Where am I?

Thai geography naming can be a bit confusing to learn, but it has a very organized structure which is very appealing to systems people like me.  It has a very hierarchical structure with the largest division being a province and the smallest division a village.  It looks like this:

Thai Word	Official transliteration	Translation	American Analogue
จังหวัด	Cangwat	Province	State
อำเภอ	Amphoe	District	County
ตำบล	Tambon	Sub-District	Town, Muncipality
หมู่บ้าน	Mooban	Village	Village, Subdivision
Mooban literally translates "house cluster" and is often shortened to just "Ban"

In Bangkok province, they use slightly different terminology, using เขต/Khet instead of Amphoe and แขวง/Kwaeng instead of Tambon.

This structure makes it very handy when you travel around Thailand.  Almost all of the villages have signs that give the name of the village, sub-district, district and province.  Because of this you know where you are and how you fit in the big picture.

Sign for the village of Ban Muang, Muang Yai sub-district,
Wiang Kaen district, Chiang Rai Province

This methodology also adds a sense of belonging--the village may be small, but it is also part of something bigger.

However, the challenge is writing addresses, as it will include the street number and name and all of the above elements.  This makes for very long addresses.

Points of confusion

It can get very confusing for outsiders, though.  The colloquial name used for a place may not actually match its legal name.  I remember searching for the city of Chiang Khong on Google maps many years ago.  Google would position the map in a rural area, no where near a town, certainly not over the town that I thought of as Chiang Khong.  And this is because there is no town named Chiang Khong.  Chiang Khong is the name of a district.  But people will often use the name of the district to refer to the place where the county offices are.

Our house is located close to the Wiang Kaen district office, so people might refer to it as "Wiang Kaen", but it is actually the village of Ban Muang in the sub-district of Muang Yai.  However, the main business district is on the other side of the Ngao River in the village of Lai Ngao in the sub-district of Lai Ngao.  So people might refer to either of those places as Wiang Kaen.

It doesn't help that a lot of names are used over and over again.  In our district of Wiang Kaen, there are two villages named "River Crossing", one each in adjoining sub-districts, and one of those sub-districts is also named, "River Crossing".  "Wiang" is also popular.  It is an old Thai term for a place that has a wall or moat around it.  "Wiang" is the actual name of the village commonly called Chiang Khong. It is helpful to know these things when you ask for directions, because locals will use the actual village names. (They will also use the names of businesses, not all of which have signs on them, so that may not actually be helpful.)

Where am I?

The good news is, though, that God is not confused by all of this.  He knows where we are, having a flawless, built-in GPS system that He has been using since He created this planet.  Not only does He know where we are, He knows how we fit in the big picture as well.

Many years ago in the history of Israel, a large number of the people had been removed from their home and brought to live in the Kingdom of Babylon.  They were confused.  They were in a new place and they did not know their way around.  They were lost.

But God knew where they were.  He was not confused.  He sent a message to these captives in exile by the hand of the prophet Jeremiah:

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11 NLT)

God not only knew where they were on the planet, He knew where they were in history.  And it all fit into a plan that was much greater than the people in exile could imagine.

So the next time I find myself off the map, or perhaps just in a village where I can't read the signs because they are in another language, I take comfort in the fact that God knows where I am and how I fit in the grand scheme of things.

Puzzling

We used to put together a lot of jigsaw puzzles as children.  Typically we would do this at Christmastime.  Invariably, someone would get a puzzle for Christmas and then we would all work on it over Christmas break.

My earliest childhood memories involve jigsaw puzzles.  We had a set of children's jigsaw puzzles with Disney themes, and I remember about age 4 sitting on the purple rug in our living room assembling a "Lady and the Tramp" puzzle.

We've not done a lot of work on jigsaw puzzles as adults, but these past two months have been an exception.  When we were in Connecticut, we found a small one (300 pieces) at my sister's house, which had never been opened, to put together.

Then, when we were in Canada, I borrowed a few puzzles from a cousin.  The first one I did was particularly hard because all but 5 edge pieces (as well as two other pieces) were missing.

Hard to assemble with most edge pieces missing

We had three puzzles to work on, but after two (1000 pieces each), I was ready for a break.

Now that we're back in California, our hosts have opened up a puzzle that we are working on.

So why do I write all of this.

Right now, were are in the process of discerning what our next assignment, will be.  We don't know what it will be yet, but we are narrowing down the options.  It's all about finding the right fit for us.

There may be some options that are almost a fit for us, but not quite right--like the piece in the puzzle pictured below.

Not Quite the Right Fit

Last October, at a conference, someone spoke a word over us.  Without knowing our situation, she said, "You are in the right puzzle.  You fit in the puzzle you're in--you don't need to look for a different one."

When we first heard that, we were puzzled, to say the least.  It did not make sense to us at the time.  But it seems like now it is beginning to make more sense.

We are thankful as we go through this process of discernment that the Lord is faithful to guide us.

Show me the right path, O LORD;
     point out the road for me to follow.
Lead me by your truth and teach me,
     for you are the God who saves me.
All day long I put my hope in you.

