Independent Consultant with a Hawaiian Shirt

I am amazed how every time I step into a church on this trip, it seems that the sermon is custom-written for me in my current life-situation. This morning, the chaplain spoke from Philippians 4:10-16 on the subject, "Learning to Be Content." He mentioned five (5) Enemies of Contentment: Unrealistic Expectations Unrealistic Comparisons Unnoticed Blessings Uncontrolled Ambitions Running from God He then showed from the text how Paul taught others how to be content based on his own life-example: 1. Have an Attitude of Gratitude v. 11 - "I have learned to be content..." means we're not born being naturally content. Paul had to learn to be content; we will need to learn that as well. Circumstances don't make us what we are; they reveal to us what we are. 2. Seek to please God first v. 10 - "I rejoice greatly in the Lord..." v. 13 - "I can do everything through him (God) who gives me strength." 3. Love people, not things v. 10 - "...you ...

Today we wrapped up the first week of classes with the second group of students. Because of the upcoming month of Ramadan we moved the class field trip up to this afternoon. After class we headed out to the malls of Kuwait, enjoying the finest window shopping and people watching. We all walked around for a while before eventually all going our own way. I found myself sitting at a Starbucks (one of six in this mall!) with a cup of coffee in a very comfortable chair and a view of all the passers-by. It turns out that my people-watching experience turned into a them-watching-me. As I sat in that chair, I lowered my eyelids and took a nap right there in the mall. I wonder how many people walked by wondering, "I wonder what happened to him?" Periodically I would wake up and wipe the drool off the corner of my mouth, only to allow myself to be wrapped by the warm sleepiness of naptime. I did this for almost an hour before meeting up at the rally point which, ironically enough, was ...

After work today I went exploring around the airport area. I made my way to The Avenues, the newest and biggest mall in Kuwait. It had the usual array of clothing stores as well as a food court, arcade, Carrefour (French supermarket) and of course, Starbucks. This was the first mall I've been to that had six (6) separate Starbucks locations, in addition to two Columbus Coffee places, a Paul place (featured in the photos) and Zaatar w Zeit (where I had lunch last Friday in Dubai with my brother and his family after church). My motivation was to scout the place out in advance of tomorrow's field trip. Yes, tomorrow after class I'll be taking half my class out to the mall for a breather. Many of my students work in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you can imagine that they don't get a chance to go out much. If walking from their rooms to the office is an adventure, you can bet they don't go to the mall much. After we do the mall thing, we'll head over to the Kuwait Towers...

Today I barely made it 1/4 of the way through the prescribed workout when my arms gave out during pushups and I fell flat on my face. I can't remember ever working my arms so hard that they turned into jello. So I hopped on an elliptical trainer and ran another 1.5 miles to keep my heart rate up for a period of time. It actually felt good in a strange way to be so tired, but my arms took a while to rejoin my body. I treated myself to a grilled fish dinner. If you ever happen to go through the Gulf, you simply must try hammour. This fish, found in the Gulf waters, is one of the tastiest, heartiest fish you'll ever eat. I enjoyed every bite of that fish which, sadly, didn't last long on my plate. After running an errand on the town I came back to the room for the evening. As I settled in, the noise from the next room was something else. Apparently a group of people decided to party next door. This meant a lot of loud music and smoking, the smell of which came through the wall...

Today was very routine. No major surprises, just work, home, gym time and bed with food stops in between. But as I was driving to work this morning I was struck by a rather powerful thought. Jeremiah 31:34b reads, "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Here God is talking about the kind of forgiveness that he offers - a complete, all-encompassing forgiveness designed to give the highest assurance to all who call on him that he loves them thoroughly and perfectly. I began to break it down. Can God really forget anything and still be all-knowing? A closer look at the verse shows that God isn't promising to forget; he promises to not remember any more. That's a huge difference. God knows, has always known and will always know everything. God knows all about our mistakes, our slip-ups, our disasters. But in the interest of relationship God chooses to not hold it in our faces. He steps beyond the problems to get back to the business of ...