Source: Character Sketches, Volume I, page 163
Amazing definition for Courage that definitely puts it in a new light. Then again, it really is just applying Philipians 4:13 to the word Courage. And opponents are not just physical enemies, they’re anything that keeps us from doing our job the way we should: distractions, discouragement, laziness, busyness with other things that are less important. With God, all things are possible, we just have to be willing vessels.
Dear God, give me the courage today to see everything in my life as an opportunity to grow in Christ. Let me be confident that You will make sure Your work is done, and I just have to be a willing vessel. Give me the patience to wait and see you work in my life, and the courage to keep working while I’m waiting. Amen.
Here’s some shots from our quick 3-day vacation to Jomtein Beach this past week. I had to go get my visa renewed in Bangkok, so once it was finished on Tuesday morning we headed south to the beach. We had a very nice stay, though the commercialism of the area almost takes the fun out of it. There are way too many venders nowadays along the beach trying to get you to purchase everything from shorts to sunglasses to slippers. Still, between the beach, hotel pool, and a great Mexican restaurant in the area, we had a great, refreshing time. We even managed to be a witness to several people during the trip, which was a blessing.
Now, unfortunately, summer is officially behind us, and my semester starts again on Monday. It’s been a great summer, though, and my work at HowtoGeek.com has helped pay for my classes, so I’m looking forward to getting started. Every class gets me closer to graduation … that’s what I have to remember :)
Funny English signs spotted in stores on our recent vacation. The first picture is rather blurry, but was definitely the funniest:
Our products have anti equipments.
If there are sound off,
please contact Cashier.
Hmm … I’ve never seen a store that wanted to destroy equipment before! :)
The most touching short video I’ve ever seen about a deaf girl playing the violin - a must-see. To think this is a commercial … this was honestly one of the top 10 short films I’ve ever seen. Amazing job, and if only more could grasp the message presented here. It’s amazing how many things in Thai media include deaf people, but this one beats any I’ve seen. It’s got English subcaptions with Thai spoken and sign language, so everyone in the US, feel free to view too :)
Pantene, you’re amazing for sponsoring such an awesome and inspirational video!
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Beautiful lighthouse picture … maybe it’s time to make a new logo for our church :)
Here’s some shots of the spike that I got pulled out of my tire last week. If you didn’t already read it, see the background story at Tire + Spike = Trouble
In my quest to both be green and save a little money, I’ve got our family saving plastic, metal, glass, and paper for recycling, and I usually take it to a recycling center near our house twice a month or so. We get about enough to buy a quart of milk per week from it, so not bad overall. That is, usually.
Of course, everything isn’t meant to be simple. This morning, I realized I’d forgotten to take the recycling for nearly a month, and empty bottles were threatening to take over the garage. That would never do, so it was time for action. I enlisted my younger brother Elijah to help me, and we set off to the recycling center with a station wagon full of trash, recycling, and more. But no more than I got to the recycling center than a worker informed me that my tire must have a hole. The tire he mentioned has had occasional problems with leaking air, so I didn’t think much at first, but quickly figured out there was more of a problem than usual when I looked at the tire and heard air hissing out of the tire. Recycling forgotten for the moment, we quickly drove over to a tire shop to get it fixed before it was totally flat.
Now, when you’re driving a 22 year old vehicle, you should always expect odd things to happen. But you never expect to get a 7 inch piece of metal stuck in your tire. I mean, how often do you drive over things and never think about them getting stuck in your tire? I’ve surely driven over millions of things that would be more likely to get embedded in a tire. The mechanic was absolutely amazed as he pulled it out … he said he’d never seen anything that sized in a standard tire before. And then, as he patched the tire, he discovered yet another hole, this one caused by a small 2 inch long screw. It’s amazing I had any air left in the tire.
God must have a sense of humor; He didn’t just let my tire go flat, He let me have an absolutely crazy tire problem so I could get a laugh out of it. So I spent around $10 getting the tire fixed, got about $8 for the recycling, and came back $2 and 2 hours poorer. But, I’d gotten to invite a receptionist at the tire shop to church, and she was genuinely interested in coming to English class. Plus, I had an incredible story to tell, and would always remember that problems just happen, and sometimes the best thing we can do is to just go along with them, see the best, and thank God for protecting us when we don’t even know He is. That’s not such a bad deal, right?
Pardon the mess … I’ve been testing out Tumblr tweaks, themes, and settings for my Tumblr articles at How-to Geek, so everything’s been changing 10 times a minute :)
It’ll be back to normal soon, hopefully with a more awesome theme than ever!
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