Sunday, June 01, 2003
Entry #3: Just a few more hours...
I can't believe that we're down to the last few hours before we go. I've been trying to keep myself busy for the last few days so I don't climb the walls anticipating the trip. I am all packed, with a few pounds to spare (See? God DOES still perform miracles today!). The realization that whatever I take over there with me will probably stay there has helped curb my packrat tendencies. I keep bouncing back and forth between feeling excited and a little scared. I have never really been out of the country before.. when I was really young we lived in Korea and Japan, but I hardly remember it. I have been working on learning Thai for the last couple of months, so I have some basic stuff down, like "Where is the bathroom?" "Can I have some chicken stir fry?" and "I don't speak Thai." Oh, yeah, I think I've covered all the bases.. I can also count to a little over a hundred and know the names for most of the food and fruits that I will probably want to buy. This is all thanks to my friend Lowell who is already in Chaing Mai for the summer. He's also given me a crash course in the culture, so hopefully I will avoid offending anyone too badly.
To pass the time, I have also put a lot of work into my webpage. Dad has let me pretty much take over the computer and the scanner for the last few days, so I have posted a lot of pictures of family and friends. (If you want to check it out, please feel free to go there and look around.) It seems like the last few weeks have been a lot of changes and preparation for the future. I mean, I graduated from Berea and had to deal with leaving my home for the last few years, as well as all my friends and church family. Just two weeks prior to that, I was accepted to a graduate program to which I had never even been to before. Also, people were always asking me about my trip this summer and if I was excited or scared or what. And I was glad that people were asking me, because I wanted others to know about it... and I WAS excited, but it was almost like I couldn't deal with thinking about another change in my life until I had dealt with the immediate ones. I had more than one cry the last couple of weeks of school, but I had some great people who helped me through it. Once I got home I was ready to prepare for Thailand everything along with that; I feel rested emotionally and physically, and I am more than ready to go.
This feels kinda weird, posting an online journal for whoever wants to see it. I almost feel like I don't have anything really profound to say, at least nothing that others will really care to read. But I figure if nothing else I will have something to record my experience and to remind me of how God has worked in miraculous ways over and over again. So all is not in vain. :)
This will be my last entry before I leave, so I am going to leave you with something that I wrote a few years ago. I just dug it up the other day, and thought I might share it, even though it is pretty rough and not exactly a Pulizer Prize winner.. it was derived from Proverbs 23:26, which says "My child, give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways."
I'll try to make another post as soon as I get over the jet lag and find a computer in Chaing Mai.. God be with you!
Written: 7/23/00, revised 6/1/03
Lord, I will give You my heart
And my eyes will keep to Your ways.
I will cast all that I am aside
And sacrifice my flesh and pride
So that everything I do brings You honor and praise.
Father, just to be with You
And to be safe from perils and pain...
My heart yearns to see Your face,
To hide away within Your embrace
Someday I'll crawl into Your lap and there I will remain.
So as I lay here before You now
I can't help but feel so small and weak;
My words will never fully express
All the glory you possess
So I will just stop and listen to You speak.
I can't believe that we're down to the last few hours before we go. I've been trying to keep myself busy for the last few days so I don't climb the walls anticipating the trip. I am all packed, with a few pounds to spare (See? God DOES still perform miracles today!). The realization that whatever I take over there with me will probably stay there has helped curb my packrat tendencies. I keep bouncing back and forth between feeling excited and a little scared. I have never really been out of the country before.. when I was really young we lived in Korea and Japan, but I hardly remember it. I have been working on learning Thai for the last couple of months, so I have some basic stuff down, like "Where is the bathroom?" "Can I have some chicken stir fry?" and "I don't speak Thai." Oh, yeah, I think I've covered all the bases.. I can also count to a little over a hundred and know the names for most of the food and fruits that I will probably want to buy. This is all thanks to my friend Lowell who is already in Chaing Mai for the summer. He's also given me a crash course in the culture, so hopefully I will avoid offending anyone too badly.
To pass the time, I have also put a lot of work into my webpage. Dad has let me pretty much take over the computer and the scanner for the last few days, so I have posted a lot of pictures of family and friends. (If you want to check it out, please feel free to go there and look around.) It seems like the last few weeks have been a lot of changes and preparation for the future. I mean, I graduated from Berea and had to deal with leaving my home for the last few years, as well as all my friends and church family. Just two weeks prior to that, I was accepted to a graduate program to which I had never even been to before. Also, people were always asking me about my trip this summer and if I was excited or scared or what. And I was glad that people were asking me, because I wanted others to know about it... and I WAS excited, but it was almost like I couldn't deal with thinking about another change in my life until I had dealt with the immediate ones. I had more than one cry the last couple of weeks of school, but I had some great people who helped me through it. Once I got home I was ready to prepare for Thailand everything along with that; I feel rested emotionally and physically, and I am more than ready to go.
This feels kinda weird, posting an online journal for whoever wants to see it. I almost feel like I don't have anything really profound to say, at least nothing that others will really care to read. But I figure if nothing else I will have something to record my experience and to remind me of how God has worked in miraculous ways over and over again. So all is not in vain. :)
This will be my last entry before I leave, so I am going to leave you with something that I wrote a few years ago. I just dug it up the other day, and thought I might share it, even though it is pretty rough and not exactly a Pulizer Prize winner.. it was derived from Proverbs 23:26, which says "My child, give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways."
I'll try to make another post as soon as I get over the jet lag and find a computer in Chaing Mai.. God be with you!
Written: 7/23/00, revised 6/1/03
Lord, I will give You my heart
And my eyes will keep to Your ways.
I will cast all that I am aside
And sacrifice my flesh and pride
So that everything I do brings You honor and praise.
Father, just to be with You
And to be safe from perils and pain...
My heart yearns to see Your face,
To hide away within Your embrace
Someday I'll crawl into Your lap and there I will remain.
So as I lay here before You now
I can't help but feel so small and weak;
My words will never fully express
All the glory you possess
So I will just stop and listen to You speak.
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