I'm leaving on a jet plane

My bags are packed.  I am ready to go.  Don't know when I will be back again (but I do as I am only going for two weeks). So goes the classic John Denver song.

Yes, I am off for two weeks and I sure am ready to go.  I figure that it is only fair to warn any of my regular readers that there will be no entry for the next two weeks but you can hang out for the big one on my return.  That will be in the first week of November. 

It strikes me that my pace of life is constant and has been so since returning from Australia in the middle of last year.  As I approach the end of the week and entry into holiday mode, I thought this week would be an easier one but it did not prove that way at all.  My Tuesday reminded me of my mantra arising from living here ten years - my life in Bangkok can change right around in just 24 hours (or much less).   That is just what happened.  The catalyst once again was my boss, the bishop.  He can just so readily announce his unrelenting and amazing requests or decisions without any great thought and the whole of one's life is radically reoriented, at least at the immediate moment of receiving his message.  That is the initial response but I know him too well and experience tells me to take whatever he says in my stride and let time take its course.  Then what seems initially unreal becomes in time real and doable.  Such was the outcome once again.  Stand back, think through what is presented and then act on it in a logical way.  This is the key to finding a more achievable way ahead in addressing whatever the issue may be at hand.   

That may seem strange to one from outside but it so makes sense to me.  Maybe it is the clash of cultures or maybe it is the way of bishops but that is what happens.  Life does change but it has to maintain a sense of reality.   So it with a sense of reality I take my leave and go to the Holy Land.  I will remember you and pray for you as I take this opportunity to visit the homeland of Jesus.  Thanks for reading.