Just shake your head and smile

Found myself in an uncomfortable situation Friday night. I was hosting our weekend guest groups and chatting with a few of them when there arose a debate between an ex-nun turned pentecostal intercessor and a claimed 'non-denominational' but actually conservative type of Plymouth Brethren pastor from India on the importance of miraculous signs in a believers life. I'm not a huge fan of debates, or "dialogue" as EMU so endearingly referred to them, so this was one of those moments I just wanted to sink into the trap cushion of the couch and disappear. Since that was not an option, I tried to add to the discussion in such a way as to emphasize the points they did agree on. The conversation came to a somewhat peaceful end with them agreeing that the main thing is to love one another and non-believers and I exited the scene as quickly as possible. Thankfully, the rest of the weekend was devoid of such conversations.

One of the groups was families of Indian decent. I had never really interacted with people of India before and I must say I really enjoyed connecting with them. I've heard a saying that whatever you've heard about China is true somewhere in China because it is so huge and diverse. I bet the same is true about India, though I can't say I've heard much. For what seems like a long time I've felt a call to Asia. I have a natural draw to China because of visiting it but in comparison to the friendliness of Indians, Chinese are somewhat awkward. Think I'll stop there with the stereotyping...

A calling to Asia is so vague and obviously I don't know what the future holds. All I know is WHO holds the future. So maybe this weekend was the tip of the iceburg of where my future may go. At the very least, I'm thankful for the opportunity to interact with another culture and see the beauty of the family of God.

Dancing is not something I can do when another human being is around. My brain spins in wild circles telling me to MOVE! but my eyes glaze over and avert everything but the ground, my hips suddenly gunk up with rust, my feet fill with lead and if a boy touches my hands, my face burns red. Its actually quite sad. I watch movies like Take the Lead & Dirty Dancing making mental notes I'll only use in my dreams. However, if no one else is around, I can bust a move or two, watch out. Jack Johnson croned as I danced all over the kitchen the other night preparing dinner. It was simply wonderful.

Random fart story... it was around 11:30 pm and I was on my way to turn off lights in a building before heading to bed. There was an older man a little ways ahead of me on the path. I guess he didn't hear me coming up behind him because out of nowhere there was this juicy, quite audible squeak. It wasn't me which left just one other soul -- busted! Immediately after the gastric expulsion his head spins around to check the scene. Of course I was looking right at him but tried the ole look-to-the-left-and-act-like-nothing-happened, gaze up at the night sky and DON'T LAUGH. For a few seconds I just starred at the back of his head and enjoyed the moment with a huge grin on my face. I caught up to and passed him and casually said, "Time for bed, huh?"