. But most of all resting in God's presence. Being so thankful for the people in my life, and thankful that we are together with God. Nobody will leave me, nobody will forget me. And I don't have to 'go' anywhere anymore. I'll stop playing with the grass and take a nap.