Days go by...

Sorry this post is late; I was on a trip to visit some partners this week and haven’t had much time to catch up quite yet.

On the trip we saw lots of cows. I also saw a pink goat. I decided to ask about this curiosity. The reason for the goat being pink you might ask? They just said that a kid did it. I guess I should have seen that one coming.

Roast goat anyone?

I ate a lot of Bengali food while I was on the trip. I managed to get to try chicken, goat, duck, and quail on this adventure. I drank lots of tea too. It’s starting to get to the point where I bite into a chili pepper in a food and think, “mmm that’s a good taste” rather than, “crap here comes the heat.” In fact I now often finish meals only to realize that my mouth is warm and I didn’t even notice the food was spicy at all. I do still refuse to give dried fish balls a third chance though. I’m sure I’ll cave eventually and do it but those stupid things tasted super nasty the first two times.

They have begun creating the bricks for the walls of our future house. In the mean time we are still living at the office. Living in limbo is really starting to get old but I’ll survive.

As a result of the warmer weather that has been occurring lately the mosquitoes are out in force now. I really, really, really hate mosquitoes.

Speaking of lizards, we found one frozen solid in my co-worker’s freezer yesterday. That was rather odd. I took it outside and I’m guessing it will be gone soon, I saw the ants eating at it last night already.

A group of us got together for a worship service last night and we are going to try to make it a more regular thing. We discussed how God speaks to people in the time we live in. The thing that struck me through all of this was how we, like Samuel, may not be able to understand what God is saying to us in whatever way God tries to communicate with us without an “Eli” in our life. You might ponder what this means in a practical application? It seems to me that it means seeking the collective wisdom as to how God might be “speaking” to you through fellow Christians, preferably those older than you and as a result wiser. I’m sure anyone who follows this path will be frustrated at times by the loss of some independence and privacy that we as Americans have come to enjoy but I fail to see where that is a problem. What does independence and privacy get us? I would propose that it gives us a concern for ourselves above all else which goes right in the face of loving your neighbor as you love yourself. That said, I don’t think listening to those that are wise means blindly following them. We are the salt of the earth after all and what good is salt if it loses its saltiness? Besides, God calls us each as God sees fit, so what wisdom one person has to share might not be entirely applicable to our situation or relationship with God.

That said, I listened to God’s calling which why I’m in Bangladesh and now it is seeming like I might have listened to God’s calling only to find out that I still need to learn how to listen to God’s calling. If this is the case, I find this quite ironic and hilarious. The random picture that goes along with this thought in my mind is that of me and God leaving my house on a journey. God has a dirty pair of shoes in one hand and the key to the lock on that shiny bike sitting a few feet away in the other hand. He tosses me the shoes, says, “let’s go” and then whispers, “I’ll be riding this beside you as you walk for whenever you figure out how to ride.” That might not be an entirely accurate way of portraying these thoughts correctly but it makes me smile, so I think I’ll keep it. Ugh, this all seems so fragmented and disorganized, if you need any part of this explained or feel like challenging any of these notions just let me know.

Seriously, let me know, I have lots of time for contemplation here.