Balinese Dancing

Stopped by an art store while out and about. This is a typical Indonesian painting and portrays a Balinese dance. The island of Bali is beautiful, a favorite tourist attraction and largely Hindu in religion.

Mumps and Cake

"D" is now over his mumps. When I caught up with him he was just waking up from a nap on the love seat and started "reading" his Bible. I told him I had brought cake if he wanted any and he ignored me for a time.... Kids...! Gotta love 'em. These are easy to love.

Meals On Wheels

These are food vendors who wheel their carts into the business centers to feed hot food to the office workers. I don't eat here because I have serious issues with their sanitation procedures and washing up afterwards. However, one missionary and I did eat at such a stall back in 1968. It was a stall that served pork with noodles and the food was delicious. We went there often until we found flies in the bottom of our bowls. That ended that. Anyway, these wheeled in soup kitchens give a new meaning to the expression "Meals on Wheels." They wheel in for a couple of hours then are wheeled to a new location for the dinner/supper crowd. The food of the vendors must be good. They never seem to lack for customers.

Feeding the Street Kids

We're still feeding the street children...20 a day. We never seem to run out of kids to feed. KOI-kidsofindonesia.org

Hottest meat in the world

I’m sitting here laughing at myself this morning. I’m eating Naomi’s Rendang which has to be some of the hottest (spiciest) meat in the world. If you sweat when you eat hot spicy meat then better bring a bath towel to the table. You’re gonna need it. I don’t sweat...I sneeze my head off and my nose begins to run like the Amazon…well, at least like the Mississippi…Missouri??? Why do I punish myself like this? Well, because I love hot spicy food, especially meat. since I don’t eat carbos. So, I guess I’ll put up with the sneezing and runny nose. I’m well fed and I haven’t gained an ounce. I’m 68 kilos this morning. That’s the same as it’s been for the last several months, maybe even a year already. Yeah…..! :-)

Recently a friend sent me an email emphasizing the importance of the eternal over the temporary and how he was made to realize that after a bout with prostate cancer 14 years ago. I couldn't agree more. An amended form of my reply is as follows and I though it might be worth sharing.

"When I had my last of three open heart surgeries, I told everyone who came to pray with/for me to please pray but not to ask for my recovery. This was one time I could honestly say with Paul that to depart and be with the Lord would be my desire; but, if He found it better for me to remain for the sake of others, then I was ready for either option. I did not pray thus because I thought I deserved to go to Heaven…but because I believed in the One who promised to take me there. Obviously He thinks I’m still needed here, so, in spite of my failures, I'm still doing my best not to disappoint Him."

Feeding the Street Children

Strictly speaking perhaps these are not "street children" since they live with their parents who illegally build their shacks on land owned by others out of materials scavenged from the dumps. The parents also spend their days searching for anything that can be recycled and earn at most about $2 a day. Sometimes the children beg. Few attend school. They are not starving but they know what hunger is. There are probably 1000's of these children in this city of 28 million souls. We feed 20 a day.