Unexpected Reminders of the Past

Last week, I had unexpected reminders of my past that came in the form of a television series and from a sign beside the road.

D'Angelo

Recently, we finished watching a Thai series on Netflix. Full House was a nice series because it is from the old days of television (2014), back when it was possible for people to fall in love without having sex. The show was based on a Korean TV series and was filmed partly in Thailand and partly in Korea. The lead male character was named Mike. As I was looking through the credits, I noticed that the actor who played Mike was Mike D'Angelo. I thought, "with a name like that, he could be from my home town, Wolcott, CT, where D'Angelo is a common name." There is currently even a D'Angelo on the town council there.

Mike seemed to be Thai, however, so I did some research and found out his real name is Pirat Nitipaisalkul (พิรัชต์ นิธิไพศาลกุล) and that he is from Bangkok. So much for Thai stars from my hometown. Mike has since dropped the "D" and now goes by simply Mike Angelo. He has gone on to make shows in China and Hollywood (he speaks Thai, Chinese and English).

Om Aem (Sushar Manaying) and Mike (Mike D. Angelo) in Full House
Sushar is from the Isaan region of Thailand.

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Waterbury

We were driving along a highway in Kalasin Province and as we crossed a bridge, I noticed the sign for the waterway we were crossing. It was an irrigation canal and the word for irrigation in Thai is Chonlaprathan. The first syllable of the word, Chon, is a fancy way of saying water.

An irrigation canal (khlong chonlaprathan) in Kalasin

As I was reflecting on that word, I was reminded of a province where we lived ten years ago, Chonburi, which uses the same first syllable. The "-buri" of Chonburi is an epithet of place names in Thailand with the same meaning as the English "-bury". So, if I translate Chonburi into English I get Chon+buri = water+bury. Waterbury. The name of the city where I was born.

My hometown was a bedroom community for people that worked primarily in Bristol or Waterbury. Even though we lived about 1/2 mile from Bristol, we were Waterbury people, which was about 6 miles away. My father worked in Waterbury, we went to church there and did most of our shopping there. Interestingly, my aunt and uncle and my cousins lived just around the corner, but they were Bristol people. My uncle worked in Bristol and they went to church there and seemed to have more connections there.

There are a lot of D'Angelos in Waterbury, too.

Funny how many years later I end up living in "Waterbury" (Chonburi), Thailand.

Sunset in Chonburi. A city (-buri) with lots of water (Chon-).

Though it has been many years since I have lived in Connecticut, it was fun to get these two reminders of these significant places of my past.

So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all;

Ecclesiastes 11:8a ESV

What's in a Name?

A popular thing to do for exercise in Kamalasai is to go for a walk. The government encourages this by putting in walkways around some lakes and even putting some fitness equipment along the way.

Fitness Equipment at the Pond East Side of Kamalasai

There are three lakes of various sizes around Kamalasai with walkways and fitness equipment. The largest is on the west side of town. It's 3.6 km (just over 2 miles) to go all around it.

Lake on the West Side of Kamalasai

The lake closest to us is on the east side of town. The walkway there is still under development as they reconfigured the pond this past year.

Sunset Over the Lake on the East Side of Kamalasai

The lake that seems to be the oldest, based on the nature of the trees growing around it, is on the south side of town. The name of this one is Sa Bua, which translates "Lotus Pond." Sa Bua is the smallest of the three lakes.

Sa Bua or "Lotus Pond" on the South Side of Kamalasai

One thing you may notice in the picture is the dearth of lotus plants growing in the lake. As far as I know, there aren't any. Maybe at one time there were some of the pink blossoms dotting the lake, but there aren't any more. The only pink blossoms to be found are those of the water morning glory. A type of morning glory that not only grows in land, but in water where it will develop swollen, air filled stems that enable them to float.

Water Morning Glory Plants in Sa Bua

It's not like lotus plants don't grow in this part of the world. The Sacred Lotus is commonly planted. In fact the sacred lotus is a good source of food. The inflated stems and seeds are eaten.

Lotus Blossoms in the Lake East of Kamalasai

A few hours drive from here is a water body called Red Lotus Lake. At least that place lives up to its name.

Red Lotus Lake in Udon Thani Province

It's interesting how names often seem to be based on some fantasy dream rather than reality. We used to live on River Mist Avenue in Bakersfield. The house was in a subdivision called "Silver Creek". Good luck finding that glimmering stream of water. There was no river there. We were three miles south of the often dry riverbed of the Kern River. And that was Bakersfield, California—a place that qualifies as a desert with an average annual rainfall of less than six inches. No river. No creek. No mist.

At least Lotus Pond may have once had lotus plants in it.

In the Bible, names often have significant meaning. God gave Abram a new name—Abraham—which means "Father of a Multitude," because he would have many descendants (Genesis 17:5) When the nation of Israel came to a place where the water in the springs was bitter, it was named Marah, which means "bitter". (Exodus 15:23) In Hosea's prophecy there is a place mentioned called Beth Aven (Hosea 4:15; 5:8; 10:5). Beth Aven means "House of Wickedness" and some think this is a sarcastic reference to Bethel (which means "House of God") because of the idol worship that was happening there. Even Hosea's children were given significant names. For example, God told him to name is second child, a daughter, Loruhamah which means "No Mercy," because God was not going to show mercy to Israel (Hosea 1:6). Imagine having to go through life with a name like that!

Soon it will be Christmas. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The child is given the name Jesus, which means, "God saves," because He would save His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21) Jesus is given the title Christ, which means "anointed one" because Christians recognize this Jesus as the anointed one or Messiah predicted to come in the Old Testament.

When Isaiah prophesied about the Messiah who was to come, he listed the following names for Him (Isaiah 9:6):
Wonderful Counselor
Almighty God
Everlasting Father
Prince of Peace

-Jesus is a Wonderful Counselor—He has the best advice as to how I should live my life.
-Jesus is Almighty God—He is no ordinary person and He has extraordinary power with which to do miracles.
-Jesus is the Everlasting Father—even though He is called the Son of God, He existed from the beginning with God and will live for all eternity.
-Jesus is the Prince of Peace—He makes it possible for us to be reconciled to (at peace with) God, even though in the past our sins made us enemies of God. (Colossians 1:21). And through the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in all believers, we are able to love even our enemies and be peacemakers in the world. (Matthew 5:9)

God, thank You for sending us a Savior, Jesus, who is a Wonderful Counselor, the Almighty God, an Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace.