Monday, January 25, 2010

People, People, People

1-24-2010

Today we went on an excursion to Baraholca (again spelling is relative). Baraholca is known as the city inside the city. It is a giant sort of mall that is known for all of its Chinese knock offs. I guess there is a joke that the Chinese export everything to Baraholca and then go shop there to get the best prices. (Keep in mind that I am only a stone’s throw away from China). Anyways, I finally got some hiking shoes/boots. Things are starting to melt around here which means that puddles and mud abound. Also, I want to get into the mountains and do some hiking so I am pretty excited that I finally got my boots. In Baraholca there is a ton of people. On the bus ride back there was a ton of people. So many people that I couldn’t twist, turn, move my feet or anything. I was standing sandwiched between a hundred different strangers. We were all touching each other way more than any of us wanted to be touched. But, that’s just how it is on Almaty buses. After we got off the bus we went to Ziloni Bazaar and guess what, it was Sunday which is the biggest market day of the week, so there was a ton of people. By the time I stammered into my apartment I didn’t want to see another face. I was so sick of people and so nauseated by being in crowds (I hate crowds, especially in foreign countries that don’t believe in personal space like we do in America). I realized just how many people are in this city and then I thought about how many cities there are in the world, many with a much greater population than here in Almaty. There are just so many people packed onto this little floating, spherical rock that we call Earth.

As I was thinking about all these people my mind started going crazy. I thought about how on this day a whole bunch of years ago a lovely woman gave birth to a lovely little girl and that girl grew up fell in love with a wonderful man and then proceeded to give birth to a little boy. And somehow those two people found each other and their genetic makeup produced me. I’ve heard the motivational speakers talk about sperm many times and how I am a statistical impossibility and sure, it makes me feel special for about 5 minutes. But, after today I am truly amazed at the fact that I am here, that I happen to be one of these billions of people that are stuck on this floating rock. Life is interesting, but what amazes me the most is how big God is. He is so big that He knows each and every person that bumped into me at the market today (that’s at least 500 people!) and He takes the time to count the hairs on their head, love them with all His majestic Being, and even execute a costly and painful plan so that He might be able to play to them forever. I am one of these billions that Jesus died for. I am one out of billions, that is not very special. But, to the God that knows each and every one of these billions I am special, and that makes me feel pretty darn special. But, I still hate crowds. I could go on and on at this point about how Jesus told me to love everyone as He has loved me and how after seeing so many people I am completely blown away by this command. But, if you’ve read this far, your eyes are probably getting tired and I have more things to talk about.

I don’t know if you caught the part earlier, about how a certain little girl was born on this day many years ago, but yes, I was talking about my mother. It’s my dear Mother’s birthday today and I am feeling quite sad that I cannot be there to celebrate with her. I can’t even post this yet so she can see I am saying happy birthday. That’s been the worst thing about this place so far, not being able to communicate with anyone back home other than 5 minute internet spurts while I’m at work. The computers there don’t make internet easy either. Everything switches back and forth from Russian to English. Anyways, the moral of the story is I’m missing my mom today. God chose to bless me with the perfect mother. I really can’t put into words just how special my mama is. Yes, I am a mama’s boy, and you would be too if your mom was as amazing as mine. So the moral of the story is: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

No comments:

Post a Comment