1 Cor 13:7, Easy-to-Read Version

"Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits."

what is your eating implement of choice?

With my family and friends in the States, I use a fork, knife and spoon. Generally, using the fork and spoon in my right hand unless cutting something with a knife, in which my fork then shifts to my left hand while I hold a knife in my right. The exception is foods like tacos, hamburgers, and sandwiches in which using my hands is acceptable. :)

Then I moved to Kenya. :) The eating implements of choice change to a decent sized spoon (rice, beans, githeri, soup) and/or my right hand (chappati, beef, ugali, sukuma wiki, chicken).

Among my Indian & Ethiopian friends, I dropped all implements except my right hand. :) This is, by far, my favorite way to eat. (Unless, of course, I'm the ONLY one eating with my hands, and everyone else is using cutlery -- I have only once found myself in this position, and it was very uncomfortable.)

A visit to Japan and out came the chopsticks. These are my second favorite eating implement. :) [However, I did discover on my last day, as I just had to try some famous Japanese Ramen at the airport before my flight left... that--even though I know how to use chopsticks--actually eating ramen with chopsticks is no easy task! I suddenly felt sorry for anyone sitting in the restaurant around me who had to witness such a thing as my (probably) terrible table manners! I tried my best!]

In the Philippines, it is back to fork, spoon, and knife -- but the method is different. Your hold the spoon in your right hand, and use the fork in your left hand to guide food onto my spoon. Pretty nifty strategy. :)

Fun, fun... sharing meals with people around the world is pretty cool.

the sharp seed of Love

Much-Afraid shrank back. "I am afraid," she said. "I have been told that if you really love someone you give that loved one the power to hurt and pain you in a way nothing else can."

"That is true," agreed the Shepherd. "To love does mean to put yourself into the power of the loved one and to become very vulnerable to pain, and you are very Much-Afraid of pain, are you not?"

She nodded miserably and then said shamefacedly, "Yes, very much afraid of it."

"But it is so happy to love," said the Shepherd quietly. "It is happy to love even if you are not loved in return. There is pain too, certainly, but Love does not think that very significant."

 Much-Afraid thought suddenly that He had the most patient eyes she had ever seen.

..."But, Much-Afraid, I have already warned you that Love and Pain go together, for a time at least. If you would know Love, you must know Pain too."

... It was true, just as He had said, it did cause piercing pain, but... then, suddenly, a sweetness she had never felt or imagined before tingled through her. It was bittersweet, but the sweetness was the stronger.

 Excerpt taken from Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. Tyndale House Publishers, 1975, pgs 25-8.

Unstoppable

Oh, Africa, why must you still keep my heart?
Oh, Asia, how I fear giving you my heart...
and opening up
and pouring out.
But the story doesn't stop here. It goes on.
It is not my story. It is His.
Of a Love so perfect, so holy, so complete--
that it defies all fear
it laughs in the face of limitations
it tears down walls
in simple, gentle sincerity.
It is... undeniable. Undefeated. Unquenchable.
Unstoppable.

new beginnings

I'm leaving again! =)

So, this is kind of funny -- When I left for Africa, I left on 8 Oct. When I got home from Africa, it was 8 July. Now, I leave for Asia on 8 Feb. No, this was not intentional, but apparently I have something going on with the number 8. Ha!

I've written a good many blog posts in my head this past week, but none that I've actually been able to change into coherent, linear, rational English. However, I think I can finally summarize my whirlwind of thoughts into this one equation:
what I gain - what I lose = no comparison
And, the end results, are always far beyond my silly little dreams.
That's just how my King works.

Though, some days, obedience still feels an awful lot like cliff-jumping. ;)