GUY IN THE TREE
He was cutting the tree down and we were pumping plastic. He was actually up in our next door neighbor's tree with a direct view into our livingroom where Joel and I were sculpting our bods with some help from the Power 90 DVD exercise program. I'm sure this guy enjoyed a rousing rendition of "I've seen a lot of strange things on this job, but you'll never guess what I saw this morning..." with his family over dinner this evening. I wanted to shout, "Zaccheus, come down from there!" but somehow I don't think he would catch the Biblical reference (let alone English), and if he didn't fall out of the tree the first time he saw us, that would probably do the poor fellow in.

Later this morning, during our team meeting at the church office, our old (and I respectfully mean old) friend, Kei Sato, dropped by the church to say hello. I can't tell you how much I love this lady. We're talkin' I was body surfin' big 'ol waves of joy when I saw her walk up the church driveway. Don't ask me why, but it seems to me that Japanese people's illnesses are kept so top secret that I think the doctors don't even know what they're supposed to be treating. That's why people stay so long in the hospital here. The doctors have to keep giving the patients all kinds of medicines and surgeries until there's no possible way the person could be sick any longer. One of my friends went in with a cold can came out with a new kidney. Okay, that's not true, but, the point is that Kei was in the hospital for several months and even though we inquired about her health numerous times, we had no idea what was wrong. So when I saw her through the window today, I just wanted to sweep her up and have a banana party right then and there.

Joel and I also had some good news from our girlfriends today (man, they're good singers) which will remain top secret until further notice. However, that has been the golden shining frosting on my cake today. The four of us got to talk and pray and laugh together. What a gift.