Sick in the Sky (in Pai): by Fiz

Ugh….I think I can now count, as of today, the number of times I have willingly taken antibiotics on two hands. A bit over a week ago I was feeling right as rain, but then from out of nowhere I started to get moody, and gloomy, and feeling downright down in the dumps. I thought it was the weather, I thought it was the lack of appetizing food, I thought it was the rate at which we were spending through our cash.

Then three days into my buzzkillness it occurred to one of us that I might actually be sick. I was... and still am. I had a fever for a little while during which I had dreams that my father was still alive and what kind of existence that would mean for me, but that tapered off and left me with a sore throat, that has gotten worse over time. Despite the herbal remedies I got from a local pharmacy.

The clincher is that I have now successfully infected Kathleen. I don't think there is anything we have done here, in Pai, since arriving worth mentioning. Well I have been spending an inordinate amount of time reading "Commitment"( by Elizabeth Gilbert) in a cafe that Pioneer Valley really could use. I will share no details so none of you open it before we get to.

I spent the whole day today killing time waiting for the pharmacy to open.
We shall see if the antibiotics I bought today kick this ailment of mine.
There is this huge annual reggae festival this weekend that starts, I think, tonight that should be fun... if we make it.

Totally unrelated... in Thailand they have these pickup truck with the beds loaded up with speakers about as tall as me driving around city streets blaring adds or something, not being able to speak any Thai, the two of us have been curious as hell wondering if this is some form of propagating politics, or if companies have adopted the method as grass roots advertising. Either way its not so bad in the bigger cities, because well, there big. They only drive around in the afternoon after the workday ends, when people are commuting home, but being in a city where downtown isn't much more than 3 square block, it got old pretty quick.

Going back to the Reggae festival thing,...I don't really have much more to say about that...
The scenery here is beautiful, in the process of killing time I stood on a rickety old bamboo bridge over the Pai river, which sort of wraps around three sides of Pai, just looking at the dull green of the mountains in contrast to the blue sky, with wisps of clouds floating around. It probably looks much more striking in the wet season.

Not much going on really.

Living a Gospel Lifestyle

One of the blogs I enjoy reading is fellow pastor J.D. Greer from Summit Church in Durham North Carolina.  His latest blog on how to share your faith was so spot on I wanted to share it with you:


How do you initiate Gospel conversations with people you interact with on a daily basis (waitresses, etc)?

Here are a few things I practice.

• I frequent the same places. People in our society don't respond well to strangers, so I try to eat, drink coffee, buy gas, get my car worked on, and shop, etc at the same places. Relationship is not essential for evangelism, but it sure helps. At most of those places I mentioned people know me by name. Inevitably a chance comes up to pray for them, ask about their lives, invite them to church, etc. For example, several of the people from my local coffee shop have started to come to our church, and a few have become believers and gotten baptized. My mechanic has recently attended our church.
• Where relevant, I leave BIG tips. Especially if I know someone is having a bad day. I'll jot a little note and tell them I'm praying for them.
• I ask people, sometimes, how I can pray for them. Most people don't mind to be prayed for, and if they don't want to talk, they answer shortly and I let it drop.
• I invite them to church. Over and over.
• When in a conversation, I use an acrostic I learned years ago to help guide the conversation. F- Family; I- interests; R- Religion; E - Evangelism. Yes, that can seem wooden, I know... but it can also help you move a conversation along. Sometimes in talking about religion I'll say, "Do you feel like you have a relationship with God?" I get the most interesting responses back to that question. And usually, it provides me a chance to tell them my story... how I grew up in church but came to know God personally later. As I talk about how I came to know Christ, I make sure to give the Gospel along the way. People don't like to be preached to, but they do like to be asked their opinions, and they do like to hear your story.
• Bill Hybels has written 2 great books on this subject called Contagious Christian and Just Walk Across the Room. Highly recommended.

How do you share Christ with someone who is an agnostic, and their life seems to be going well, and they seem perfectly happy without God?

Yeah, that's a tough one. What you must first recognize is that nobody can come to God until God draws them (John 6:44). The Greek word used for "draw" in that verse conveys the idea of hunger, as in how a starving man is drawn to food. In order to come to God, we must first be taught by the Holy Spirit to hunger for God... to see in our hearts who God is and who we are, how fragile life is, etc. As the old hymn Amazing Grace says, "Tis grace that taught my heart (first!) to fear, and then grace my fears relieved."

That means your first and primary recourse is prayer. There is simply no substitute.

