7-3 Reflections on the High Speed Rail to Kaohsiung

July 3

Phillipians 3:7-9
7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

I'm starting to see glimpses of Mexico here. Awful roads, crazy drivers, and sadly, dilapidated houses (if you can even call them houses). Well, so my mom decided I absolutely had to visit my relatives in southern Taiwan and thanks to the building of the High Speed Rail, I'm put on a train to my grandparents' house. Scary thing is, I have a limited Chinese ability, no ability to read Chinese, and no cell phone if I get lost. Here we go again with the, "You're so helpless without Me lesson." Well, let's just say that being scared about getting lost soon turned into a fear for my staefy. Of course the airport and train station are in two seperate places, so I had to ride a bus. Between the pot holes, trucks with no regard for courtesy, and random motercycles weaving in and out, I noticed the living quarters of some of the residents here, dirt floors with metal roofing that looks hastily thrown together. Here I am complaining about the humidity and danger while some people are out there living in these "houses," WALKING into these same dangerous streets trying to sell things so they can survive. I'd take sitting in a relatively sturdy bus over being unprotected outside on these roads any day. Once again, a splash of cold water in the face on how lucky I truly am. I haven't yet seen our camp site yet, but I'm sure some of the kids will come from conditions very similar to these. I really don't think my team and I are as prepared as we'd like to face something like this. I ask for your prayers, first for those living in these houses, then for us to be able to adjust to whatever's thrown our way. This will be crucial for our missions trip as we ask God to help us set our priorities straight in always remembering that nothing is more important than "the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."