It's A Small World After All

...............It's a small world afterall, it's a small world after all, it's a small world after all.........now that you are putting those words to the tune of the song, I hope it doesn't get stuck in your head!

"Same, Same" seems to be a recurring theme to these January blog entries. Little happens, partly because the weather doesn't inspire me to be outside for long periods of time, partly because the concrete buildings are kinda boring, and partly because I am content to just spend these cold winters days in the apartment with a nice cup of Joe (coffee) and a book, knowing that I anticipate being all over the place in the spring. Beijing (China), JeJu (Korean Tropical Island), Seoraksan Park (a beautiful national park on the east coast), and potentially a weekend out on an island on the west coast at some point over the next few months before I get home.

I look forward to all of those, but for now, I figure I will splurge to you one of the most significant things my 7 1/2 months in Korea have taught me. And that is this, it's a small world! Not just because I have been blessed with great company and friends here in Seoul, but because the world has actually gotten a lot smaller in my eyes as I live amongst and watch people who live differently that I do in a land that at one time seemed so far away.

Before I got here, the thought of going to Asia seemed to be such a HUGE leap for me. I always viewed it as the land over there, or the place where most people in Vancouver are from and some place I would never go because it was just so far, and why the heck would I want to go over there anyway? Those people do what they do and I do what I do and whatever they do is great if it works for them. The thought that many of the people in Vancouver had roots in other places, seemed strange and abstract, almost like lip-service, as I had yet to understand it for what it was, real life, not just something that was talked about. Before traveling over here I had the mentality that it was me against them, or they are very different than I am. Both of these are true to a certain extent, however there is still something that makes me, one with these people.

When I would be in North America and here of things happen around the world, fires, earthquakes, wars, disasters and what not, it would have been easy for me to shrug it off as, this won't happen to me, and that only happens in "those" places, which to me weren't actually places in the world, but images on a television screen.

The lives of those people on the television screen have become all to real to me. As I see people smile at me in the streets, as I see that they have the same needs as I have, spiritually, relationally, physically, emotionally and the list can go on......................I have come to realize that they are no different than me. And the world is a really a small place.

Yeah, it may be a 10 hour flight to get here, but when you can see it for what it is, people and culture, it has come to be all to real. The life these people live will no longer be something viewed as strange and distant but as one which we experience together, bound not by countries or political views (CDN's, don't forget to vote on Monday), but by the oneness in which the Lord intended, and the oneness that is exemplified only in the holy trinity. We aren't the trinity, but my travels have made me realize the oneness in which we as humanity stand in, bound only by sin.

This is the best I can do in a nutshell to the continued lessons I'm learning during this adventure, once again, it's worth greater conversation in person, like many of the stories over here.

God has been good.
Kev