A Big Big God

Wednesday night I was sitting in my parents' home all alone, when a storm started blowing in. I must insert here that I love storms. One thing that I missed in China was good spring/summer thunderstorms. Watching the the blue-gray clouds roll in from the West, feeling the wind whipping through my hair... and then God shows off. Lightning dances across the sky to the accompaniment of falling rain and crashing thunder, all under the direction of the master conductor. Oh they are such a wonderful reminder of God's awesome power and majesty.
But, back to Wednesday night. The thunder had been crashing for a few minutes when the power went out (and stayed out until 3 am). Having no connection to the outside world (the phones were out too), I had no idea what was going on in the rest of the area and just enjoyed the symphony of the storm alone with God in the dark of my house. When my parents got home 2 hours later, I found out that most of the city was without power, trees were down and littering the streets, and a house nearby was ablaze after a power line and pole crashed down upon it. In the morning we found out that power was still out all over the Metroplex (35,000 homes are still without it), much damage had been done, but through all the 100mph winds, fallen fences, downed trees, overturned vehicles, and burned houses, there were no injuries or fatalities. And, the house that burned down was vacant, as the owners had moved out two weeks earlier (Praise the Lord).
So what this says to me is that God is big!! I think He often does things to show is power. This spring has been full of powerful storms, and every storm has shown God's power and control. I just think about the way storms work and all the components of it, and I am amazed! I was thinking about this and the the absence of powerful thunderstorms in Southern China, and I see how God shows His power in different ways in different places. Just for example, the mountains I lived near in China were majestic displays of God's creation. Texas is rather lacking in anything but flat land, but the big blue skies, sunsets, and storms glorify God just as much as the jade rivers and karst mountains of Guangxi.
How is God big where you live?

Quick Stress Update

Well, the Mavericks have sadly ended my stress by majorly losing in game 6 of the playoffs. It is sad. Perhaps they can pull it together and do it next year. (sigh)

Stress

I know what you are probably thinking by my title, I am going through readjustment stress or something like that, but in actuality that is not the case. In fact, my adjustment is still going smoothly. It has taken me a month, but I finally have a routine (at least somewhat) and my tutoring jobs are keeping me busy!
So why am I stressed? Have you been watching the Mavericks' play-off games? Some of those games have been just plain sickening and last night was just stressful. Sitting there watching them give up a 21 point lead to have a 9 point deficit made my heart beat quickly and feel stressed! I do not know why I am stressing out over this series (it is just basketball), but when a team that is supposed to win it all stinks up the court, it is stressful. I was relieved as they hung on to win the game last night, but part of me fears another night of stress.

Less to Write about from this side of the ocean

I have been back in America for almost three weeks now and I find that I really don't know what to blog about. It is definitely weird to be back, but I don't necessarily feel like I am experiencing "culture shock". Things about American culture do not bother me now any more than they did three years ago. So what I am going through now is more like life-style shock and transition frustration (just like what I went through the two summers I spent at home during college). I have been a free spirit, traveling and doing things on my own, for 3 years (if you don't count college), and now I am back living with my parents. I also really miss city life. I miss walking downstairs (or taking the elevator) and being surrounded by people, riding the bus and meeting new people, buying fruit and vegetables from streetside vendors, and walking a lot.
Before I came back, I knew that Plano has a high Asian population, but wow! Plano has a high Asian population. I know of four Asian markets within a twenty minute drive from my house, and they are mostly Chinese! There are also a lot of new Thai, Indian, and Vietnamese places. I am still working on how to build relationships with some of these Chinese speakers.
One last thing. Though I may not be working with Chinese right now, I am tutoring four Korean kids. It is a pretty good job before starting back to school.

The back of my shirt says "Foreigner Goes". I thought it was an appropriate shirt for the occasion. My Chinese friends thought it was really funny!

A few friends came with me to the airport to send me off. It is the Chinese way. I rented a van so that they could all come with me. Several of my closest friends could not come because of school conflict. The two pictured above work in my building and we frequently ate dinner together.

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go..."- I thought about that song a lot this week. It was crazy getting everything I needed packed into three suitcases (60kg in all) and then getting rid of everything else, while at the same time saying goodbye to all of my friends and giving final lessons. It was such a blessed week though and so full of joy. This is in my apartment right before I left.