#really Applebees is where you go if you want a meal but don't want anything spectacular | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

stonewallsposts · 1 year

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Friends coming

We are having some friends come to stay with us for two weeks this month. This couple currently lives in Cambodia, but they come back to the states every few years and while they're here in the LA area, they usually stay with us for some time. I'm really looking forward to seeing them again. Last time was in 2019. They would have come in 2021, but covid wrecked that plan. So it's been 4 years since I've seen them. I'm taking off 6 of the 10 working days so I can spend some time with them. Unfortunately, my wife can't take off that time because she just started this new job 6 months ago and hasn't built up that much PTO yet. What she has built up, she needs to save for when we go to Rome later this year.

The husband in this couple is American, from Missouri. His wife is Japanese, from Hiroshima. They met as students at Biola and had a call to move to Cambodia as missionaries. So they've been living there for I don't even know how many years now- probably around 15 or so. They have one son, who will probably be quite a bit taller this time.... he was I think 9 last time he was here... he'll now be 13, so I'm expecting he'll have changed quite a bit.

I have learned so much over the years by listening to this couple. Some of the things they've taught me about life outside the US has helped me understand the bible.

I'll give you an example. He told me that in Cambodia, the policemen aren't paid by the state. Men pay for state permission to police a given area. They then hire other men to help them enforce the "law" in their area. So all the policing in a given area is essentially controlled by a local mob boss who has state permission. The cops are then given free rein in their area, and indeed, their livelihood and their ability to pay their own guys is dependent on getting money from those in their area.

How, you might ask, does that help you understand the bible?

Well, tax collectors in the old Roman empire essentially worked under the same deal. They bought their way into the position, and then had state sanction to collect as much as they could from the people. The state wanted its cut, but anything else the collectors could get would pay their salary... and possibly make them rich depending on how much they could squeeze.

Another particular thing I remember him telling me is in the area of God's provision. I had remembered a story about a missionary who had been out, caught in a storm, and unable to see how he would be rescued, laid down in the snow and prepared to die. He woke up in the morning surrounded by animal tracks. Apparently, they had slept next to him and kept him sheltered from the snow. I had mentioned that I would love to see this kind of provision from the Lord.

He mentioned a story he knew of where a missionary was hungry and had no food. Out of the blue, a cat wandered over with a fish and dropped it at his feet. My friend mentioned that while this would seem more 'miraculous', if, when I was hungry, given the choice between a cat dropping a fish at my feet, or someone showing up with a $50 gift certificate to Applebees... which would I rather have?

Both can be sent by the Lord, but the first "feels" more miraculous to us than the second. That's only our perception of it. I granted that I would much rather have the gift certificate and began to see the Lord's provision in a different light. It's easy to think that there is nothing special in the way we earn our keep or pay our bills. But in fact, even those are provisions from the Lord. They just don't feel like it.

Anyway, there have been so many other things that this couple has blessed me with over the years that I love to provide them a place when they come here. I'm looking forward to treating them to some awesome meals while they're here, and some more great conversation.

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