I've never met a true follower of Jesus Christ

I'm fifty three years old and I've been around. I've met many people during my travels but I've never met a true follower of Jesus Christ. I've met people that refer to themselves as "Christian" but all those people pick and choose what ideals established by Jesus they will follow and say "fuck the rest". They knowingly and willingly act in non-christian manners then offer up some cheap excuse and penance for their evil actions. This is Christianity in America today.   

 

I doubt this is what Jesus had in mind for the actions of his followers.

 

Most all the "Christians" I've met gather in numbers and support the evil and wrong-doing of each other. Is this was Jesus had in mind? Who's out there actually setting an example of how to live today as a follower of Jesus Christ? Where is that person or where are those people? I would really like to meet him/her or them.

 

If there are any real Christians out there in the world today I believe the last thing they want is a bunch of hypocritical sycophants following them around so they keep quiet and walk the path of Jesus with anonymity. I believe this person or these people show the world what they believe with their actions, they do not say anything for actions speak louder than words.

The Christians I've met try to show who they are with their words. They talk the talk but they don't walk the walk.

I think former President Jimmy Carter is the best example of a true follower of Jesus Christ as there is today. Because of the quality of his faith he leads a life of abundance. I don't think President Carter seeks abundance but abundance is a result of his faith.

 

 

 

The News, Politics and Soap operas

Years ago I watched a soap opera (AMC). I watched until the realization that very little gets done and when something does happen is typically bad news. The futility of it all is what got to me. The futility is what prompted me to stop watching.
 

After not watching the Soap for a few years I began dating someone new, this was back in 1985. The new lady in my life watched the same soap I did years earlier. I decided to watch an episode with her one day as she prepared for work. Though years had passed nothing had changed on the soap. Whatever differences there were they could only be described as tragic. In my  humble opinion this is analogous to politics in America today.

Prior to moving to Thailand I was a bit of a news junkie. I like to say informed so I watched the National news daily, I watched the PBS news, some CNN and a few other programs and I did some reading, some of the news on-line, MSN.com, yahoo news. I did this as to get a "well rounded view" of what was going on in the world. I found it too depressing to watch the local news. Every lead story every day on the local news (chicago) was tragic and depressing. Blood and guts sells in Chicago. Because of this I found it easy to navigate around it.

After being gone from the USA for a couple of months I decided to go to MSN.com and read up on what I've been missing in politics and news since coming to Chiang Mai Thailand. I'm shocked to read the exact same bullshit I was reading/watching months ago. Not a damn thing changed. Still no budget deal. Still looming crisis in the future. Everyone living in a state of panic from day to day.

The National news is like a fucking soap opera. Almost nothing changes and when it does it's almost always bad. The only good news America seems to have generated in the last five years was electing it's first black American to the Presidency and that president passing health care to cover many people that did not have health care.

The best political prognosticators said if America did not get its financial house in order it was doom and gloom and our politicians had a deadline, January 1st, 2013. The deadline has come and gone. The only thing that changed was the deadline.

Well done Assholes!

"Off with their heads" I say. All of them. Pundits, politicians and the news makers. It's as if the three of them are conspiring to defraud the American public. They use and abuse the public for one reason, money-money-money-money. They worship at the alter of the almighty dollar.

The news is supposed to serve the readers and watchers. It does no such thing. The news serves itself. The government is supposed to serve the people. It does no such thing. First and foremost the government, our government, serves itself. Next in line it serves big business. Serving the citizens is an afterthought.


When big business bought the new channels and newspapers things changed. Delivering news stopped being the priority. Corporate America has only one concern and that is their bottom line. News programs became a vehicle for which and with which to increase their bottom line.  

Government is supposed to serve the people. In America it seems serving the American citizens is no longer the priority of government. America's government seems more concerned with serving big business more than it does the citizens of the nation. It does not. Government serves itself.

I'm not sure who originally said it

"Congress will do the right thing only after exhausting all other measures"

That statement certainly fits in with the budget crisis

It's the blind leading the blind in America..

Moving to Chiang Mai

 

 

Some of the things written about in the blogs relating to what to do and how to do it when you get here to Chiang Mai, things like buying a cell phone or adding minutes to your cell phone, paying your water bill or finding an apartment or house to live in. These things are made to sound so easy in the blogs but the reality is this.

 

Yes, you can pay your water bill and buy minutes for your cell phone at the local 7/11 but if you do not speak Thai (how many tourist speak Thai?) then walking into a 7/11 and buying minutes is not so easy and once you buy the minutes trying to add them to a phone you are unfamiliar with, a phone where the instructions are in Thai, is a nightmare.

 

As to  finding a place to live I read advice about keeping your eyes open for signs hanging in windows "Apartment for rent". I found this was advised on a number of blogs. Contact the owner but don't let him/her know you are an American. How do you accomplish that? And what happens when you call the number listed for the apartment and the person answering the phone only speaks Thai? Again, the advice given on the blogs requires you to have a person in your pocket that you can pull out for any given situation and have them assist you. How many tourist have such a person in their pocket? 