Don't underestimate the power of a consistently kind and joyful life before somebody. Everybody puts up a front, and everybody has moments of self-doubt. Your consistent walk with Christ will probably come into their minds at a time you don't don't even realize--in one of those moments of self-doubt, or in a tough time... maybe even years later. The way you live before them and the things you tell them are like a seed that may not harvest until much later.

Finally, Gospel people are to be people of extraordinary generosity, extraordinary answers to prayer, and extraordinary joy. Look for ways to really put the generosity of Christ on display, because laying down your life can really get someone's attention; look for places to ask God for miracles; and thank God for chances to suffer before your friends, because only in suffering can you put on display that you have a joy that is better than anything life can give and that death cannot take away.

Pai in the Sky by Kathleen

Yesterday we drove three hours up the winding, twisting, sickening mountain road to a small valley that is home to Pai. Thirty years ago Pai was nothing more than a small Thai mountain village, albeit with an ideal location between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Song, two major travel destinations.

Fast-forward to the present day and Pai is a thriving stop on the not-so-touristy tourist route. It once had a big population of hippies and artists trying to escape the world, but as is often the case, the world found them, liked their spot and realized it could charge admission to see the sites... the sites in this case being the local hippies. There really isn't much here besides the town, which is basically Amherst/Noho in Thailand. Its crunchiness is a bit more exposed, but it is here to make money.

One thing that has really impressed me is that it is so like home in its attitude, well that isn't the impressive part, that’s actually kind of dull. What’s impressive is how many people think this place is paradise. It makes me proud really. I live in a place that people would call paradise. I just take it for granted. We in the Valley are truly blessed, I suppose if I hadn't grown up in it I would be over the moon about it too. Actually I still pretty much am, which is why I haven't left. It’s nice to be remind of how awesome home is, but aren't we supposed to be traveling here? I want sightseeing!

To be fair it’s nice to be here and have a bit of rest from it all. To sleep in without feeling like I'm wasting time that could be spent seeing something. And Pai is pretty chill, there are lots of artist and musicians and foodies. I am always pleased and heartened to find so many like-minded people. We are everywhere! It gives me hope.

This also gives me the opportunity to process and talk a bit about things that don't really fit in anywhere.
Things like water. In Thailand, as in most of Asia you cannot drink the tap. When you can't drink the tap you start to notice water like never before Wow, do we take it for granted. Think of all the times you use tap water, to drink to bathe to make food with to clean dishes with.

Now think of all the times you get tap water in your mouth, when you drink , when you brush your teeth, when to take a shower, when you eat veggies or fruit that have been washed. Now that you’re thinking, imagine doing none of it. Replace all of that with either bottled water in the case of drinking/cooking/ brushing teeth, or keeping your mouth closed tight and spitting occasionally, in a shower, to not eating anything raw, like fruits of veggies, that haven't been peeled.

Think of washing your hands and not being able to pick your teeth. We use water for so much. It gets to a point, when you are minding all this that you start to realize that " if I was home, I could be drinking toilet water" and it would be ok, it would be clean. That we wash ourselves, our dogs, our cars, flush the toilet, mop the floor, cook, clean... everything with clean water. Our tap is so clean that they bottle and sell it. It’s a real blessing to have clean tap.

It’s a blessing we waste constantly. Like really 5 gallons of water, clean drinking water to flush the toilet.... really? 5 gallons? We have half finished glasses of water that we dump, bathes that we drain.... all of it... drinking water. Now, I'm not advocating we wash in dirty water or anything like that. We should use our water but we could use less of it.

We could use it more mindfully. True you’re not going to get clean water to Thailand from the Quabbin, but we could show it some respect. We should all remember to be grateful for what we have. Though some days it doesn't seem like much. That's what I like about traveling. It reminds me to be grateful, and it shows me other ways to live. This time we have the better end of the stick, other times we don't.

Chiang Mai by Kathleen

Here we are, in Chiang Mai. We have been here for three days and we have one more day before heading out. It is a great city, small and low key but full of exciting things to do. There is a large foreign expat population here it seems and this has influenced the quality of restaurants and hotel establishments. Unfortunately it has also raised the prices. It’s actually more expensive than Bangkok.

There is so much to do there, there are many wats and an amazing night market that sprawls for blocks. We took an all day cooking course the day before yesterday and learned how to make tasty Thai dishes. I highly recommend doing the same if you ever find yourself in Thailand. Usually I shun these types of forced “experiences” but it was so much fun it was stupid and it gave us a chance to connect with other travelers a bit. It was nice to cook, we cook at home for most of our meals and I have missed it.

