John Gunter

Thoughts on Life and Living

Glory in the Grind – contentment in the midst of “one of those days”

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John Gunter on his primary form of transportation
Left: me in happier times. . . Right: today at the shop

Today has been one of THOSE days.  You know the kind.  We all have them.  Nothing cataclysmically bad happened, but everything was just kind of off.

I woke up sick.  Nothing like a tumor or anything, just your garden variety flu like symptoms.  Not bad enough for me to find a doctor, but bad enough to make life really uncomfortable.  This seems to happen a lot to us foreigners living over here in Asia.  We will get a cough and it just won’t go away.  Months on end, we cough.  One day we notice it is gone, but we don’t really know why.  It seems like that is what is happening to my body right now.

I woke up to a broken clothes dryer.  It’s been broken for over a week, but today was the day the repairman was to come.  At least they said he would either be here yesterday or today, so I was hoping today would be the day he would actually show up (tomorrow begins a holiday and then all bets are off).

Thankfully he did get here today.  He arrived at noon, after telling me he would be here in the morning.  He fixed it and left, but there went a large chunk of this day, including a canceled lunch appointment.

I went out and got on my motorbike only [Read more…]

A Friday morning prayer through Proverbs 1:7

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A prayer of Proverbs 1:7 . . .

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction (discipline).

Lord Jesus, thank you that you are the foundation of all knowledge.  You are the creator of all.  You know the exact number of hairs on my head and the days of my life.  You knew of the extent of my life before I was even conceived.  Thank you for such knowledge.

I was not there at the foundation of the world.  You were.  I was not the one whom poured the vary waters of the seas.  You were.  I did not hang the planets in orbit or the stars as ornaments of your glory.  You did.  Thank, Lord Jesus, for such knowledge is beyond my comprehension, yet not yours.  You truly are the foundation of all knowledge.

As true knowledge is from you and you alone, so is true wisdom.  Wisdom is forged and refined by time.  Wisdom is where knowledge, integrity, and persistence meet.

Wisdom is begun by knowledge of you and your ways.  It is lived out in [Read more…]

Fearfully and wonderfully made (God in the midst of His creation). . . Psalm 139

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Phi Phi Island, Thailand
Taken by Ann Marie Musgrove at one of my favorite diving destinations in the world. . .

In reading through Psalm 139:1-23 recently, I was brought to remember three realities about the God of the Bible.  Great reminders for all of us!

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

God is intimate – After traveling around the world and studying world religions at a fairly high level, this is absolutely one of the defining characteristics of the God of the Bible.  God knows us as individuals.  He knows us intricately.  He knows us intimately.  God knows and cares about our thoughts.  God knows us so well that He isn’t even limited by our speech.  He knows what we are going to say before we say it.  He knows what we mean, even when we don’t  articulate it very well, when our words can’t get from our heart to our tongue.

As I have been fumbling through a language that is not my own for the past ten years (here is an unfortunate example), this particularly stands out to me as I think about God.  So often, I have things I want to say to people over here, but my language fails me.  Thankfully my friends know me intimately enough to translate my meanings and the heart behind what I am saying, even when my Asian vocabulary fails me.  This is God to us, only infinitely more! [Read more…]

I am thankful for FRIENDSHIP. . . (Processing my birthday)

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John Gunter, with Yuh Tseng and Eugene Kim
Yuh, Eugene, and I in Hong Kong celebrating my 40th birthday together (never got a pick with Sam in it)

Today, I am thankful for friendship in general, and for my friends specifically.

I am currently on a plane leaving meetings in Bangkok heading back to my home. The meetings went well and the short trip was worth the time and energy to get there. One strange thing, I guess, is that yesterday was my birthday. I went the entire day and none of the 20 or so people at the meeting knew it was my birthday. Actually, the only person to wish me a “happy birthday” was the Thai lady that cleaned my hotel room. Didn’t really know how to respond to that one, so I uttered some clumsy words of thanks back (though aware that she couldn’t understand me), while I’m sure my quizical expression was painful for her to see.

Being alone in a country where no one knows me (and I don’t even know the language) has brought me to a point of extreme gratitude for one thing in particular. . . friendship. The Lord has blessed me immensely for my entire life with wonderful friendships.

John Gunter and Sam Shin
When Sam & Young Mee Shin visited a few years ago. . .

I am still close with a few friends from both elementary and high school, which is exceedingly rare these days. Above that, there are even more friends from that time period where I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that if I were back in the States we could pick things up exactly where we left off years ago. Old friends
, such as Ashton Cheatham and the James’ (Kirkland and Cummings), I miss and look forward to the day when time and space will allow an opportunity to reunite. Many have wished me well over Facebook these past two days and I have enjoyed each one. Makes me feel like I’m still roaming the halls of Henderson High School!

I am still close with several guys from college. This is actually an understatement. Four of these men form a life-time accountability/coaching/encouragement group with whom we have consistently met for eight years now (I will talk about this in a future post). Three other college friends, Sam Shin, Yuh Tseng, and Eugene Kim (Sam and Yuh are college and HS friends), flew all the way from America to Hong Kong last year to spend my 40th birthday with me. They were on flights for almost 40 combined hours to celebate this monumental birthday with me for a mere 35 hours on the ground. All of these relationships are as strong as ever, inspite of the miles between us. I am confident they will remain tight for the remainder of our days on earth. [Read more…]

An embarrassing blunder and a vital life lesson

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John Gunter, Patrick Ku, and others in Asia
Patrick Ku and I in the midst of one of my many awkward cultural blunders (details below)!

I cannot begin to count how many times I have made cultural and life mistakes while living in Asia.  Pat Ku, upon moving to Asia gave me this advice regarding Chinese culture and the language. . . “however you do things/say things in America, do the opposite in Asia and the Chinese language”.  Though a little overly simplistic, it was solid advice just the same.

As a result of this, I have come to embrace one of the most helpful life lesson I have learned by living and working cross-culturally.  Whenever you enter a new environment, whether it be a new job, school, family, or in my case, country, FIRST notice what the local customs and norms are, THEN respond in all situations essentially in the same manner. This is THE fundamental skill in cultural and life adaptation.

This might sound as if I am endorsing conformity.  Nothing could be further from the truth.   At least not at a core values level.  Your values will stand firm and keep you grounded where ever you go in life.  However, styles, culture, and general ways people carry themselves around others will be different everywhere you go.  In order to be heard [Read more…]

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