What Goes Around

We are in Chiang Mai, Thailand right now. Every six months we have to leave India, so we use it as a time of vacation also. We come visit friends, go shopping, and have massages. Sounds like an easy life, huh? Well, when massages cost $4. you can’t pass it up. Today we were woken up by the sound of someone talking in a loud speaker. It was 5 am. Way too early for people to be talking outside, into a microphone. We ignored it until we got out of bed. Then I looked out the window to see what the noise was all about. It was the gathering of the 12,600 monks. A stream of bald men in orange sheets wrapped around them were walking down the street. And many more people in white who were worshiping or serving or something. We are in a hotel and we get a breakfast buffet with our room. This morning it was crowded with people in white and a small table of monks. There were no glasses, no cups, no plates and no silverware. Micah was a bit perturbed by that. I just got a small salad...

I just tried to order pizza on the phone. This can sometimes be a tedious feat. It was tonight. Here was my conversation. "Hello Domino's.. would you like to try our gabalygook pidally poop something or other special blahdi blah blah?" Me: "Hello? My phone number?" "Yes, go ahead" Me: "Nine seven" "Nine double" Me: "one double seven" "one double double" Me: "four seven" "four double" Me: "eight four eight" "Is this your first time calling?" Me: "No" "Give me your number again" Me: "Nine seven" "Nine double" Me: "No, nine seven" "Nine double" Me: "No double, seven." "double" Me: "No double. Let me try again. Nou sath (trying my Hindi)" "Nine seven" Me: "ek sath sath" "eight seven" Me: "No, Hindi mai (in Hindi) ek, ek" "eight"...

Well maybe not.... but I might have. I gave blood today for a friend who has Dengue Fever. She needed my platelets. So in a way, my platelets are helping to save her life. Therefore, I am a hero. This is the first time to donate blood in India. It turns out that all my experience donating plasma in America really paid off. It was just the same. A friend and I went to the hospital to donate for another friend. First we filled out a form and they asked us questions, then we did the finger prick. For some reason, my friend's veins weren't good enough to donate plasma or platelets, so she just donated blood. We really didn't ever find out why she couldn't give platelets too, but whatever. We just go with the flow, not completely understanding what is going on. The nurses were really nice to us. One sat with me the whole time. And when I got hungry, she went and got a small pack of cookies. And she fed me. She put the cookie in my mouth. So sweet. It is differ...

One Sunday a month, I get to teach the 3-5 year olds in sunday school. This past Sunday was my turn. Thankfully there was also a guy who was my helper. I have been by myself before and it isn't a pretty sight. This weeks lesson was pretty lame as far as the material goes. It was about Jesus teaching in the synagogue. There weren't any games with the lesson nor was there much of a story. So after doing the lesson I still had a bunch of time with the kids. They can get pretty restless. The kids played a game of "Find the Bible". We took turns hiding the Bible, and then trying to find it. This age is funny. They always run to the same place that it was hidden the time before. And what is funnier is that it is often there. Then the kids started jumping on me to try to get the Bible after I said we were done playing that game. One kid was so hyper that he put his head under my shirt. He was trying to climb up me on several occasions. Since there was a guy in...

This week, I spoke at the chapel for the elementary kids at Micah's school. I thought I could talk about selfishness. Here is kind of what I said. "Sometimes my family will order a pizza from Dominoes. There are three people in my family. A large pizza has 8 slices. So that means that two people will get three slices and one will just get two. Do you think that is fair? Do you ever get upset when everyone gets a big bowl of ice cream and you get a small one? Or how about when your brother or sister gets to stay up later then you do? It's not fair!" So then I gave the kids situations and they got to yell, "That's not fair!" Then I read from James 4:1 "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?" And I explained that we fight with each other when we don't get what we want. It is our selfishness that is causing these quarrels. Then I read from Phil. 2:3-4 "Do nothing ...