Travel is working into a good pace for me, but Fiz seems to be homesick. To be fair the food hasn't been agreeing with either of us. Most Thai food here is not what you think of as Thai back home and you get tired of noodles and fish sauce for 3 meals a day. So our taste buds are a little tired and our stomachs aren't so pleased either. It gets old always feeling a little ill. Hopefully India will be better. The food there is closer to what we eat daily and what we like.

Today we rented bikes and biked precariously ( really me on a bike is like a turtle on roller skates, awkward and slightly dangerous.) around the city from wat to wat. There are so many in such a small space.

The wats ( temples) were magnificent, each with its own character. I have never been to a Buddhist country so its all very exciting. We were thinking of going to an elephant camp tomorrow, but given the price, it looks like we will be finding something else to do. Besides, I don't feel quite right about it. They might be well treated but.... they might not be. Seems like a tourist trap to me.

Traveling is a wonderful thing but sometimes I wonder why we do it. I was wondering that on our way up to Chiang Mai. We took an overnight train from Bangkok and got sleeper class tickets. Figured it would be romantic. It was not. At all. Our seats were at the back of the last car so it was like being the last person on a game of “snap the whip” all night. That coupled with pleather seats that made us sweat and the crew gathering behind us to while away the time.... we were not pleased.

But still, these wats are worth it, even if the food isn't.

Until next time.

People Without Conviction Are Boring

One of the things we are working on within our staff is a systematic method for teaching our children the basic principles of our faith.  Our goal is that all of our kids will benefit from a comprehensive approach to teaching doctrine.  We want it to be interesting, fun, engaging, but most importantly - effective.

Our desire is that from the time a child enters our Preschool to the time they leave our High School that they will have developed over time a strong understanding of the most important tenants of Christianity.   And that they will be able to articulate not just what they believe but the reasons for that belief.

We really don't see that anything we do is any more important than passing down our faith to the next generation.

This is why we are so big on drilling down on our "24 Essentials"- those 24 basic beliefs that we see as being central to Christian life and doctrine.

Why is this so important?  The simple answer to this is that we believe that one of the biggest problems people have in an increasingly secular humanist and multi-cultural society is that they don't know how to distinguish their belief from competing world views and don't know why they believe what they believe.  In other words, they don't have a strong "epistemology"- the study of knowledge. 

To not have this kind of foundation in faith can be devastating to a young person who goes off to college and enters an environment in which all of his or her core beliefs are challenged relentlessly and without shame.  Many young people who were raised in good solid Christian homes nevertheless leave those homes ill prepared for the epistemological warfare they will engage in within the academic jungle of higher learning.

We see it as our role to join in with parents to help equip our kids with not just knowledge but with a good ability to look beneath the surface of belief and to answer questions like, "What are the core reasons for my belief?", or  "Why do I believe the Bible is true?", or "Why do I believe there is only one way to heaven?"

We don't just want to be good at dispensing knowledge in other words, but also in teaching the philosophy of knowledge.   Because after all, if the question of why I believe is never contemplated and if there is not a solid basis laying beneath my core belief, then the human heart is dangerously exposed  to what the Bible calls "wavering doubt". 

But there is another compelling reason for a person to have a good epistemology- and that is that people who don't have conviction about things are just plain boring.

This is humorously illustrated in the video below: 


Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

Thai Mysteries by Kathleen

Bangkok was a fabulous city, I miss it already, Kanchanaburi is small and there doesn't seem to be much happening. It looks like it has potential and there is a national park nearby, but I enjoyed all that the city had to offer.

Thailand is beautiful and the people are nice, but culturally it is rather inaccessible, but I think that the Thai like it that way. “Welcome welcome, enjoy your stay remember to leave. Thank you.” They seem mostly numbed by the hordes of mindless tourists that crowd through and at this point seem willing to allow people to just be stupid foreigners without trying to explain culture or any other subtlety.

“Just give us the bhat and it will be all good thank you have nice time.” They seem intensely private and the only glimpses I have seen of the inner workings of the people who know this land have been stolen ones.

In Bangkok a family early in the morning, the woman mixing noodle dough, the father taking their child to school while the mother in law cleans up; a tuk tuk driver buying a string of jasmine flowers to hang in front of the king’s portrait he has on his dashboard, he bows his head and makes a silent prayer at a red light. But as soon as they see you its all show "Epcot Thailand" I will call it, after the booths in Disney Land.

