A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

Thinking of the American Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow (although I am Canadian), I read and meditated this morning on the following passage in my Bible:

"I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."

Psalm 50:8-15 (NIV)

With this in mind, I direct your attention to the article posted here:

200,000 animals to be sacrificed at Hindu festival

Does your God need the sacrifices of bulls, goats, and fowl? Does he hunger for blood? Jesus has already paid the "once for all" blood sacrifice (Hebrews 7:27). I choose to offer a sacrifice of praise and a grateful heart. Which God do you serve? What are you thankful for?

Of Cops, Contradictions, and Getting Caught

Once a year, as foreigners living in Taiwan, we need to renew our Alien Resident Certificate (ARC). Once that is renewed, we can then renew our driver's licenses. My wife has a driver's license for the car, and I have one for car and another one for motorcycle.

On the day that the licenses were to expire, I went down to the local "DMV". I handed over the current licenses along with our ARC's. The fellow at the counter asked, "Do you have your photos?"

"What photos?", I asked.

"You need new photos.", he replied.

Needless to say I was a little frustrated, but I just left, planning to return the next day, with photos.

TWO days later I was on my scooter headed down to the DMV. I noticed a traffic light turn amber, then red just half a block up. I was in a rush, so I decided to do what so many people do in Taiwan on scooters, and make a left turn on the left turn arrow that was now lit. This is for cars turning left, but scooters are to advance to the corner ahead and then wait for the next green light (a 2 stage turn).

As I smoothly sailed through the intersection I smirked to myself, pleased with being able to shave a minute off my travel time. Then I heard the whistle blow. Darn!! Two police officers waiting at the side of the road pulled me over. The one young officer asked to see my license. I said, "You know, that's funny, because I am rushing on my way to get it renewed. It expired 2 days ago."

He didn't laugh as he issued me a warning.

Five minutes later I entered the DMV to renew my licenses. "Here are the photos", I said to the lady at the window I approached.

"What photos?", she asked.

"The man I saw 2 days ago said I needed photos."

"Photos? We don't need photos."

Ah. Okay. So that's how it's going to be. I took the renewed licenses and continued on my way, being careful not to make anymore illegal turns.

Today as I went out with the pastor on visitation, he made a comment to me, "I read in the paper that the police this month are cracking down on scooters making illegal turns."

"You don't say....."

Earthquakes

Last night a fairly major earthquake struck Taiwan, with many aftershocks, both large and small, continuing through the evening and night. The epicenter was in Nantou county, which is only about an hour's drive south from where we live. Initial reports put the quake at a magnitude 6.0, but other reports say it was as high as 7.0.

We have felt numerous quakes in the past 3 years since returning to Taiwan. None of them however, made my heart jump the way it did last night. We were in the middle of eating an early supper (as Paige had her piano lesson at 6:00 p.m.) when a sudden jolt hit and the whole house rattled and shook. Eileen and I quickly looked at each other and said, "Let's get out of here!" We ran to the lane outside, finding many of our neighbors had done the same. As we congregated in the lane we suddenly noticed that Erin (our oldest daughter, age 15, with Down Syndrome) was not with us. We looked back in the house; she was merrily sitting at the dining table eating her supper. Eileen went back in to coax her out, but she wasn't about to leave her food without a fight. I had to go back in and we literally had to drag her out. Fun! We felt bad later for not even thinking about her and just running out of the house. BAD parents, BAD parents!! Guess we'll have to do some earthquake drills to teach her what to do.

You can find more info about earthquakes in Taiwan here.