Who are those who fear the LORD?
     He will show them the path they should choose.
They will live in prosperity,
     and their children will inherit the land.
The LORD is a friend to those who fear him.
     He teaches them his covenant.
Psalm 25:4, 5, 12-14

Bookends 2016

This is my review of the past year from the perspective of looking at photos from the first and last days of the year (or closest to that, if there were no photos on those days).

January 1st found us headed back home from Chiang Rai, where we had dropped off some folks who had come to visit us for a few days.  Following that we visited the Chiang Rai Flower Show and then took the back roads home.  The first stretch follows the Kok River northeast, and soon one finds himself riding along levees with the Kok River floodplain on one side and rices paddies off to the other. It is somewhat reminiscent of driving in the California Delta.

We stopped for coffee at Mana Coffee-a small restaurant/coffee shop just off the levee in Wiang Chai.  The coffee shop is is adjacent to a couple of fish ponds.  As I was admiring the flowers adjacent to the ponds, I noticed a minute spider on the head of this pink zinnia.  The body color of the spider matched the color of the flowerhead so nicely, I almost did not notice it.

The diversity of God's creatures is so amazing!



A year later we find ourselves in a different climate.  We are with Ingrid's family for a few weeks.  They live in the small town of Barrhead, Alberta.  The last time I was here, one day I walked most of the circumference of the town. There is a walking trail that goes around the town called the Blue Heron Walking Trail.  Some portions of the trail follow roads, other portions have an improved walking path.

I wanted to walk around the town again this time, but the weather wasn't so amenable, so I walked the east part of the town one afternoon and the west side on another.  It took just shy of two hours to make the walk around the west side--the town has grown a bit since the last time I was here.

When I walked the west side, the sky was overcast and dark.  I came to a part of the trail that follows the Paddle River and is on a boardwalk.  The snow on much of the Blue Heron Walking Trail was plowed, but they didn't try to get their small plow on the boardwalk, so it remained snowy.  I got to the boardwalk just as the sun was trying to break through the clouds for the first time that day.

The picture isn't framed quite like I wanted, but I had limited places to put my body on the boardwalk.  The Paddle River is in the recessed landscape between the trees on the right.




The year sandwiched between these two photos has been a very challenging one for me. Yet even though at times life seemed kind of gloomy, God has always made Himself known, like the sunlight breaking into the otherwise dim, gray landscape above.

For his invisible attributes, namely,his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. (Romans 1:20a ESV)

The Rough, Crooked Path

I've done a lot of traveling over the years by car, bicycle and by foot.  I've noticed there are two types of paths one encounters.

One kind pf path is straight, broad and smooth.  I like these kinds of paths because you can see far ahead to where you are going and how you will get there.  The going is easy. It's hard to get lost because the destination is always in view.  It’s hard to get tripped up because obstacles are few and usually easy to spot.




The other type of trail is the crooked, narrow and hilly one.  It is a more difficult route.  It is easy to get lost so one needs a guide, a GPS or a map and compass.  It is easy to get injured from the pitfalls.  Sometimes you're not even sure where the trail is.  And since you can't see your destination, you never have any idea how far away it is.



But there are some downsides to the straight, broad and smooth path.

In Thailand the roads are crooked and congested and one always has to be on alert for motorcycles that seem to appear out of nowhere and suddenly you are about to hit one.  I remember going back to North America for the first time, driving south on I-5 through Oregon.  I told Ingrid I needed a motorcycle to come out of nowhere and do something foolish to help keep me awake.

On the straight path one can easily get complacent.  Since everything seems straight and uniform, you might quit paying attention and wander off the trail or into some kind of danger.  Or if something unusual does come up, you might not be prepared.

These straight, smooth routes can be quite boring.  One might quit, just because there does not seem any point to keep going.  Or one might get distracted by something that seems more exciting off to the side and so never make it to the destination.  Like the wayward woman of Proverbs, "she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it." (Proverbs 5:6 ESV)

In the same manner, not everything is bad about the crooked, narrow, hilly trail.  You are forced to be alert.  There always seems to be something new to see, so it is much harder to get bored.  So while it may seem to take longer to get to your destination, you are may have more fun along the way.

Our journeys through life can be much the same as one of these two roads.  Sometimes we get tired of the obstacles and trying to find our way on the narrow, crooked  and hilly trail.  Sometimes we wish we had taken the straight, smooth trail.  But then we need to remember that not everyone who embarks on the straight smooth trail makes it to their destination.  Or maybe they make it to the destination and find out it's not where they really want to be.

So even if we find ourselves on a crooked, narrow, hilly path, if God is guiding us, we are okay.

As the Lord spoke to Isaiah, "And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them."
Isaiah 42:16 (ESV)

If we're on the path God has chosen for us, even if there are obstacles, we need to stay the course.

Stay on the path that the LORD your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy. (Deuteronomy 5:33 NLT)

For in spite of the difficulties, this is where true joy and pleasure are found.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11 ESV)