To be fair this is a great place to hide from the world, with no effort at all you can become unseen, hidden behind farang( foreigner) status the Thai mostly take your presence for granted. It’s not like in India where you become a spectacle. The Thai also seem uninterested in passing many moral judgments on you, you are a dumb outsider as long as you don't disrespect the king or the Buddha or dress like a streetwalker then “sure, fine”. India tries to change you, the looks you get are of disapproval, not here, mostly smiles that range from friendly to bored.

I wish I knew a little Thai, as I am sure this opens many doors and I wish I knew bit more about the history of this land. Without these tools, I earn the farang status. Though in my defense, I did try and learn something, I know a little bit it of the history and culture, mostly because of my years of studying Chinese, but back home it was near impossible to find a decent book on this kingdom of elephants even in the Umass library.

Maybe time will show more of this land than beautiful green and good prices on sarongs. Until then, I will take advantage of being unseen and relax.

Goodbye Bangkok

We left Bangkok this morning headed for Kanchanaburi, the home of the famous Bridge over the river Kwai. It is terribly anticlimactic, I'm not sure what I expected, but this is not it. After looking at it and taking the token picture we went to the WWII museum next door which was not in any way worth the entrance fee. (it reminded Kathleen of one of those "Worlds largest ______" spots).

It had an antique train engine that was used by the Japanese in the entrance way. I was afraid of putting too much weight on it and falling through the side it was so rusted over. Then there was a rail car prison cell, with the caption "rail cars like this were used as prison cells for POW's and workers who were working on the rail tracks.” There was a life sized wooden manikin of a very unhappy looking prisoner.

After that was a land rover and a motorcycle "used for short distance travel by Japanese officers". And finally we walked through a corridor of the most random and arbitrary stuffs from the WWII period, like rows and rows of coins, jugs, etc. At the end there was a guy carving soap, that I thought was pretty awesome. But what was totally worth the 80 Bhat (the Thai currency) to get in was the iguana cooling off in the mid day heat by the entrance. It let me touch it (yay!).

This town is really quiet, in the best way possible. Not a lot of obnoxious tourists or traffic. We have a really nice room in a guest house not far from the main drag, but far enough that on the off chance things do get loud we won’t hear much of it.

The countryside is so green, more so than anywhere I have ever been before. Must be the sun, the plants must love it. Speaking of which, apparently the longest solar eclipse on record was a few days ago, and the next comparable one will be in 3045 or something far-far away like that. Just a fun fact I learned from a foreigner turned local.

Why Does God Allow Tragedy?

One of the questions people ask whenever there is a terrible tragedy such as this weeks Haitian earthquake is "Why would a good God allow bad things to happen?"   The argument that one often hears from skeptics at a time like this goes something like this, "God cannot be both good and all-powerful."

If he is all powerful and allows evil then he is not good but if he is good and allows evil then he must be powerless to stop it.  Since there is evil in the world it must mean that he is either all powerful and evil or good but not all powerful but he cannot be both." 

It is the question that has confounded philosophers and scholars for generations.   "How can a good God allow evil and tragedy in this world?"  Many are asking today as they see the unbelievable misery and suffering in Haiti, "Where was God in this tragedy?"

The answers are not easy, but I do think it is helpful for us to remind ourselves of a few important truths whenever people are asking the question.

1.  First of all, we should all remember that Christianity teaches that we are all limited in our understanding and that there is no way that any one of us can have a clear picture of reality on this side of eternity.  What we see in this life as human tragedy has to be measured against the full scope of eternity.

Paul the apostle pointed out that "...we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).

It is easy for us to make broad assumptions about what we see as God's powerlessness in evil and suffering but none of us truly see things as they are from the perspective of eternity.   C.S. Lewis has said that he believes the first thing we will all say in heaven are the words, "Ah hah!" 

Only God sees true reality.  The rest of us here only sees a part of that reality and because of our weakness and limited understanding none of us can fully know what God knows from His perspective.

Evil and suffering in this world is not evidence that God does not exist nor is it evidence that God is evil or merely good but not omnipotent.   This is not a complete argument regarding the character of God for one simple reason:  Just because you and I cannot see a good reason for what happens in the world does not mean that God is not in control and does not have reasons.  Just because I don't understand something doesn't mean there is no explanation.  Our reality is not the only reality and it is certainly not the complete reality.

For a person to say "Because I can't understand the reason that God allows suffering in the world it must mean that there are no reasons" is an amazingly presumptuous and self serving statement.  When you think about it, it takes a tremendous leap of faith to believe in yourself in this way.  It is like saying "I don't really think that can be real because I don't see or understand the reality of it."

