It's been weeks since I've returned to this blessed Nation, and sometimes I still find myself looking for a mo-ped, or getting really excited when I see an Asian family in Target. But the other day I was sitting in the coffee shop making mochas and lattes, when I noticed an Asian lady sitting at the bus stop right outside of our building. She kept glancing over her shoulder to look at our building, sending me smiles as if she wanted to say something. So I opened the window and yelled, Would you like some coffee while you wait? She got off the bench and hurried over to my window. She answered with a smile, so I began making this lady some coffee. She then asked how much it was...and I answered....it's on us.....but she looked confused. So I answered....free....free. She then knew, understood, and gave me the widest grin I had seen in a long time. Her bus pulled up and she had to scurry away. A couple days later this same woman appeared at the bus stop again. I didn't have to say anything she came running up to the window with a bag. I opened the window and said hello, and she handed me a silk bag with a scarf in it, which was her thank you for the coffee the other day. The writing on the scarf looked Thai, so I asked where she was from and believe it or not....you'll never guess......Thailand! So we began talking this broken English which I became so found of. We began talking about Thailand....and I told her I had just returned.....and that I missed it so much! It was as if in that moment the simplicity and pureness of life was brought back to me in a conversation. Since then I have found out that daily she waits at the bus stop to go to English class at a local University....and her entire family has been in the States for about 19 years. I look forward to these conversations daily.....and know that this is not by coincidence. With every simple word we speak to each other....whether its about English class or Pad Thia....I am reminded of those four months.
Sometimes I ask myself why is it that I want to feel again what was there. And its simple..... because there was power in the pure simple life I found over there. And because it seemed like God was in everything...from a walk to the convenient store to feeding a starving child. So then I found myself asking why don't I feel that here? And maybe it's because we cover and chock out that pureness with non eternal things. I want every part of me to seek after the Kingdom...and not just on Sunday mornings. I am revived and feel as if the coldness of America has died out......and blood flows through me again. The truth I found in Asia has returned to me...through a simple cup of coffee.
