Rain drops
Rain drops on my porch.I've been a little edgy today. Someone who directly observed this advised me to "take a deep breath and think of the things I am thankful for." Guess I'd better get started.
I'm thankful that/that I got to/for
Forgiveness of sins.
Unconditional love.
The hope filled promises of God.
The promise of God.
A ransomed and redeemed spirit.
That he made Hilary.
That she's exactly the way she is.
My parents.
Their council and patience.
The patience people seem to extend towards me.
That my sisters got married to great guys.
Airplanes. That I can basically get anywhere I want in the world in a matter of hours.
No debt. Not a cent.
I'm healthy.
Every appendage of mine works, and works well.
Food.
Clothes.
A good bed.
A place to live.
Rice.
Microwaves.
Laundry Machines, so I don't have to think about things like washing clothes.
My chacos.
That God made the atmosphere, weather, refraction in the sky, really interesting.
Weather.
Music. Good music. The type that makes you want to snap from shear awesomeness.
A place to run that is halfway interesting.
Shoes to run in.
A nation where I have freedom to do the right thing, by and large.
A nation with relatively low crime.
Huge trees.
Huge moss covered trees.
A certain gorgeous girl, with the most amazing facial features.
The written Chinese language.
Those times when I get to smash things with a sledgehammer cause I'm actually supposed to.
Playing 007 knockoffs with my cousin & anyone else who wants to get slaughtered.
Granola, with raisins.. This isn't my favorite food, obviously but I'm thankful for it.
Barbecue sauce.
Gosh... that I got to make Mexican food with Noel and Elton.
Chorizo.
Spicy food.
Mom's food. Mom's chocolate cake. Pumpkin pie. Biscuits. Chili. Cornbread. Pizza. Corn chowder. Fresh bread.
My adviser.
That he lets me do things.
My brain works well for its intended purpose.
My slow wit. (If I had a quick tongue, I'd probably be dead now.)
The wonderful pastor, and his wife, at YoungKwang church.
The people there.
The way they sing.
The Bibimbab they make every sunday.
Seaweed soup.
Matt, the research associate in my lab.
All his help on my projects.
My room mate.
Tree frogs.
Green tree frogs with huge eyes and unusual expressions.
Humming birds.
Aodaisho. Mean aodaisho.
Bugs.
That huge kuwagata.
Japan.
The blessed people I met there.
The view from Bandai.
I didn't die on the cliffs of Kinkasan.
The bus ride there.
Japanese names. For everything.
The view from the top.
The boatride back.
Anthropomorphized mushrooms.
Hokkaido.
Strange plants with enormous leaves.
Eriya, Takuma, and Jinju.
Ramen.
Dragon flies.
Grace chapel.
Kawakami and Masako sensei.
Pouring oil.
Crappy, joyful music sung from the heart.
Awful tasting golden curry made with concern for a hungry guy.
Skipping rocks.
Dr. Biwa.
Dr. Biwa's generosity.
Megmilk.
Making no splash.
The view from Bandai.
Hilary's spirit.
The misty forest of Izumi Gattaka.
Kamoshika.
Eating scary things.
Eating scary, recently alive, uncooked things.
The sound of the Dizi.
Chinese poetry.
Yama ni sundeiru minzoku.
The mountain people.
The Naxi family guest house.
Mama Naxi.
Showers for tired people in crappy places.
Feeling so small in unbelievably huge landscapes.
Pure spice. Pure internal hemorrhaging.
Gosh... the amazing, refined chin on this certain girls face.
Plane rides, at the right time of day.
The view from the window.
That Jacob is so rad.
Second chances.
The coat I'm wearing.
The cheap, dirty, authentic Chinese joint 10 minutes from here.
Photos.
Photos of the girl I love.
My awesome camera.
Film.
Wide aperature lenses.
Bikes.
My old faithful bike.
That my car hasn't broken down yet (how is this possible??)
My car.
Grocery stores full of food.
Donuts.
Small dried fish.
The really great place I'm writing this from.
Evangelical free church of Pullman.
Pastor Busby.
The people there.
Cesar's amazing accent.
The way he reads the bible.
Accents.
My guitar.
The smell of my guitar.
Instruments.
Paints.
Alizarin Crimson gouche.
Experiences in Germany and Europe.
Discipline.
Always getting caught when I do something wrong.
Provision.
That time when I had just enough money to get home.
That time when I had just enough money to get some food.
The space heater in my barracks in Sendai.
Shelter.
Paula's place in Providence.
Paula's photos.
Paula's everything she does with her hands.
Marian.
Marian on the phone...
