Things I can't explain:

I’ve been giving money to a grandma beggar at the market most days for a few weeks. She sits crouched low on the dirty ground, piles of trash nearby. She wipes her tired eyes with a rag, and sometimes she busies herself by wringing her hands again and again as she stares off in no particular direction. It isn’t unusual to see beggars or for me to give them money. It happens most every day here. I try to be generous without being totally culturally inappropriate– Instead of the equivalent of a few pennies like would be expected, I usually give the equivalent of 40 cents. That’s it. Almost nothing to me but pretty generous as far as giving money to beggars goes here. So, most every day I give this grandma with a sad face 40 cents and say “May the eternal God bless you” and walk away. Today, when I said it she told me, “it’s okay if you don’t give me 40 cents. You don’t have to. 5 or 10 will be enough.”

Another grandma sits on a little wooden step two inches off the dirty floor, sharing her morning fried rice with the stray cats and dogs. She “sells” bananas, but I put it in quotation marks because she practically gives them away. They should be about 50 cents a bunch. But, she is constantly giving me extra change back on purpose and refuses to let me pay full price. Even when I pay full price, she includes some “gift” with the sale for free.

I have complete faith in God, the Creator of heaven and earth. I believe his promises and have conformed my life in obedience. I am ready to spent the rest of my life living, loving and testifying to the Truth of his Word and the grace of his goodness. But, today our country had the first official positive coronavirus test, and I spent a good part of the day wondering if I have stocked up enough food.

These are things I can’t explain.