oh my, he really does post on his blog!

okay, so i have spent the last 20 minutes waiting for a single picture to upload. nope, not gonna happen. blame the slow laos internet speed. anyway, i will give you a little update on me and then post pictures once i arrive in fast paced bangkok.

the last 10 days have more or less been spent lounging by the river. the mekong and nam oh rivers. a nice little bungalow with porch and hammock, all for about $5/day. i am midway through my second 500 page novel too. i've been busy sipping the famed beerlao, staring at the wondrous limestone mountains that form the buttresses of the river valley, and drinking syrupy thick laos coffee sweetened with condensed milk. a bit much even for me, a sugar fanatic. oh, and i have ambled my way through a few 'remote hill tribe' villages too.

i must say, it's been wonderful. all but for one thing. and every step of the way i am learning this more. i've seen a large amount of the world, but i've seen most of it alone. and that's just not that much fun at the end of the day. don't take this wrong, i am not depressed about it, but every day i become more aware of the value of a life shared. the most powerful moments of my travels are when i encounter some person and we move past the barrier of 'strangers' and act like we know each other. this world is about people, and as i travel it more and more, that is what i travel for, the people. now, if i long for the touch of another person, having the spirit within me, then imagine the pain and need within the lost for that touch. i see it everywhere. in watery eyes that follow another all night bender. in the worn backs of rural laborers. in the humiliated eyes of a beggar. they all need Him. perhaps that is what this whole trip is about. before i left it was all an idea for me, and an idealistic one at that. now i have seen the reality of the world's needs (as i can understand now). it's tangible if we are not too arrogant to see it. the world crumbles to pieces around them. and what i know now is that i will be broken and miserable if i just watch it happen and snap a few photos along the way. my own life has become wrapped up in the hopes and dreams of the lost. i want it this way too. i want to feel His heart. and it won't always feel like apple pie and ice cream.