How the heck did I end up with the family I did, God??
Seatbelts.
The Seatbelts.
The Pillows.
Discovery park.
meeting Zach.
Skipping rocks.
The lighthouse.
Shells.
Grandpa's house.
The snakes at grandpa's house.
The various types of berries at Grandpa's house.
The beach, the dock, the crazy things we always pull out the water (alive or otherwise)
The view from the house.
My Grandpa.
My Grandpa's stories.
Uncle Ted.
My amazing energizer bunny aunt Laurie
Casey, Nate, Wesely, Ruth.
Their photos.
Their reflection of God.
Seattle pacific university.
An education.
Opportunity to do pretty much whatever I want to.
That I can make kick @$$ cool things with a lathe, milling machine, and a soldering iron.
Sound waves.
Friends who've seen you suffer and stick by you.
Friends you can fight with.
Matt Petersen.
The game of Risk.
The game of rook.
Root beer.
Headphones.
Ipods.
God's patience with us even when we are so stubborn.
God's un-ending source of love, even when it seems like he's dumping it into an un-replying vacuum.
Jesus.
Jesus is so rad. Can you imagine?
The universe that he put together that follows such mind bending, weird rules.
Naked mole rats.
That Jesus was a poor man who experienced suffering.
That Jesus was blue-collar.
That he made stuff out of wood.
That he probably once made something crappy out of wood, that fell apart.
[I wonder if Jesus ever had a crush on a girl... ]
That Jesus actually understood our problems.
That he didn't stay dead.
The book of Psalms.
The sound of the psalms in Japanese
The sound of Hilary speaking German.
The McDonald's dollar menu.
Gosh, if I didn't have to go home, I could make this list waaaaay longer. I didn't even realize. I'm thankful for the interesting life God has given me. I've met so many interesting people, seen so many interesting things, been so many interesting places that honestly, if I got hit by a car on the way back home and had 30 seconds to live, I think I could honestly say "Thanks God, it was really great."
posted by tmm at
4:11 PM
11 Comments:
Hey,
Thanks for putting me on that list, that really brightened up my day.
Also, could you get Hilary to tell me what's going on when old German songs use "du" to refer to God? Is this just poetic? Or just an old usage? Or is there a close familiarity with God implied?
matt
Tim, thank you. That was a really great post.
And about referring to God in the "du" form. This is really interesting. There is actually familiarity with God implied. I have wondered many times at this because I used to feel: "If there is anyone that I should use the polite and respectful form with, maybe it should be God" but that actually isn't so. God is the closest One to us, and I love how the German language reflects that.
It's similar to the older English, referring to God using "Thee" and "Thou". There used to be two forms in English as well "you" and "thee". God was referred to in the "thee" form because it infers closeness and personal connection...
Simply being allowed to use that form makes the enormous gift of being able to come directly to God even more obvious and cool.
So, we still refer to God in the "du" form today.
Thanks again, Tim, for the awesome post.
Hilary
Thanks Hilary
"Anthropomorphized mushrooms" eh?
Tim this is a really really neat list. Very edifying... I have to say though, naked mole rats?? hispanic/spanish people often refer to God informally also. How do they do it in Japanese?
Hilary... you posted your own list! I've been eagerly anticipating it all day. I want to memorize it now...
Yoshhhh comments! Thanks guys.
Matt - I could have said "a faithful friend," but I thought I'd just put your name down to be less ambiguous
Jacob - I always found the smiling mushrooms I saw everywhere in Japan very cheering... Japan is mushroom paradise, you might like it there
Marian - heh, yeah, any God who comes up with something like naked mole rats is amazingly creative. Then to answer you and Hilary's comment about informal/formal references to God... that is one of the things about Japanese culture that I am kind of sad hasn't worked it's way into Christianity, at least that I saw. The way God is addressed is normally in the most formal way... and Pastors are elevated really high, though when you get to know them then they become very down to earth. I think Song was ultra informal with Kawakami sensei. I am not actually sure if I understood the culture or the language well enough to make a well informed statement about it though... (any Japanese people who are reading this, feel welcome to comment)
Your list is poetry, of the best kind, which blesses both man and God at the same time. And to think that my cooking is part of that! I'm thrilled!
Fabulous and happy! Thanks!
And I although I didn't cry, I will admit that I felt a bit of wetness in the corner of my eye.
Thanks Tim,
Your Uncle T
Marian (and Hilary),
I think English did too. I think that when the KJ Bible was translated "thee" and "thou" were informal. But then as they were dropped from ordinary speech they became special "God" words, and thus extra formal.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home