the glory and the horror

Tonight, the Chamberlins had me over for dinner, and it was a lot of fun. They live in this nice little area north of me, and their house is right next to some tennis courts, which is GREAT for them, since they love tennis. They also have a little 9-hole golf course behind them, with a lot of water hazards We had a great time reminiscing about East Asia, about our friends there, the students, and just how much fun it was, and how much fun it was to see God work in and through us there. We also called Onnie, just to talk to her, and we accidentally caught her in the middle of a Bible study (sorry Onnie!).

I really miss the team. I miss Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, Wednesday evenings, Friday evenings, the random visits, the hanging out in the courtyard with the bicycles and the bubbles, xiao gou, the radio flyer, my 12 speed gamma bike. I miss the community, the closeness, the knowing that I could share anything with them, and that I wanted to share my entire life with them, that I wanted them to call me on my sins, that I knew I could be real with them. Not that I don’t necessarily feel free to be real here, but it’s just different. I still feel like I’m getting to know the place, the people, here. It’s part of the transition, I suppose, of going from being known and knowing, to being unknown and not knowing, and I’m working on being known and knowing again. Reese is really a wonderful blessing in this process, because he doesn’t have any ulterior motives, and is very honest and authentic in everything. I especially appreciated his coming up to me last night, and clarifying the arrangement that we made regarding food, and how communal we wanted it to be, and so on. He didn’t have to, but he did. And that’s what makes it memorable.

Just thoughts.