Watch over me

"The LORD 

watches over

the sojourners"

Ps. 146:9a, ESV

Sojourner, Traveller --that's me
And the LORD watches over the sojourners

The LORD is watching over me

The LORD will continue to watch over me

Over my life

Over my future

Wherever I go

Whoever I meet

No matter how alone it feels at times

No matter how far from "home" I am

The LORD is near

He is 

watching over me

Thank You LORD

How does a heart...

How does a heart hold all this
How does one contain
How do I treasure
and yet let go
the joys
the memories
the relationships
the closeness

And how do I endure
the pain
of leaving
of going

And steel myself
once again
for...

How do I navigate
How can I learn
to not live so extreme
I don't have to be alone
I'm not
just don't always know how
or neglect
to bring others in

No one taught me
How to live this life
And there are certainly plenty of detractors
Real and imagined

The only way I see
Has always been the only way
To somehow know You
Be led by You


I'm finding posts previously written...saved in drafts...this one was Feb. 27, 2013--so that was the day I left Texas, anticipating Calgary for 4 days, Toronto for 4 days, then back to the other side of the world. The night before leaving Texas--I was feeling the ripping. I hadn't expected to so connect with those two boys. Yep, "Spark" and "Bright Eyes" (我爱你们！), you crawled up into my heart and made it hard to leave. And I was getting tired of and wondering how on earth I was supposed to take it, to navigate this "connect ... cut ... connect ... cut" of seeing people again, going deep, then the severing 'good-bye'...

Great Place to Spend a Day!

I was there about 8 hours.  I was kind of tired at the beginning--hadn't eaten or had anything to drink for 9 hours--that means...no morning coffee!  But after a while I started waking up.  Once I could drink some juice, I think the sugar kicked in and I was alert enough to think and read.  I did my daily Bible reading, caught up on yesterday's and today's. Did some journalling and pondering too. I was seated in the midst of the nations it seemed--so many differing modes of dress--mostly from Arabic nationalites and countries. For my last couple of hours, I was first in the bookstore (somehow it always feels good to buy a good book), then I meandered up the escalator to the food court where I enjoyed a chicken quesadilla while reading 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and let my mind ponder how we might become more successful at "stewardship delegation" in our office. The atmosphere was quiet and clean, with lots of green and open spaces--so conducive to a quiet soul and pondering. On the way out I picked up a low-fat grande latte from Starbucks, and I was on my way home.

Where was I having such a nice day? At the hospital, of course--Bumrungrad International.  Now at how many hospitals would you say that after visiting for 8 hours?

What a country...

A woman was speaking in the massage shop beside the restaurant in which I was eating.  Yeah, it looks like a good and legit massage shop...open for all the world to see--actually, you'd get a massage as you are looking onto a beach and ocean.  Nice.

" {Thai language...something, something, something...} sex-EE! "

I looked over...who was saying what to whom? She was fingering through a small girl's hair--looked like it had just been washed. The girl looked to be 7 or 8.

"Sexy" --is that all a female thinks of being here?

Two days ago some of us were talking. I mentioned a statistic I had heard. Beyond all the foreigners coming here for the sex trade, it's pretty much a part of the local culture. Years ago I heard a CNN report that said 70% of Thai men lose their virginity to a prostitute. A woman who had worked in the country for many years made it clear that she thinks it is higher than that. Fathers take their sons to a prostitute for the 'first time', show them how to be with a woman.


So, little girl, you want to be "sex-EE".

Yeah...this could be an over-reaction, taking one little comment too far. However, knowing what happens with adults in families, today, looking at children, I couldn't help but imagine their futures...and then hope and pray for a DIFFERENT future for them.