Boats, Planes and TukTuks

I’ve ridden all three in the last few days; each has a story of its own, and each a clear sign of God having a blast showing off how awesome he is and the delight he has in his childrens’ pleasure.

View of L.A. from the Yacht

Boats - I went to Venice with the original intent of seeing friends, relaxing, having time to just be with God and read and pray, and to live on an all “PB&J” style budget, but apparently God had other plans! I still had plenty of time to relax and enjoy being away from everything and just be with God, but He also allowed me time to experience a lifestyle I’ve always seen on television and magazines, but never really up close; a life of complete wealth in money. As a wrap up from the cliffhanger in LA last week; Leonard and I ended up having crazy adventures involving everything from Malibu beach houses, driving Mercedes-Benz convertibles to a day cruise on a 70 foot Italian Yacht. But the entire time I was experiencing this life of luxury, it was as if I could see through a different lense than I would normally. Everything seemed so shallow. While the furniture, electronics and vehicles were neat, it was impossible to not feel the looming aura of boredom and dissatisfaction with everything. Although I enjoyed every minute of my time with Leonard and his boss and friends, and while we had plenty of conversations about God and beliefs and his rags to riches story and my apparent paradigm to his, one verse kept coming up in my mind: 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”

 

Planes – From the moment I got out of Luke’s car at LAX, I felt completely covered and taken care of as for the traveling ahead. The flights went perfectly. I slept through most of the 13 hour flight from LA to Taipei making it seem like I flew across the Pacific Ocean in about 2 hours. (Which is a big deal considering I have never been able to sleep for more than 20 minutes on a plane, car or bus in my life!) Had a small layover in Taipei, just long enough to stretch my legs, send a quick word home and then board the plane bound for Chiang Mai. All in all, everything went perfectly according to plan!

TukTuks – The very first reaction I had to the heat, humidity, lush, exotic beauty that is known as Chiang Mai, Thailand was “This feels strangely like home in Peru!” Peru wasn’t nearly as lush and green, but just the business of cars and motorcycles, the brightly colored medians, and all around craziness of it brought me back to when I was living in Peru. After stopping at a coffee shop and hanging out with the girls on the team (minus Natalie and Caitlin), we headed to the orphanage where I got settled, showered, changed and then starting working on a couple small work projects. But the real joy of the day first came after working and sweating a whole ton and soaking through the clothes I had just changed into when it began to POUR! I absolutely love rain, but it’s infinitely better when it’s still 80 degrees and you’re already completely soaked and hot from sweating. Standing out in the cascading torrent enjoying the beauty of the moment thanking God for allowing me to be here. And then secondly, of course, was when I met the girls. I cannot describe the infinite beauty and precious details of each one to do them justice. But even though very few words were shared, I loved looking at the newspaper while Ahreeya read in Thai, the multitude of smiles and countless number of “Sawatdee kha” I received, and the random miscommunications of it all.

It has finally hit me that I’m in Thailand, and that there is real work to be done, but I never imagined it would be so blissfully pleasant.