We do not employ this kind of logic to other parts of life.  We may not know how electricity works and yet that doesn't mean we don't believe it's real.  We may not see the tiny insect that is biting us but that doesn't prove it doesn't exist.

Just because we don't understand fully and see clearly the purposes of God in human tragedy does not mean they do not exist.  So as Christians we have to first of all understand that God's ways are not like our ways and that He is the only one who has the complete, eternal perspective on this life (Isaiah 55:8). 

2.  The very fact that we know something is evil and tragic is evidence that there is a loving and just God in the universe.   When you think of the tragedy in Haiti keep in mind that you and I would not even know that this was tragic unless we first knew that there was such a thing as tragedy.   There is something within our spirit that cries out at the injustice of suffering.  What is that?  It certainly is not the result of evolutionary impulse.

Darwinian Evolution teaches that the human species is inscripted by millions of years of "survival of the fittest" type impulses.  If that is true then wouldn't the human species cry out in delight that thousands of potentially competitive predators and foragers have been eliminated?  And yet that is not what we feel.  We feel a sense of horror and sadness welling up from our inmost being.  The only logical explanation for this impulse is that it was put there by a loving and just creator who teaches us through our very senses that our hearts cry out for His mercy and love.

Have you ever noticed that when tragedies like this occur it is the churches and religious charitable organizations that flood into the area to offer assistance?  I remember years ago when our church sent a tsunami relief team to help with the clean up in Sri Lanka how amazed the people there were at the numbers of Christians from around the world who had come to their aid.  By contrast I don't remember seeing or hearing about a single atheist organization that sent help.  I may have missed it, but there weren't scores of atheist organizations who set up tents and trailors and work groups in Indonesia, Pakastan or New Orleans in the aftermath of those disasters either.

There is a simple reason:  the atheist has no answer for human tragedy.  C.S. Lewis, once an atheist himself, made this observation in Mere Christianity:

My argument against God was that the world seemed so cruel and unjust.  But how had I got this idea of "just" and "unjust"?  What was I comparing this universe to when I called it unjust?  Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by sayng it was a private idea of my own.  But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too- for the argument depended on saying that the world really was unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my private fancies... consequently atheism turns out too simple.

3.  As Christians we are to see that all of life's suffering is answered by the redeeming work of Christ on the cross.  Christianity, unlike any other religion, teaches that God Himself suffered on the cross and that by taking that suffering onto Himself accomplished the redemption of all creation.  The extent of His suffering was not just physical, for there are many people who have suffered more physically than Jesus suffered on the cross.  But none have suffered to the extent that Jesus suffered the rejection of the Father and the incredible consequences of our sin when He took all of that on Himself.  No one person has ever suffered the way Jesus suffered.

And yet it was through His suffering that the earth is being redeemed and will be redeemed.  It was through His suffering that I find my salvation and everyone who calls on Him finds salvation.

We know from scripture that Jesus carries the scars from His crucifixion with Him even in His glorified state.  This can only mean that every scar we recieve in this life will only make the next life better.    Everything we suffer in this life will be undone in the next.  So the more we lose and suffer in this life the more we experience joy and celebration in the next.

Every Christian can cry out, "Bring it on death!  Bring it on suffering!  The lower you lay me the higher He'll raise me!" 

I love this quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov

"I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened."

If you are interested in reading more on this subject, here are some books I recommend:

The Reason for God by Tim Keller
What's So Great About Christianity by Dinesh D'Souza
Disappointment With God by Phillip Yancey

Why Pat Robertson was Wrong

Yesterday on his CBN network, televangelist Pat Robertson made the embarrassing argument that Tuesday's 7.3 magnitude earthquake near Port Au Prince should be blamed on the Haitians' "pact with the devil" two centuries ago while seeking liberation from the French.

Robertson's comments should be condemned by Bible believing Christians for many reasons, but here are a few of the most obvious:

1.  While the Bible teaches that natural disasters are the result of our fallen nature that impacts all of creation (Genesis 1-3),  and while it is true that our decisions have consequences and we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7-8),  it is a huge theological leap to say that God singles out a group of people for His special punishment just because of some decision their ancestors made.

2.  The concept that if you always make good choices God will reward you and if you do bad things God will punish you is antithetical to the gospel.  This view is more akin to other religions such as Islam or Buddhism (Fate or Karma as examples) than it is to Christianity.  The Bible teaches that the rain falls on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45), that ALL things work together for the good (Romans 8) and we are to count it joy when we face trials of many kinds (James 1).  The most prominent example of this teaching of course is that the most evil, unjust and terrible thing that ever happened in history was the crucifixion of Jesus.  And yet it was that event that brought about the redemption of humanity.

