a Weekend with the Korells

I had a choice to make last week.  Not an epic choice that would determine the fate of the world, but a choice nonetheless.  I could either go on a beach retreat in south Taiwan, called Ken Ting, with a mass quantity of students and all of the teachers, or I could stay in Taichung, my home for the past 6.5 weeks, and explore the city with the Korells.

For most people, this choice would be easy.  A beach retreat in Taiwan with college students or remaining in the same city again with your only company being a family of four, which includes a 2 year old and a 4 year old? The beach should honestly win out every time.  It is an adventure, and it will be fun.

            And the choice was easy for me; the Korells win every time.  For that choice, I might just be mad north, northwest, but then again, you do not know the Korells.  They have not shaped you for the past 6 years as they poured into your life in different roles, from youth ministers to friends to coworkers.  You haven’t had your heart melted by two little kids, even when your heart has sworn that it does not like little kids at all.  You have not met a family that has impacted more people then they could possibly realize, a family whose impact will reach into the next generations.  It is a family I love, a family I want to learn from, and a family I want to be with, so my choice was easy.  And the weekend became one giant adventure as we sought to explore all the nooks and crannies of Taichung City, Taiwan.

            From here on out, I am going to try to summarize all the different adventures we had as we sought a Great Perhaps in our weekend plans.  This is not going to be a sweet story that you would hear around a campfire. This is going to be a scattered version chronologically organized brain vomit that could last a while.  You have now been warned, so please continue with your arms and legs remaining inside the cart at all times.

            Friday involved eating a delicious food named by us ignorant Americans who do not know Chinese as rice triangles.  It is rice made in the shape of a triangle and stuffed with any meat you would like.  Then wrapped in seaweed and dubbed incredibly delicious and mouth watering.  This, combined with a Taiwanese milk tea, was the perfect meal for the moment in infinity. We followed this deliciousness with allowing the kids to play on a playground that is strategically located in front of one of the creepy temples, like you are being watched by one of their gods.  If you can ignore that part, the playground was quite nice and fun.  After the kids went to sleep, Matt and I ventured out to line dance with elder Chinese ladies at a park.  We just went to be silly and have fun, but we quickly became the highlight of the night, as all of the little old Chinese ladies sought to teach these weird white men how to Chinese line dance.  If you can remember to ask, and I remember how, I might be able to show you my mad Chinese line dancing skills some day. The night ended with a conversation on why do people, including myself, like the Hunger Games when they are so twisted and depressing? And then we laughed at the ridiculousness of the new Three Musketeers movie.  Overall, a lovely night.

            Saturday started late because of the need for sleep.  Then Matt and I ventured out to try Eastern Medicine.  We met with the doctor and were asked extremely awkward questions about our bowel movements.  I was informed that my body is extremely low in both Ying and Yang energy, and therefore, I have a lot of problems.  Maybe I am wrong, but this might be because I do not believe in ying or yang energy.  That’s just a guess though.  They proceeded to stick me with 13 needles in acupuncture because of how messed up my energy is.  I had to lay completely still for 30 minutes with 13 needles in my body, and for those of you who know my restless self really well, it is actually possible for me stay still for that long.  It was difficult, but it was possible.  The doctor also prescribed me to take Chinese medicine, which is this lovely mixture of herbs that taste so delectable that I feel like I might die with every bite of the dry, crunchy, bitter powder.  After acupuncture, we went and explored an incredible park in the middle of Taichung.  There we rode stone ponies, climbed a giant goat statue, and laughed a lot.  We went to a night market, something Taiwan is famous for, and enjoyed the shopping and smell of stinky tofu.  Isaiah and I played a new form of “I Spy” which involves touching everything, including people.  Finally, we crashed onto the couches, ate the best desert ever (called Mango Bing), and enjoyed a movie.  You wouldn’t think that was too much, but with two kids and in this heat, everything done is an adventure in itself.

            Sunday would be the busiest day of all. We went to Rainbow Village.  For those of you who are immediately curious about a village called rainbow, it is this old, abandoned military village that an elderly man, who was extremely bored, decided to cover in paint for almost two years.  We followed that up with a trip to the High Speed Train Station where we ate good food, had a scare with Isaiah, shopped a bit at some really weird stores, and rested from the heat.  After, we caught a bus and visited some parks and a sports store.  The first park was simple.  The sports store was ridiculous.  Take a large Wal-Mart, make it completely focused on sports equipment, then stuff it with hundreds of screaming kids like a Chuck E. Cheese, and that was this sports store.  They had a swimming pool, basketball courts, playground, and skating ring outside for public use.  Highlight there: I got to play soccer with a little Taiwanese boy, who was young enough to not realize that I have no clue what I am doing with a soccer ball at my feet.  The second park was the most interesting part of the day.  It had pieces of art and statues everywhere, and most of these somehow found a way to be naked.  The pieces ranged from nursing mothers, to fat, pink people, to abstract monsters, and all of them were naked.  But if you could get past the in your face nudity, the park was awesome, with lakes and bridges, and beautiful lights.  After almost 7 hours of travel and visits, we stopped and rested at a local Tea Shop.  At this teashop, I was blessed with the opportunity to drink a Milk Tea that was over a pint.  I felt like a champion drinking it, and here Sarah, Matt, and I dove into some great conversation about the Spirit of God.  We finally made it home after almost 10 hours of adventure, and crashed on the couch.

