"The only thing worth holding onto is holding onto me"

Currently it is 12:54 AM, I am sitting on the floor, eating crackers and peanut butter (Peter Pain) and listening to "The Way You Make Me Feel" by none other than the King of Pop, Mr. Michael Jackson.

I don't care what you say - this song is amazing.

I just realized that my Blogger profile says that I'm currently living in Afghanistan and making my living in the field of Accounting. This information is decidedly inaccurate. Not that there's anything wrong with accounting. There's actually a lot wrong with Afghanistan. But that is neither here nor there.

Tonight we had dinner at Subway. It tasted like home. You guys should eat at Subway - with fresh ingredients and healthy choices - Tasting is Believing. Uncle Glen, you owe me 20 bucks.

I'm trying to cut back on coffee. Ever since that gastritis episode, I'm realizing that stomach lining is important and its integrity is worth maintaining. So I've started drinking other healthier options, like tonight I got a Soy Green Tea Latte. Hope I don't turn into one of those dern hippies.

Although, one of my fourth-graders, Tim, has started bringing me coffee when he comes to English camp class at 11. Every day for the last week, he has paid 500 won (about 50 cents) to buy me a coffee from who knows where, and he carries it to school for me. I think some of his friends razzed him for it one day, so now he opens the door to the classroom, whispers "Teacher!" and waves for me to come and get it from him. He then quietly sneaks into the classroom through the back door as though no coffee exchange happened. I love my Timpy :)

Before I head out, here's a bit more of my serious writing:

"Success is not merely avoiding failure. If you do not fail you have not accomplished anything. And make no mistake – you will fail. Many times. I’m the kind of person that hates learning experientially, that is, by falling on my face. But at the same time I know that God can teach me so much when I’m lying flat, with my face in the mud.

So many times when I ask God to teach me something, or to grow me in some way, I half expect him to pass along some good reading material on the subject, perhaps facilitate some good discussion with trusted friends, and maybe throw in a moment of spiritual enlightenment. God can work in these ways. However, he doesn’t always package things in an easy-to-digest parcel.

Many times when I expect to be taught the easy way, the hands-off way, the way that protects Jessica’s pride, God wallops me with a type of learning that I can only describe as being intensely humbling and incredibly painful. Its not painful because God is hurting me; its painful because of the harm I have already caused myself. The smack on the hand is never as painful as the realization that you’re wrong, that you’ve made a mistake. That’s how pride gets you."