3.  Pat Robertson should know better.  He should know that his words would be hurtful at a time like this.  It is incredulous that a minister of the gospel who has such a wide audience would have anything but incredible sympathy for the unbelievable misery and suffering of the people of Haiti, who live in one of the poorest countries on the planet.   As we all know, Jesus was drawn to the poor, loved and cared for the poor and taught us to take care of those who were hungry, thirsty, naked and sick.  Jesus taught that when we care for the poor we are doing His work.  (Matthew 25).

I agree with Erwin Lutzer, pastor of Moody Church, who in an inerview with the Chicago Tribune said this about Robertson's statement:

"At this time we should be offering the people of Haiti God’s forgiveness and mercy rather than condemning them for some decision made by their ancestors, It is much better for us to ask a different question: what can we do to help those who have been victimized by this terrible trauma, rather than to speak judgment upon them on behalf of God."

For those who are interested in helping with the relief effort, click here.

Bangkok Busy Busy by Kathleen ( no money for editing)

It smells like Asia as soon as I step off the airplane, cigarettes and cement, some sort of flowers. I inhale deeply. I missed this smell. It’s warm and welcoming. The air is almost stale. I can't tell you how nice it is to not be cold. The snow and ice of home seems 8,000 miles away, but I think it’s more like 10,000.
As we drive into the city, Fiz falls asleep in the taxi leaving me to look out the window at colourful billboards and neon lights. Bangkok seems friendlier than India, calmer than China. I like it immediately.

The city is sprawling. There is a cluster of high rises but most of it is low-lying, stretching on and on. We get to the hotel, down a small alley, passed expensive homes. Its as nice as the pictures on-line were, which is remarkable.

The next day: We get up early, no choice of ours, we are sharing a room with 5 or 6 girls of unknown European origin. They aren't speaking a language I recognize, but it’s a romance language for sure. Which means, but deduction that they are probably Italian. Whatever they are they are loud and they are earlier risers. So, we get up.

We head for Khao San Rd. the main backpacker destination in town. I am not enchanted, its overrun with tourists and all the stalls are selling the same cheap, "pretend your cool" shit that you can get anywhere in this part of the world. Fiz on the other hand seems quite taken, I'm not sure why. I'm more interested in back streets and quiet alleys. Places where I can take pictures…..( I feel like such a stereotype when I say things like that.)

Next, to the Royal Palace. It’s amazing. There is no real way to convey to anyone how spectacular it is because it sounds tacky to describe and isn't photogenic. Go there see it. It’s all gold and shiny, mirrors towers and chedis glittering in the brilliant sun. It’s blindingly brilliant.

We end up at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha( who is jade not emerald btw.) Reading about him I was unimpressed, not only is he misnamed but he's quite small. Seeing him on the other hand was a totally different experience. The energy coming off of him pushed me to the floor, like most other in the room. Maybe it was the holy water, placed on my head with a lotus, maybe it was the chimes in the rafters speaking the voice of the wind, maybe it was the incense, but it was divine. We sat in contemplative prayer for many minuets. The Thai's around us had gold leaf on their faces, part of a devotional offering taking place outside. It was as amazing as Khao San Rd was not.

For lunch we ventured back to the backpacker central and then down a small ally passed a huge school hidden amongst the buildings where the sounds of children playing unseen echoed off the concrete walls. There we found Ethos, a vegan/vegetarian hangout, with low-lying tables and huge plates of very good fare. I felt even more relaxed when I heard " Under the full moon light we dance we dance /holding hands we dance". Pagan tunes in Bangkok so far from the woods of Western Mass, I am consistently amazed by the power the internet has in connecting everything.

After lunch we took the bus back home, but by then the time change was catching up and so sleep soon ensued.

back dated blogs by Fiz

Hey all! So this all happened a couple of days ago, but lets bring you up to speed.

January 10:

The journey has begun for real! I will not see my mother or anyone else this side of the Atlantic ocean for four months, as of now.

There is this cute little baby, well toddler, running around exploring the gate we are waiting at. He ran up to these massive windows and looked outside at the tarmac for a minute, then he wandered in front of us for a second. Then he went back to the window, touched it, and then he went running around behind us. A second or two later he ran back to the window and touched it again then went along the length of the window and up another row of seats.

