Monday, September 9, 2013

Patterns of Normalcy

Patterns of normalcy... fancy title..
 What I am really trying to say is life has slipped into a comfortable routine.

One of my favorite routines is the nightly walk Carl and I have been carving into the evening hour. After  our dinner, and the subsequent clean up, we head out into the cooling darkness.

 A favorite destination is the large park a couple blocks away. Quieter now that the Chinese public schools have resumed classes, the park still teems with life. I enjoy watching the large groups of women dancing what appears to be line dancing, but I could be wrong.

Another favorite route of mine takes us past the small temples closer to our old apartment. I feel drawn to them, not because of their beauty or mystique, but for the opportunity to pray for the true God to be known to those who worship these false deities.

Carl's favorite route takes us past the tea shop that serves his current favorite: grapefruit green tea slushy.

Last week, one of our walks found us in the little park just at the back entrance of our community. Along the fence separating the park from our gated community, bloomed one of the largest, most beautiful flowers I have ever seen.



This picture, although beautiful, just doesn't seem to do the bloom justice. Maybe it was the unexpectedness of it. Or possibly its existence among the many weeds. Or maybe it's brightness despite the evening's darkness. Or it might just have been just the fact that it was so big and so bright.

I hope my life here in Taiwan can be like that flower. 

It is a spiritually dark world in which God has planted me. Satan has free reign among his false gods and ancestor worship. Weeds are everywhere, just waiting to choke out God's joy,  His peace, His love. But, yet I want to bloom and allow God's love, God's joy, God's peace to be seen and known. 

The flower couldn't control its circumstances, and neither can I. Yet, the flower not only existed, but thrived. And with God's strength , power, and wisdom, so will I.

Thank you for your prayers!

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