 

So much advice out there is predicated upon you speaking Thai. If you don't speak Thai, the advice is worthless ----------- and agrivating.

 

The simplest things become overly complicated when you cannot communicate.

 

Walk up to a street vendor and try to order lunch without understanding how to say, Chicken, beef or pork. or is this spicy?

 

Often times when doing business with street vendors I just open my wallet and hope for the best. I don't recommend this and I only do it with small bills or pocket change. Most of the street vendors want you to come back so they try hard to make a good deal for you and not rip you off. The crime rate here is very low and that is one of the appealing aspects to life in Chiang Mai.

 

Try hopping in a Songthaew or a tuk-tuk and ask to be taken to a location the driver is not familiar with. Many of the drivers know many of the standard locations. The first time I hopped in a tuk-tuk and needed to go to the local phone company to call stateside (TOT) and the driver had no idea where the place was. The address I handed the man was written in English and he did not read English.

 

It is all an adventure and keeping that in mind will help.

 

 

 

 

Olympic size swimming pool

Today was a new experience. I did laps in an Olympic size pool and what a difference this was in comparison to the other pools. I swam 1,100 meters. I got out of the water completely drained of energy and it felt wondrous. The pool was at the 700 Year Stadium which is located at the base of the mountains to the West of Chiang Mai. The view of the mountains was nothing sort of magnificent. I think the best part of the day was the fact there were NO ASSHOLES at the pool looking to start trouble. The pool was ASSHOLE FREE :-) There were just a handful of men doing laps and minding their own business. Paradise :-)

 

Guess who was a day late and a dollar short?

The assholes :-)

 

The icing on the "cake of today" was the temperature. Some weather rolled in last night and cooled the city off. It must have been ten degrees cooler today than it was yesterday. 

 

After the pool I went for a foot massage and found another great massage therapist.

 

Granny ride a motorcycle

I was out running errands today and did lots of people watching. The things that stuck out in my mind today while people watching is this:

1. Granny rides a motorcycle. I must have seen fifteen to twenty  granny's out there today on their motorcycles. It struck me as funny after seeing so many.
2. They have phone Boothe's here. The only fashion kind, the kind superman would dart into and change
3. Men with no chins. In America men with no chins or small chins don't do well with the ladies. Here in Chiang Mai I noticed lots of men today with no chins and they had hot Thai girls with them
4. Bald men. Lots and lots of bald men here in Chiang Mai they too, like the chinless wonders all have hot Thai girlfriends.

After taking a break from the foot massage scene for a few days I decided I needed one today. Once again I got stuck with a dude. I think this was the third time it's happened. Not just a dude, an old man. Not just an old man, a gay old man at that. Good grief Charlie Brown. Surprisingly it was probably the best foot massage I've gotten since arriving here. Very therapeutic and that's what I needed.

Today I  bought two pair of shorts. Now I am complete and can dress like a tacky tourist.

Lost my debit card today

 

 

I was in dire need of t-shirts. It's hot here and I have only a few tshirts. I found a store that carries clothes in my size (fat) so I went there today to shop. I found a handful of tshirts, each costing 120 baht ($4) but they would not take my debit card, four tshirts and a new pair of shorts cost 600 baht ($20). I Need to spend 1,000 baht to use the debit card so I went down stairs to the bank machine and withdrew 500 baht.

 

After the withdrawl I went back up stairs to pay for my goods. Then I hopped into a songthaew and headed over to the Airport Plaze Mall to see a movie. I wanted to see Flight again. After it being nominated for a Oscar I thought I should see it for a fourth time for I am a huge Denzel Washington fan! He is one of the great actors of today. Airport Plaze Mall has the only theaters in town with English speaking movies. While I was in line for a ticket I realized I'd left my debit card in the machine at the other mall. Shit. god damn it and fuck.

 

Back in a songthaew and back across town. Now I'm pissed at myself. It's so fucking hot out and the smog is disgusting.

 

I get back to my bank and hope they have my card. Please. please. please. 

 

Great news. Some kind and honest person turned it in.

 

I'm the lucky one. I am soooo lucky :-)

 

Thank you God.

 

The stress of the situation has given me a major fucking head-ache.

 

I got home and decided it's Heineken Friday :-)

 

 

 

 

 

She wasn't there today

I went back to Central Mall today sort of hoping, not sort of hoping I was really hoping I would see the homeless lady and her child. I would make right the wrong I allowed to happen yesterday. I would reach into my pocket give her a few hundred baht. I hoped that would help. I hoped that would make a difference.

She was not there.

What do I do now?

Please God, tell me what to do. How do I fix this?

I had a chance and turned my back on a person I could have helped.

What do I do now?

Luke 6:31
Do to others as you would like them to do to you
I could have helped. I feel shame for not helping yesterday.