He did this for a good ten minutes or so, till he had gotten his bearings. Meanwhile this other toddler is being led around by his older brother. Both little tykes are so small and could loose themselves so easily in the vastness of Terminal B had they no method of not getting lost.
Kinda puts our trip in a little bit of perspective.

Some time after January 10 ended:

We have a 13 hour lay over in Abu Dhabi. The lounges are closed to poor backpackers like ourselves. Even if we had the cash I don’t think they would let us is dress like we are. The look they gave us was of pure disdain.

We wanted to wi-fi more than anything so we lingered in the hall and tried to pick up a signal, which failed. So we retreated to the only place with benches, the trustworthy Burger King. Kathleen fell asleep for a bit on the bench with the TV blaring a football game. I just had a four hour conversation with a bird that had made a home for itself in food court.

Our trip is in phases, this is how much we have got through:

Phase 1 (drive to NYC with mothers and stay in cousins apartment) - complete
Phase 2 (flight from JFK to AUH) - Complete
Phase 3 (layover in AUH the length of our flight from JFK) - nearly done
Phase 4 (flight from AUH to BKK) - wish us luck

Abu Dhabi has a crazy airport. There are

a.) a posh looking hotel (inside it),

b.) As many first and business class lounges as there are economy class seating areas,

c.) Potentially more duty free shops as JFK although it is 1/3 the size, and

d.) The coolest traffic control tower ever, it looks like a giant sail, or a colossal dorsal fin. The most striking thing about it is that it is the tallest thing visible from the airport in any given direction. We would know too, having just spent 12 hours here walking laps and taking naps. Hopefully in 2 hours or so we will be in the air again.

Later the same day:

Phases 3 and 4 Complete. We are in Bangkok and finally have a wi-fi connection! Laying in bed next to Kathleen I'm looking around the room we are in. There are 6 other beds and I think I'm the only other male in here. We got in and put our bags down on the last remaining bunk bed. Shortly there after I realized that there was either a purse or feminine sandals near every other bed. ha!

Our roommates just walked in, not really sure how I feel about being that token guy in the co-ed dorm.

Britt Hume was Right

Last week on Fox News Sunday, news anchor Britt Hume rocked the secular media when he made the observation, when asked his opinion, that Tiger Woods should seek redemption and forgiveness in Christianity.  This was his exact quote:

“Tiger Woods will recover as a golfer. Whether he can recover as a person I think is a very open question, and it’s a tragic situation for him. I think he’s lost his family, it’s not clear to me if he’ll be able to have a relationship with his children, but the Tiger Woods that emerges once the news value dies out of this scandal — the extent to which he can recover — seems to me to depend on his faith. He’s said to be a Buddhist; I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be, ‘Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."

The resulting guffaws from the secular press were predictable.   Media critic Tom Shales called him a "sanctimonious busybody".  Andrew Sullivan accused him of destroying the distinction between religious and secular discourse.  MSNBC anchor David Shuster declard his comment as "truly embarrising" and fellow anchor Keith Olbermann compared Hume's advice for Tiger to Islamic terrorism!

So what was it that Hume did that was so over the top?  How did he cross the line?  The answer is that he expressed his actual belief- and the belief of every true Christian- that the only answer to the problem of sin is the one who has paid the price for that sin.  Here's a news flash for Olbermann, Shuster et al:  True Christians believe what they say they believe.

True Christianity is not apathetic or ambivalent.  As C.S. Lewis has said "One thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important."  If Christianity is true and Jesus really did die for our sin then that is a truth that must be expressed.  N.T. Wright put it this way:


"How can you live with the terrifying thought that the hurricane has become human? That the fire has become flesh? That Life itself has walked into our midst? Christianity either means that, or it means nothing. It is the most devastating disclosure of the deepest reality in the world, or its a sham, a total nonsense. Most people, unable to cope with saying either of those two things are condemned to live in the shallow world in between."

Hume was correct in his assesment of both Buddhism and Christianity.  There is no redemption or forgiveness in Buddhism because there is no concept of sin.

There is only one belief system that truly gets to the heart of the issue of the human soul- and that is the belief in Christianity that if we follow the sin of the human heart to it's natural conclusion we will meet with utter destruction and the only solution to that problem is the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross.  It is only in our acceptance of Him as our savior that we find true redemption and forgiveness because it was His work on the cross that utterly satisfied God's sense of perfect justice.  That is the truth that sets us free.  No matter how many times we may have failed.  There is no other religious belief system that teaches anything like this.  As Christians we look at Tiger Woods and say "There except for the grace of God go I!"

