At one point, a homeless man jumped into the front of our taxi and refused to leave, even after exchanging sharp words with the driver. The thought crossed my mind that we may very well get stabbed to death. My wife, apparantly used to this sort of thing, looked rather bored during the ordeal. Finally the driver conceded and handed the guy a few coins to leave us alone, which he did. Later on, after refusing to give an 8-year old street kid some change (we didn't have any) at a stop light, he punched our window as hard as he could.
To add insult to much injury, our bank cut us off from our account within days of arriving. This was a sore point for me because I specifically called them beforehand and let them know I'd be traveling overseas and instructed them not to cut off our funding for any reason whatsoever. Well, to make a long story short we had no money for two weeks and even had to borrow cash from the poor people we were there to help. It was a sad state of affairs.
I say all that to say this: I experienced a number of trials this month and failed quite a few tests... some of them very badly. Our faith can not be grounded in the theoretical. While I enjoy a good theological jousting from time to time, the issues of Calvinism or eternal security never crossed my mind when I was confronted with these challenges. However, the words of Jesus rang in my ear quite often when Murphy's Law was strangling the life out of me. Being broke, tired, cheated, and jet-lagged in a place where the language is foriegn and kids sleep under the overpass will take its toll.
When we got back to my little air conditioned house in the States it felt like walking into the Bellagio. Looking back on my experience, I'm proud of the way I handled certain things and deelpy ashamed of those times I lost my cool mentally. God has a way of slapping you in the face when you get too comfortable. Visiting the Philippines, where even the wealthy sleep under a tin roof and college graduates battle for a clean-up crew position at McDonalds, has greatly reshaped my thinking, and my Christian life. I hope I don't get too comfortable again. God bless my wife for being so patient with her spoiled, gringo husband.
