Slowing down to see

I've taken up bike riding for excercise (alas, no health clubs or elliptical machines to speak of here). It's easy to go out for a ride when this is the backdrop though. This has to be one of the greenest places on His green earth. And yet, it is so dark. As I ride my bike, I pass people of all ages and all stations of life. Some have smiles on their faces (many because it's pretty funny to see a white girl in a head covering riding a bicycle), and some look sad and hopeless, and some seem angry. The slower pace of a bicycle compared to my motorbike allows me to really see people, to look into their eyes and know that they have a life and a family and a soul. And my heart breaks for the lostness. I saw a tiny old woman coming out of the rice fields one day, probably after spending the entire day as she had for most of her life. She had on a sarong and white shirt and a head covering underneath her pointed straw hat. She smiled at me as I rode by her, and I smiled back but lost my smile as soon as I passed because all I could think was that her time is almost up on this earth and she doesn't know Him. But it is not His will that any should perish... the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few [and weak and unworthy of the task]... pray that the lord of the harvest would sent out laborers...