Thoughts on Life and Living
(At the end of this post, I have a “funny small story” from this trip.)
As I sat there listening to the passionate, venerable nurse speak about her 37 years of serving in the Arabian Desert, I was mesmerized. She had faithfully served in this little desert hospital, appropriately named the Oasis Hospital, in the midst of the United Arab Emirates for over half of her 71 years of life.
Her name was
Today is Halloween. Not unlike most, I have had my share of Halloween revelry over the years. Friday night, as a matter of fact, the other Americans and several local Asian friends will have our own Halloween party. Always fun to see the utter confusion of the local people when a small group of foreigners are walking around this city in random costumes.
Today, however, my mind goes back to a faithful day in the sleepy college town of Wittenberg, Germany on this date exactly 496 years ago to the day. If you are a Christian, this day was one of the most important in history for you.
This morning was pretty good. It was the first day of college football and my school won. Though it’s hard to get too excited about a victory over mighty Elon College, you take what you can when you are from Georgia Tech.
I was feeling pretty good and then it came. It was in the form of an email from my sister, Becky. It was for the purpose of pulling me into a celebration. My beautiful, smart, sweet, and overall wonderful niece, Anna, tried out for a community play house production of “Annie”. She would have been thrilled to get any part in the play, but was waylaid by exuberance upon hearing she has been selected to play the lead role of the red-headed orphan herself.
My joy in imagining Anna’s happiness was tangible, as I literally laughed aloud in the corner of this coffee house upon reading the email. However, my euphoria for Anna quickly shifted to the pain of missing being there for her celebratory pizza or sushi or however they choose to celebrate this big accomplishment. [Read more…]
This post is the second part of 7 reasons I need and want to read the Bible daily. If you have not read it, please CLICK HERE to do so.
Continuing on. . .
It’s been said many times, but I STILL need to remember and embrace this reality often. Christianity is a relationship with a personal God. It is not a religion to be adhered to. The Bible really is God’s written communication to us His children. We fellowship with Him through this written “love letter” to us, His beloved children.
When I neglect a regular, consistent, rich lifestyle of digging into the Bible, I really do [Read more…]
This article is a follow-up from “I was nearly crushed by a car today…and 2 life principles observed“.
I’ll be honest; I’ve been abnormally stressed the past few weeks. Not proud of this, but it is true.
For one, I always get uneasy living in Asia in the spring when people are inevitably leaving here. Another reason is there has been an unusual amount of activity in my life. Mostly good stuff (with the exception of Tracy’s sickness), but just lots and lots of stuff that I have needed to do, people I have hosted, meetings I have attended, classes I have taken. On top of this, I am moving to yet another apartment this week.
The accumulation of all of this “stuff” has left me tired, haggard, emotionally depleted, and a bit discouraged. I brought all of this to a local coffee house this morning.