At a point on my Race in my time in Nepal.
I realized I wasn’t alone, not really at all.
I’m not talking about being with my squad as a a whole.
I’m talking about something I caught from a bowl.
You see sickness had a grip on us all from the start.
Keeping us from ministry and breaking our hearts.
Some of us knew what was causing our bouts.
But the others sat in our sickness with doubts.
This felt like nothing I had experienced before.
My stomach was in knots – it hurt to my core.
I mustered up strength and tried to be tough.
But the way I was feeling was painfully rough.
Whispers began about found google searches.
And sickness not easily cured inside churches.
Google revealed stories of creatures inside.
That take your stomach on uncomfortable rides.
In unbelief we thought, no surely not me.
I don’t have a parasite! How can this be?
As the days dragged on, our symptoms got worse.
And finally one of us went to a nurse.
She found out alas the searches were true.
The parasites were inside us making us blue.
We tried to figure out what we could do.
How to get rid of them, we needed a clue.
We looked for some time and we did not rest.
Then realized we could not escape from this guest.
It would be inside us for a while to come.
Maybe weeks or years, it would not be fun.
We felt that they are now part of our soul.
And naming them seemed to complete their role.
Mine is named Marty and he’s an interesting guy.
After he attacks my gut he’s mostly quite shy.
There’s also a Todd and a Rico of course.
We’re hoping they don’t stay long and make us feel worse.
So this is a real story of life on the Race.
Be careful of what you drink and things that you taste.
Because if you’re not careful of things that you do
You may get a Marty in your stomach too.
