It is very hot. [Joseph]

It is currently 5:15pm on Sunday here in Kaohsiung, and it is still HOT. It really makes you appreciate little things like a cup of cold water, the breeze, and especially air conditioning. I've learned a lot about setting AC temperature in the last few days: it's amazing, the difference between say 26C and 30C! See, 30C is pretty unbearably hot, the kind of hot where you can't fall asleep. 29C is pretty comfortable, 28C is nice and cool, 27C is getting too cold, and 26C is wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-shivering kind of cold. Just moving +/- 1 or 2 degrees from 28C can be a huge difference! As opposed to our familiar Fahrenheit where all I know is 60+ degrees F is shorts weather.

It kinda reminded me though about how our lives are. The Bible says we must set our sights directly on Christ and the Cross. There is no other way to salvation:

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

-John 14:6

It doesn't matter if we stray a little or a lot, just 1 degree off and we miss the mark. Isn't that the very definition of sin?

"But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

Matthew 7:14

We've met a lot of really great people in just the last few days. Good people, generous and giving, open-hearted and welcoming. Like the barbershop lady across the street who let us leave our heavy luggage in her shop when we couldn't get into the church. Or the wonderful Starbucks employees who left us little free cups of coffee on our table when we passed out in their store for 4hrs due to jet-lag our first afternoon here.

There are so many good people here; but good doesn't cut it. Just doing good deeds cannot outweigh our sin. Being a "good person" and trying to do the right things still misses the mark. 1degree off, and it makes all the difference. It's sad to see, so many people here are ingrained in the Buddhist ideal that works can earn grace.

Hopefully, in these next few weeks, we can tell people the good news that Jesus paid it all, and that grace is FREE!

And you know what else is free? Bubble tea at the 89Drink store down the street. It's buy one get one free week. Time to go cool down...