            I was sitting on the couch, waiting for the kids to go to sleep, catching up on Wifi, and anticipating our late night House Church service, when all of a sudden, the entire family came into the living room.  They wanted to invite me into one of their family traditions.  I sat on the opposite couch, as they sat all cuddled together, and they began to bless each other. Matt and Sarah blessed the kids and told them how proud they were of them.  The kids blessed Matt and Sarah in adorable ways that only a two year old and four year old could do.  Matt blessed Sarah and Sarah blessed Matt, and then they turned and blessed me.  It was powerful moment; it was an intimate moment, and a moment that reminded me of why I chose to stay back this weekend.  It was an incredible weekend full of adventure and full of an incredible family in the Korells.  A weekend I will not soon forget.

            So I want to leave you with this.  This is not fabricated or filtered; this is truly what has been on my heart as I have thought about what to write.  My adventure is coming to a close soon, and for all of you who have read and followed this seeking of a Great Perhaps, I want to bless you, if you want to receive it.

            “Blessed is the one who transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man (or woman) against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” –Psalms 32:1-2.  Thank you for sharing this adventure with me, for taking the time to read this and to care.  Thanks for prayers, support, and love. I pray that God will bless your every step and you will see, taste, feel, and experience his goodness in Jesus Christ.  Alleluia.

Once Upon a Great Perhaps

I just started my ninth book since leaving the states.  I have read 8 books since June 26^th.  I don’t say that to brag.  Actually maybe a little bit, but that is merely because reading this much makes me feel like Lauren Mills, and that in itself is a pretty blessed feeling.  I do say it because I want it to set up a thought in this blog post for you to read because that is how I work.  I ask or say things sometimes just to set up a thought I want to share. Some call that manipulative; I call that persuasive. 

So I started my ninth book today since leaving the states.  The amount of pages and stories that I have read has shocked me, and I began to wonder why I have been on such a reading binge.  There have been nights where I have gotten very little sleep because a story has captivated me, called me, and pushed me to finish the story above all else.  And I have succumbed to that call consistently.  I am not complaining about that at all, just merely noting my sleep deprivation.  Every book has been worth it to me, even the classic The Old Man and The Sea I read last night.

You see, when I am reading, I am literally taken to another world.  My brain has the magical power of transporting my being into the pages, where my conscious leaves the world and begins living in the world created by ink on paper.  I forget time, I forget location, I forget the world.  To show you how true this: when I was headlong into a book called Divergent, you should check it out, I stopped for the night, and suddenly forgot where I was.  It took me a moment to remember that I was laying on the top bunk in my room in an apartment in Taichung, Taiwan.  Reading has become my escape while I am here. 

And too be absolutely honest, I need an escape here at times.  This is one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life.  Everyday I am challenged; everyday my view of God is stretched, every other day something hard happens.  Recently, one my closest, (re-established while here) friends was forced home because of sickness, and it sucks so much.  There are times were I just want to escape, and the books are my only escape.

But being aware of this, reflecting on this, has given me some hope.  You see, not every book I read is positive, but every book I read teaches me something.  You can ask some of my close friends who are forced to talk to me, I wrestle with themes from these books all the time.  Recently, I have thinking about the concepts of fear as life’s great enemy (Life of Pi) and the impact we make in this world (One Last Thing Before I Go). It is not the positive feelings that help me escape, but it is merely the act of entering in the story and learning through an adventure. 

Along with this, while I do not know these authors who haven’t written the books I have been enjoying, I do know the author who is writing my story.  He has created an incredible world more vibrant then the like of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.  He has created characters with more depth then many of the characters I grew up with in Harry Potter. He has written a plot with more power, inspiration, and depth then anything John Green has ever written, and the main character is a better hero then anything I have ever come across in my readings.  He is someone I want to follow, be like, learn from, and passionately love, all wrapped into one man.

 The craziest part of this realization is that I am part of this story.  I was inked in with a role and a sub-plot to the greatest story ever written.  I am part of a love story, an action story, a history, a poem, and so many other genres. And like my books, it doesn’t always mean that everything is happy.  Most of the times, the best books are the ones that have the hardest moments, the ones that leave your mouth open.  That is my story right now.  While I seek a Great Perhaps, I am learning that my story does not always equal the positivity of Clifford the Big Red Dog, but as each new chapter is written, as more depth is added, I am being challenged and stretched.  And as my story is being twisted and turned, taken down different journeys, I am learning more and more.

The thing is, I was wrong the whole time.  Seeking a Great Perhaps does not mean that every adventure will be glorious and the greatest memory every.  I have sought a Great Perhaps all summer, and a lot of these adventures have been hard.  Taiwan is hard; Bonnaroo was hard. Even the book that the quote came from, Looking for Alaska, points to this as it wrestles with the concept of a maze of suffering.  A Great Perhaps does not mean constant happiness, but it does mean that with each new adventure, you will, I will grow, I will learn, and dive deep into the depths of life.  And the greatest thing to come out of this story is that at the end of these Great Perhapses, I will find The Great Perhaps.  And The Great Perhaps is the greatest, most perfect Perhaps of them all.  The most perfect ending to this story I am joyful and passionate to be a part of….

“I go to seek a Great Perhaps.”