MicahJohn

Listening to my pride I often do foolish things. Sometimes more foolish than others. Sometimes the consequences aren’t immediately clear, other times they are.

Yesterday I was running barefoot. I’d finished running as far as I thought was a good idea if I wanted to keep my feet happy. While I as cooling down, one of my neighbors challenged me to a race. I think they thought that my shoelessness gave them a sure bet. Enter Pride. I could have just said, “wait ’til I get some shoes on.” Instead I asked, “how far?”

The distance set, we took off. We didn’t finish the set distance, my neighbor started too fast for himself. I, in keeping even with my neighbor, had been pushing off pretty hard with my bare feet. I won, but learned that brick paths are quite effective at peeling the pads off the bottom of big toes. Maybe one day I’ll learn, that showing off isn’t always worth the cost.

Last night at dinner I picked up a copy of อภินิหารเมสสิยาห์, the Thai translation of Manga Messiah. It is the gospel story told in the Japanese cartoon style.

As of now I’ve read 95 pages of it. I’m rather impressed. It is easy reading (it’s a comic). I’m enjoying the Thai reading practice. It is something I could hand a curious student. It gives quick little explanations of things someone from outside the churched world might not understand. Most of the time these explanations are adroitly woven into the dialogue; occasionally they get a little clunky, but I think they are still worth having.

I’ve been impressed by how thorough the narrative is. More of the four gospels is brought into it than might be guessed given that it is a comic book.

It’s not perfect. The Pharisees are perhaps drawn over-heavily into the role of villain. Occasionally extra bits of dialogue, intended to explain things, venture beyond fact into postulation. Nonetheless, I give the first 95 pages a solid A.

P.S. Take this evaluation with a bag of salt. I’m reading this in Thai. I could be missing all kinds of implicit things in the language.

A little piece of Thailand, now available in Tennessee. This made me smile.

The analogy of the Moon has been growing on me. I’ve realized that it can be expanded.

The light of the Moon, is the reflected light of the Sun. The light of the Sun is its own. The Buddha spoke many truths. Jesus is the Truth.

The light of the Moon doesn’t give life. The Sun sustains all life on the earth.

I’m very (probably overly) proud of myself. I have now written a song in Thai. Below is the Thai version of Waiting Song. If you speak Thai, please give me some input. Does it makes sense?

รอคอยเธอ

ฉันอยากเจอเธอตอนนี้
ฉันอยากจับมือของเธอ
แต่จะรอให้พระเจ้า
ได้เตรียมเธอไว้

ไม่ต้องให้เธอเร่งรีบ
เธอไม่ต้องมาเดี๋ยวนี้
เพราะเธอมีค่าอย่างยิ่ง
ฉันจะรอ . . . รอคอยเธอ

จะอธิษฐานในช่วงนี้
ให้พระเจ้าดูแลเธอ
และให้พระองค์เปลี่ยนเรา
ให้เป็นคู่จากพระเจ้า

เคยคิดว่าได้เจอเธอแล้ว
หลายคร้ังแน่ใจว่า
ฉันพบคู่ของฉัน
แต่กลับเจอความผิดหวัง