CCC 101

Was watching a Frasier DVD just now over lunch when i heard a squeal coming from the dining room, where Bingo was loitering about. Figured that it was just one of his routine muscle-aching moments (at his age, they seem to come pretty regularly nowsaday, especially if he has just accidentally slipped or something), so i didn't give him much notice. But then he continued to squeal and squeal (usually it's just a once-off thing) so i went over to take a look at him. Turns out his right rear leg was probably seizing up for some reason or other (cramp, sprain etc...) and he was hobbling around the house and unable to even lie down, cos whenever he tried to do so, he'd just aggravate the pain and howl even more...

Eh so i really had no idea what to do as he went on like this for the next five minutes, beyond laying on of hands and prayer (seriously). He seriously looked to be in great agony, and i hadn't a clue as to what else to do. Heck, i didn't even have the number of a vet with me, nor could i bring him over to one since i can't drive.

Yup so as i was saying, the best i could do was pray that the pain would go away... And thankfully after five minutes or so he finally calmed down and appeared to be in less pain, another five minutes and he was lying down once again, as if nothing had happened...

In retrospect, i was somehow reminded of MEET and all that was said about effective communication and contextualization. Obviously my skills at canine communication and contextualization are sorely lacking, which turned out to Bingo's detriment since he could not convey to me what the problem was, nor could i try and massage his leg or do anything that in my eyes constituted as treatment as he would not understand that it would be for his own good and hence would probably try and bite me. Any desparate attempt at barking and head nudging on my part in order to let him know what i wanted to do would probably not be well-received by him at all...

And bringing this into a missions context, it reminds me of the futility of trying to share the Gospel to a foreign people group sans at least some knowledge of their language/culture etc since if i tried to do so my attempts would fall on deaf ears. I'd really have no other recourse than to pray for a direct revelation of the Gospel Message via the work of the HolySpirit. But the effective communication barrier would still be an issue whatever the case. Similarly, all i could really do for Bingo was to pray for the end to his pain by the grace of God as without proper communication, nothing else was a possibility. So when all things are considered, i guess my point is that ultimately our human efforts are finite, and it is God who is in control of everything... He succeeds where we fail, and the opposite is never true.

Hmm and where Bingo is concerned, i seriously dunno how things will be in the future, especially after we move and if he ends up still with us... Ah well, that's all in God's hands as well - we'll see what happens...

Yesterday we had a MEET Prathet Thai reunion thingy with Alan, Bessie and Hannah, with whom we spent a month with exactly a year ago. Went along with the previous team, like mine also amply stocked with thursday cg peeps. Anyways, it was great to catch up and remember some of the things we did back there. Haha those were some crazy times, but at the same time the lessons that i've learnt from way back then still have had an impact on where i am today by God's grace. It was really that trip that got me thinking that missions (on a longer short-term/long-term basis) is something that i'm actually open to, as the Lord leads, something cemented by my time at Urbana. Yup of course the mechanics and all of that stuff of it is still very very fuzzy (for starters the earliest i'd probably consider actually doing so would be after my bond is up - which is in 2013 so wait long long ah...) but well, if it's something the Lord wants of me i'm sure things will become clearer in His time... Dai mai? Dai!

All of us who were there yesterday - we ended up at Va Va Voom Vietnamese