saigon traffic

i'll say this. they have the whole share the road thing down to beyond a fine art and pretty much into a life philosophy. the way the cars mopeds bicycles and pedestrians move contemporaneously symbiotically and in ten different directions at once around a circle is breathtaking. the only thing that keeps me from breaking into spontaneous applause is the fact of my own progress through the circle as an erstwhile pedestrian.

tourist tips to surviving the traffic:

- take a motorcycle tour. the riders are so cool about the traffic that you begin to acquire some nonchalance yourself, against all better judgment

- step out onto the road into incoming traffic close your eyes and walk. it'll be ok. BUT ONLY IN SAIGON. not in singapore or kuala lumpur 

- don't be too uptight about rules and who has right of way. because the only rule they follow is to stop at red lights. approximately

my bottle of tears

though it seems that your prayers have been in vain

...though your heart should ache 'til it break in two

they that sow in tears shall reap in joy

- Gaither and Gaither, 1964

the tears and the joy the hopes and the fears pass by

and i think, not that God has not tested, but that he has tested and comforted

so that the memory remains, and only the memory of the pain

not quite the tinsel

 but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  and because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”  so you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

- Gal. 4: 4-7

fullness. time. redemption. freedom.
it's ok if you can't relate to the Santa hats and wrapping paper and exuberant good cheer.

in wonderment and gratitude

it's december. it's been a flurry of hazy memories. we went. he died. he did. they did. she did it. we went again. we're twenty-seven. we four and dog.

what have i done, i ask, to deserve such unbounded goodness? such kindness and generous joys? it's a bit late for thanksgiving, which slipped by in work and travel and meetings and deadlines. but it's not late for thanksgiving, to God who gives good things to enjoy.

my family and other animals (gerry durrell, 1956)

note to self: you need to read more than trade journals and the world wide web!!!

this book comes from childhood days, like narnia and the little house on the prairie, except that i never got to it until that chance acquisition from the used books store the other day.

this book comes from another time - a time of leisurely gentlemen's pursuits and home-schooling and multiple meandering roads to adulthood. there is no character development, which makes this good to read fitfully over weeks of bedtimes. he waxes on about sun and moon and land creatures and sea creatures and air creatures and i would skip the passages but for the spell of words that holds me. his conversations are what i wish i could produce in my next argument with random irritants. i laugh out loud on a regular basis, and especially at the close of the book.

the blurb on the cover says bewitching. i agree. if a life-long lover of creature comforts can be charmed into thinking that natural history may have merits, that is almost occult indeed. 

😅 almost lost the blog

i get caught up 

in work

and birthdays

and death

and graduation

and illness

and stuff

and a new laptop

and i forget the address to my blog

because life happens

birthday prayer, J2

that he would grant you to be strengthened through his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith, that you may comprehend the love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

and that you may find friendship in all and new places, that you may extend fellowship and find it, that the labor of your hands may bear much rich fruit, that the paths you walk may be straight and broad and that your ankle may not turn.

that you will desire the best of God's good gifts, that you may find the desires of your heart, that the new year will fill your cup and spill it over in joy.