In an interview with Laura Ingram on Thursday Hume made the observation that he believes  the disdain for his opinion was centered mostly in his Christianity.  I think this is probably true.  If he had said, "My advice to Tiger is to turn to Atheism",  I doubt there would be much of a ripple. 

But I think the true irony of criticism of Hume is that the intoleration of his expression of belief comes from a secular world view that looks down on intoleration.   It is almost as if the secularism we find in popular culture says something like "We are so much better than people who think they are so much better!"

Michael Gerson of the Washington Post put it very succinctly:

Hume's critics hold a strange view of pluralism. For religion to be tolerated, it must be privatized -- not, apparently, just in governmental settings but also on television networks. We must have not only a secular state but also a secular public discourse. And so tolerance, conveniently, is defined as shutting up people with whom secularists disagree. Many commentators have been offering Woods advice in his travails. But religious advice, apparently and uniquely, should be forbidden. In a discussion of sex, morality and betrayed vows, wouldn't religious issues naturally arise? How is our public discourse improved by narrowing it -- removing references to the most essential element in countless lives? True tolerance consists in engaging deep disagreements respectfully -through persuasion -not in banning certain categories of argument and belief from public debate.

Shuster and Olbermann and a host of others in the popular media have strong beliefs that they express regularly that flow from a secular humanist world view.  No one can blame them for their steadfast belief.   But they should not be so intellectually dishonest as to think that they are the only ones who have the right to express them.

A Book A Month In 2010

Studies show that people who read are generally more happy and do better in life.  This is definately true of the walk of faith.  We should never forget that God reveals Himself to us through His written word.   The word "disciple" means "learner".  To be a follower of Christ means that we seek truth and pursue it- that we love wisdom and that we live our lives with understanding and do what is wise.    It is a basic characteristic of the Christian life to desire to grow in our faith by growing in our understanding of His truth.  Of course this is brought about  primarily through the daily study of His word, but I have found that a good reading regiment is like having a host of mentors in my life as I study scripture.  So with that in mind, here is my annual recommendation for reading a book a month in the coming year:

1.  The Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney

2.  Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas

3.  The Death of Death by John Owen

4.  Basic Christianity by John R.W. Stott

5.  The Jesus I Never Knew by Phillip Yancey

6.  Case for Christ by Lee Strobel 

7.  Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan

8.  Humility by C.J. Mahaney

9.  Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

10.  Abraham Lincoln by James McPherson

11.  Life Together by Dietrick Bonhoeffer 

12.  The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

This reading list has a pretty good mix of topics- and a few classics.  It will be a great challenge to read some of these books in just one month- but it is a worthy goal nonetheless.   Part of the reason I put the Rings trilogy and Narnia on the same list this year is because I went to see the movie "Avatar" over the Christmas break and came away from that movie mesmarized by the incredible special affects but really disturbed by the in your face New Age philosophy it espoused.  It left me longing for a modern day Lewis or Tolkein who can help reclaim a Christian worldview in story telling. 

I remember many years ago, when I was a youth pastor in South Carolina, I heard Jay Kessler give a lecture in which he made the observation that in the future "the East and West will pass in the night".  At the time I thought it sounded impossible.  But this year I visited pastors and churches in India who tell stories of incredible growth and I can see that the major church growth movements are taking place not in North America or Europe but in Asia and Africa.  At the same time it is not lost on me that the most expensive American movie ever made and by far the biggest box office hit is a movie that is named after a Buddhist god incarnate.   Looking back now about 20 years later it seems to me that Kessler's prophecy is coming true.

All the more reason for us to read and learn and to "always be prepared to give a reason for the hope" that we have.

Preperations

We are getting down to the final days before departure. Getting ready for travel anytime can be hectic, but seeing as its Mercury retrograde, things are made a little more so. We, after much deliberation, seem to have settled on a rough itinerary. It looks like there is simply too much to do in Thailand/Laos. Because of time constraints we decided no beaches. I know, go all the way to Southeast Asia and no beaches? I would love to see them too. However, we are traveling at high season and hordes of frat-boys trying to have a cultured experience are not our idea of fun. So, maybe some other time, for now... into the mountains.

I am looking at my inventory of things to pack and bring, its hard to think about what you will need over the course of four months and 3 countries. Clothes make up the smallest portion, mostly its medical supplies and electronics.... you know the essentials.

This is a test run on this blog, to see that it works, and that everyone can see it. Leave a comment and let me know.