When Valentine's Day comes, and you find yourself in the jungles of Africa, what can you do to celebrate? Well, you kind of make do with what is available.
First, Eric wanted to give Wendy a valentine card. But what can he do? There's not a Hallmark shop in site? So, he did the next best thing. He made his own. Being in the rainforest, there are many trees that he could have carved a heart and their initials into - but that has been done so many times before - it's just not very original. He needed something unique, something that would tell his wonderful wife that she is not just the run of the mill wife, but that she is something special. 
And so he found this - a pothole in the shape of a heart. It just doesn't get more romantic than that! It says "My love for you is stronger than concrete. It has been forged by the weather of time. It is no man-made love. Instead, it's something that came directly from the hand of God."
Then for dinner, we joined another couple (who happened to be celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary) at the new restaurant in town called Ditchi. It's actually quite a nice place - complete with air conditioning! We both tried the new item on the menu - Moroccan couscous with chicken - quite tasty. And we wore our matching outfits that we had made for our anniversary.
And to finish off the evening, we sat down to enjoy an episode of Star Trek, with Wendy sitting in her neck traction device and Eric in his rocker recliner. Jean Luc Picard - there's not many names as romantic as that! Pictured here is a reenactment of this viewing, but faces have been changed to protect the innocent.
But given that it's Valentine's Day, we should not forget the author and creator of love - God! I Corinthians 13 talks about love, but we know from other passages that God is love, so we have come up with this new rendition of the Love Chapter (using the NIV).
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not God, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not God, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not God, I gain nothing.
God is patient, God is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. He is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God never fails.
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