Last Graffiti Pics

More Graffiti Town Pics

Graffiti Town

The students and faculty at a local art school in my city painted their town. Literally. The equivalent of probably three or four city blocks in the US is covered with their graffiti art. Check out the pics - it's pretty awesome.

Funny Cultural Moment

Yesterday Talia and I climbed a mountain in our city. A friend told us where to find a smaller, less traveled path in order to escape the Asian crowds and stair-climbing. The path hosted more people than expected, and it order to stay ahead of the traditional folk song singing crowd, we hiked at a rapid pace. It was typically hot and we did not start climbing until almost 11:30am, so needless to say, we were drenched in sweat. By accident, we ended up on a random path that brought us to the top by way of trash heap.

All of this made for hilarious cultural moment when the two of us popped out of the trash heap, onto the road, and into two very surprised Asian men on a moped tour of the mountain. They stopped immediately, stared, and pointed at us. We had just broken every cultural norm, two big ones in particular: women don't sweat and no one strays from the concrete staircase when climbing mountains. We blinked at each other for more than a few moments before trying to communicate, both sides holding back the mirth of being either on giving or receiving end of laughter. Eventually they drove on a little way and Talia and I tried to figure out our surroundings. We wanted to find a quiet tea house in which to take a break, but did not immediately see one. Eventually, we saw our moped friends sitting at a table at the bottom of a hill waving at us to come join them. We sat with them for a while as they sipped tea and we chugged our water, both parties chewing on some local snacks made of peanuts and sugar. We still wanted to find a tea house, so Talia and I decided to move on.

But of course, the meeting could not end without the typical request by the men to take pictures with us foreigners. We agreed and cell phone cameras were whipped out. I can't imagine what those pictures look like considering I noticed upon standing up that we left wet butt prints on our seats from the sweat. And I can't imagine what they told their friends about us as the proudly displayed their pictures. I head something to the effect of, "Foreign women are so strange. They like to walk through the woods to be eaten by mosquitoes and look at the trash. Didn't they know they could have walked up the stairs to see a beautiful view? They have blue eyes and yellow hair, just like the movies, but they sweat just like men! It would be better if they tried to look more beautiful."

Blindness

"There are a whole lot of people who are blindly stumbling their way through life. But their blindness is made even more powerful and dangerous by the fact that they tend to be blind to their blindness. A physically blind person is never blind to his blindness. He's immediately confronted with the fact that he's unable to see, and he gives himself a whole catalog of ways to live inside the boundaries set by this profound physical deficiency. The scary reality is that one of the things that keeps spiritually blind people blind is that they're not only convinced they see, but they're also convinced that they see quite well! And so they don't seek help for their blindness. Why seek help for a condition from which you are convinced you don't suffer?

So, whenever you encounter a person who sees himself - or herself with precision, clarity, and accuracy, you know for sure that grace has visited that individual. It's only God's grace that can enable blind eyes to see, and it's only God's grace that can produce in us the willingness to accept what we've seen." - Paul David Tripp

"I can't even judge myself. Only the Lord can say, 'Well done.'" - Sara Groves

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In the past few years, but particularly this last one, I have started to realize just how dependent I am on the Father's grace, particularly when it comes to seeing my sin. I used to think by default that grace was needed in the act of repentance and the process of change. And of course it is, but how can I know of what to repent or in what direction to change if I cannot truly see what is in my own heart?

The students I know in Asia have particularly revealed this to me because as we talk about sin in their lives, I am forced to wonder about sin in my own life. It is easy to think of common answers to the question, "What do you repent of?" But it is much more difficult to see what is deep in my soul causing fights with roommates, an unwillingness to be honest, fear of man, selfishness. Even in times of reflection and quiet, I find myself simply asking God to reveal my sin to me so I can repent. I know something is wrong, I feel it is wrong in my soul, but I can't see or name it. I cannot create holiness in myself because I am blind to what is unholy about me in the first place.

There is peace in Sara Groves' words "I can't even judge myself. Only the Lord can say, 'Well done.'" It is impossible for me to live by my own standards with open eyes - I'm blind to failings against my own personal code of life. No amount of endless navel-gazing could reveal to me my shortcomings. I can't fully know the recesses of my mind, my heart, my soul. Resting in the Father's grace starts at the most basic level of trusting he knows me better even than I know myself. He is my Creator and my Sustainer whose mercy opens my eyes to areas of sin. Because he knows me, I can know myself. Because he reveals sin, I can repent. Because he has a plan, I can know in what direction to change. I can't judge myself, but rather hold on to the guiding hand of the One who sees and knows all things as he slowly opens my eyes from a sleeping blindness to a glorified wakefulness.

Two Worlds

I LOVE this billboard. It's a convergence of my two languages and worlds. Maybe one day Spanish will be in the mix, too! ;-p

Contrast

I just wrapped copies of C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity in Hello Kitty paper for friends who will seriously enjoy both. What a funny version of femininity. Guess what continent I'm currently on? ;-)