Somewhere in the Korean countryside - April, 2006

I'm a cowboy
On these high plains I do ride
with a six-gun on my side
taking this lonely life in stride

Under the stars
I find my place to sleep
a stoney pillow for my head
and sand and dust for my bed

The sun and wind
my brothers on the road
they are ever on my back
and a burden I won't unload

Come walk with me
see if you can be like me
living large and living free
I'm living large and living free

The man and myth
forever locked in our soul
in love with a freedom
a freedom that is our goal

I'm a cowboy
On the high plains I do ride
with a six-gun on my side
will you join me as I ride...

Listen to that prairie wind blow
across this distance so far
give chase to that wind
and see how far you can go

Listen to the coyote howl
for the moon isn't that far away
the stars are getting lost
as new dreams are shared tonight

When the mountains are rising above you
look up and watch the eagle in flight
shake your head in the face of the rising sun
and never give up without a fight
as the desert rose takes bloom

The desert is more than just sand
the night is more than the moon
the wind sings more than a lonesome song
of a promise of my soon return
don't let our love get burned

When the mountains are rising above you
look up and watch the eagle in flight
shake your head in the face of the risen sun
and never go down without a fight
for the desert rose is blooming

as sure as the eagle will fly
you know this love won't die
there's a new dream to share tonight
there's one kiss to make it all right
and love won't go down without a fight

Because the mountains are rising above you
look up and watch the eagle in flight
shake your head in the face of the sun
and never go down without a fight
for the desert rose is in bloom

It has been busy this past weekend, and I am tired. Too tired to sleep.

The spring retreat for teachers went well. Elder Van Parmeter was our guest speaker. He shared a lot of experiences going on in the mission field that are mind-bending. Two brothers living on an island with the natives went fishing every day for their supper. One of them is now a pastor in Florida. An x-ray technician and his wife, a nurse, build their own house among the natives, and a small clinic. The wife was overworked and needed his help. He struggles with it. The first day in the clinic, a man with an ax in his leg is brought in. The husband passed out. He prayed about this, and is now sewing sutures on the nastiest of wounds.

The world we live in is bigger than us. It is bigger than the smallest I. We have a place here, if only we would seek out the place where we truly belong. Some live on isolated Pacific islands, and are alive, sharing in the stuggles of life and the love of God with total strangers. Others live in isolation in big cities, and die every day to the drudgery and uncertainty and the hatred of the corporate regime.

"His Hands" is a new inititative the Seventh-day Adventist church is soon to implement. It is a challenge to every Adventist church in the world to sponsor for one year a missionary serving overseas. There are many opportunities to serve as a missionary, but few are willing to take up the challenge.

As it stands, I will be in Korea for a long time to come.

I'll update later.

The original image needed something. I like the way this turned out.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Namdaemun (South Gate) - corner detail

Namdaemun Market - March 9, 2006

Dress Beads 
Namdaemun Market - March 9, 2006

"(Y)ou can take any liberty and abuse and stretch it until it becomes license, a grotesque perversion of what it was meant to be. It's the sort of thing that made Ben Franklin say, "Only a moral and virtuous people are capable of freedom; the more corrupt and vicious a people becomes, the more it has need of masters."

Think about that a minute; "only a moral and virtuous people are capable of freedom." Why? Because moral people, guided by principles like "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," will naturally be concerned for the welfare and liberties of their neighbors and allow the societal boundaries to work. And "virtuous" citizens will respect truth and the sensitivities of other citizens. An ingrained measure of such virtue is what the Bill of Rights took for granted.

But conversely, self-centered and corrupt people will incessantly gnaw at the liberties and guidelines that discipline and restrict and bring fairness to all, to gain advantage for themselves. And, when challenged, they'll duck behind the "liberties" they've mishandled – even declaring that they are champions of those freedoms they are unconscionably abusing.

Liberties, raped and stretched and abused, become license."

Pat Boone - recording artist, television star