Winter is around the corner here in Chiang Mai, which means that nights are cooler and I wear a jacket (ahem, or two…) when I ride my motorbike. But my Thai friends don’t seem to be to interested whether or not I’m cold on my bike going home late. No, on the hottest and sunniest days, in the middle of the day, my Thai friends […]
Happy Birthday Tesco Lotus!
Tesco Lotus is kinda the British version of Super Target and Wal-Mart Super Centers, and it has been in Thailand for a long time. 15 years, in fact. At least, that’s what I can tell. When I walked into Tesco yesterday, I was greeted with this: It says “Tesco Lotus: 15 years” – “celebrate attractively” “millions of prices to thank you” and “helping you save” […]
Visas! …And not the credit card type
At the end of August I made a quick day trip to Burma to renew my visa. With the visa I had, I was required to leave the country every 90 days. So, I took a bus to Mae Sai, the border town about 4 hours north of Chiang Mai. On the bus they gave me a water bottle, a snack, and an orange drink […]
A Room With a View
…Or an entire apartment. I have been in my new place for a month, and it feels like home. God blessed me with an eighth floor apartment with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. The building has a small pool and fitness center, and it’s just a few kilometers away from my favorite places to swim and run. I’m a few […]
It’s not the Motorbikes that are unsafe…
… it’s the people who drive them. On a bike ride last week I wished I had my camera to take a picture of this: an unhelmeted man driving a motorbike down the road while smoking, listening to music in headphones, and texting on his cell phone. No kidding. At least he was on the correct side of traffic. We won’t talk about driving on […]
Everything’s Better With Music
I bought a washing machine and it now sits in the corner of my bathroom and cleans my clothes! I’m really blessed to have one – thanks to the ladies of the San Bernardino Section for helping me to buy it! Washing machines are slightly different here in Thailand than in America. They are smaller, for one thing, and so I have to do several […]
I love my brother, and I love the body of Christ!
On Saturday, April 4th, my brother Evan had a bad bmx bicycle accident. He was at a college group retreat north of Bakersfield, and he was going off a wooden ramp, but something happened to the bike or ramp or both, we’re not sure. He faceplanted into the ramp, and was unconscious for several minutes. A helicopter flew him to the trauma center in Bakersfield, […]
POP!!! … flap flap flapflapFlapFlapFLAPFLAPFLAP
This is what I heard at 9:44pm while driving on Highway 60 from Fontana to Moreno Valley last Thursday night. And so began the tire adventure… At first when I heard the loud pop, I figured it was my water cooler lid blowing off – sometimes the container has problems adjusting to altitude changes. But then my car tail started to wiggle, and I heard […]
“Smack It!”
Special thanks to June, my pastor’s wife, for directing my attention to the June 8th entry in Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest. Here is an excerpt: “Launch all on God, go out on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and you will get your eyes open. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the smooth […]
G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S
Looking at a missionary’s life from newsletters and the stories they share seems to glamorize the career missionary experience. We share about the positives and the advances we have made for the Kingdom of God, so people will be encouraged, and motivated to pray and give. I have a few stories myself of the victories I’ve experienced as people come to Christ. Still, as I […]