An urban hike

We started with a birthday party. We ended with a time of silence.
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Today our young people celebrated the successful completion of their Youth Against AIDS Club (lead by Santhosh, Ryan and Joshua) - and the completion of the exams, with a picnic and hike.
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A happy group of 17 trooped into the Borivali National Park - whose Manpada gate is a stone's throw away from our house - just after noon.
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The generosity of sundry mothers was immediately experienced as we tore into a sumptious (and very carnivorous) lunch.
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The setting was the beautiful little arbour next to the Nature Interpretation centre. We had it all to ourselves on a hot but lovely afternoon.
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Yash and Shashank, the two members of the YAA club along with Joash (seen right) fit right into to the rest of the crew.
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After rousing song for Sanjeev's birthday - a cake was cut and bubbly shared (the orange and black coloured stuff - peddled by the Pepsi co.).
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Then some games and a time of praise and sharing. The sun filtered through the overhanging branches as we took stock of what God had done through the YAA club. It was exciting to hear the lads talk about how valuable it was for them to learn about relationship and sexuality and God's purposes for them. What made it even better was to hear the plans to further the clubs in different parts of the city next year. The training of trainers concept had hit home.

As the heat wound down a bit, it was time to head up.
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We took to the trail walking through the drying grasses that the monsoon had left the hillside covered with.
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Asha and Enoch did an excellent job on the trail. We passed the spot where we as a family had reached 3 years ago when Asha was 3 and Enoch was 1. It helps when little feet move on their own and we do not have to carry them the whole time!
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After a stop or two for water along the way we were in sight of the ridge.
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Finally we got to the top.
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From the ridge Thane spread out in front of us.
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The ribbon of water in the distance being the creek which empties into the sea.
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The Happy Valley housing complex - where we Eichers live -can be seen in the middle of the picture.
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A series of new sky-scraping residential houses continues to shape the city. All around them are the low-raising squalid slums that house all those who do not have the almost obscene amounts needed to live in 'standard housing.'
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But from here it all looked tranquil.
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And it was.
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The sheer beauty of creation.
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The wind blowing through the grasses.
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The view of the other side - green hills.
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A sunbird froliking in the sky.
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God's good creation reminding us of His beauty.
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We spent 15 mins in silence.
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Alone.
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A short de-brief later: people shared how God had spoken to them.
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We headed down refreshed.