Oh, the places you go
and the things that you do.
I realize I haven't blogged in a minute; terribly sorry. Sometimes it's difficult to find what exactly I should be writing to you all about. Life is constant over here (as it is most everywhere, surely), whether experienced in small or profound moments, it never ceases and it never takes a break to wait for you to play catch up.
One must sift through the innumerable grains of the everyday and decide what, between the minutia and the major, to report upon. What exactly holds weight? What is noteworthy? Is the idea is to craft something entertaining and/or informative, emotive, journalistic, what? I have so much to say; yet the thoughts won't seem to organize themselves.
Here is a scattered list of the things that have been going on:
1. My dream of eating a tarantula has finally been realized as of yesterday! It was fried and dipped in sauce, so kindly brought back from the central open market by fellow g-squad member, Jordan.
2. I've been getting over a fear of public speaking since being on the Race. This endeavor has recently culminated in me delivering the sermon today at church. On the list of things that I never saw myself doing, this was one of them.
3. I have realized that you can be anywhere in the world and despite one's location, life's potential can still go unexperienced. There are days that I would rather stay at the base and sleep the day away or sit in the limited air condition and zone out instead of putting forth my energy to the ministry at hand. This just goes to show I'm still human, not that there ever was a doubt. The Race is an incredible opportunity and yet it still calls us to consciously put our best efforts forward daily. It's no vacation.
4. Most standards are subject to change out here in the rest of the world. We've had our cereal become the stomping grounds for small tribes of sugar ants recently; the solution: shake em' out and kill them as they run. I think if this happened back in the states that my breakfast would have gone in the trash and eggs would have been voted the better option.
5. Life is about perspective. The debate is not about the glass being half full or half empty but if the circumstance is pain or simply suffering, if the trials are refining or stifling, if the day has been well spent or wasted. This stems from an attitude of thankfulness. “Man, I am sick of sweating nonstop and wiping my brow on my sleeve.” I have a shirt that's clean and I didn't have to wash it by hand. In fact, I have five shirts that are like this while half the kids over here are wearing old ski pants or nothing at all because of their limited resources. In every situation we complain, I find we can think twice about our circumstance.
6. Excluding dear friends and family, the things that I am craving are these: my critters back at home; Kobe and Molly; green grass, driving freely, non-instant coffee at a coffee shop that I wasn't using strictly for internet use and Crest 3D White toothpaste. It's the simple pleasures of home, not so much the adventures I could have while there.
7. On the flip side, the idolization of home is such a sham. I don't let the thoughts of home carry me away too much, but we Racers have to fight to be present on the whole. We have a tendency to run back to the familiar and engraved. It is easier to autopilot than it is to drive standard. It is easier to live in the dreams of the future than be committed to the business of the here and now.
8. Just because I am abroad doesn't mean that I've lost all interest in the things I found appeal in before I left. Frankly, being surrounded by motorcycles every waking moment of being in Asia and Central America has driven me into a further interest of automotive gadgetry on the whole. I decided I was going to do something about it.
9. My Nalgene, airporter and sleeping bag liner were some of the best pre-Race purchases made. My Nalgene is in constant, indestructible use; my airporter saves me a world of frustration on travel days; my sleeping bag liner can also be used as a sheet so I don't slide off my sleeping mat in the middle of the night.
10. The people of Cambodia are precious. They're a genuine people and there's hardly a moment we're not sharing either in laughter or quiet understanding, despite the language barriers. Body language goes a long way.
11. I absolutely love Jesus; yet, this hardly makes me a perfect person or one without trials and temptations. However, without depth, how can we experience height? Without the freedom to choose, there is no room to love.
12. Had the privilege of visiting Angkor Wat, Cambodia- the largest religious monument in the world and we depart for Rwanda, Africa in six days; I am enthralled with living this crazy life! Yesss!
