Taiwaneers

Last night Emily and I went out to eat at my favorite restaurant ‘the Thai restaurant’….no idea what its real name is. I ordered a dish at the medium spicy level because sometimes when I order little spicy (my usual level) they barely put anything on there which is no fun. The dish came and it was definitely more spicy than anything I’d eaten there before. As I ate I thought about how I loved the taste of the food in my mouth with the burning sensation and the feelings of manliness from conquering what Emily could only nibble at, announcing that she didn’t know how I could put that stuff in my mouth.

It was great! I downed some Thai beer, Singha, to help with the process and they gave me a slice of lime to squeeze on the food to help neutralize some of the spiciness. I made it through with a few laughs from the lady owner and the owner’s mother who also works there, a sweet older lady who always has this wonderful expression on her face that can only be described as motherly. The man owner was in the back doing the cooking. The lady owner explained that the spicy level I was eating at wasn’t anything for her and that she would consider it weak.

After finishing the meal Emily and I said hello to some of the other foreign students from MCU that were there as well (this restaurant is very popular with MCU’s foreign students) as well as the guys from the Philippines who work at a textiles factory down the street that we had befriended at the Thai restaurant several months earlier. After explaining to both groups of people that we hadn’t sat with them because it was a ‘special night for Emily and I’ to which one of the Philippines’ guys remarked “you both are very cute” or something like that, Emily and I walked home.

Well last night for some reason I wasn’t able to fall asleep until around 4am. I had no idea why and it seemed strange because I had had a full day. This morning I discovered however that there was good reason for my sleeplessness.

I woke up, started getting ready for the day, packed my bag, and got my coffee in the thermos. All the while more and more intestinal pressure seemed to be building up as I moved around and I wondered what the deal was. Figuring once I was seated on the scooter on my way to school everything would be better I started the ol’ girl up (my scooter that is) at about quarter past seven and headed out. After smiling goodbye to the neighbors I turned onto Datong Rd. About a half a mile later the pressure got so bad I knew I had to turn back. I zoomed back home to take care of ‘the business’ and made the executive decision that I would not be attending classes today. Not an easy decision to come to since Tuesdays are Calculus days and missing one of those classes puts me back light-years in reaching my end-game of actually passing the class. So I went to bed.

Thankfully I was able to sleep until around noon when Emily came home from classes. We went to see the doctor who prescribed some pills and gave me the all-important doctor’s note needed for my being able to miss classes without penalty……..side note: MCU is really whacked out about attendance and sometimes I feel like I’m back in high school because of it but whatever. Thankfully the doctor’s visit and the pills at the pharmacy combined cost me about $8.25 USD thanks to my handy-dandy Taiwan National Insurance card which its mandatory for me to possess. Also I needed no appointment and seeing the doctor wasn’t the all afternoon affair that we Americans are accustomed to.

Anyways all that is the lead up to why I was home reading my Bible earlier and why I made a fresh realization about God being so great. Laying in bed this morning I kept thinking about how magnificent it will be when I graduate and get some fancy job with some awesome company and am always traveling to different countries I’d never been to with plenty of time to explore. Staying in fancy hotels, wearing my Calvin Klein suits, and in general being the awesome’ist guy in the world my thoughts built up and up. This afternoon God came to my rescue.

I’ve been reading in Luke and today I was up to chapter 12. It was wonderful and brought me back to that ‘big picture’ perspective that I’m so good at losing sight of. We truly do serve an amazing God and His Son was the most poignant, beautiful, poetic, gifted, talented, incredible teacher the world has ever known. Below are the verses from the chapter I highlighted. All of them are from Jesus’ own lips.

“…there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.”

“I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.”

“Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:”

“…when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say. For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.”

“…Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abudnance of the things which he possesseth.”

“…Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee:…”

“…Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.”

“If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye though for the rest?”

“…seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

“…it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

“Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.”

“Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.”

“Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.”

“…that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.”

“…For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:…”

“Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:”

“…When you see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?”

God is awesome! He is teaching me the way my dad taught me and correcting my misconceptions the way my dad corrected me. Even though its ‘christianese’ I say REJOICE!!!!