Ah, but being a Butt face is a good thing!!

I will never be able to use the term BUTT in the same way again. I wonder if the makers of Bevis and Butthead knew that Butthead is actually a high compliment in some parts of the world...well, if you have an American mind anyway.

ALL over Lahore you would see signs for Butt this, or Butt that. Butt Lighting. Butt Bakery. Butt Transport. Butt Jee. Just to name a few.

Come to find out "Butt" is actually the name of a caste in Pakistan. So people actually have the last name Butt. A friend who lives there tries to pronounce it as Butte and the Pakis correct him and say "NO, it is Butt!". So, the Butt caste is what was explained to us as the "potato." If you know about South Asian food you will know that the potato is used in just about anything. So, the Butt caste are involved in many things and are very good at what they do. So, if you are a Butt, then you are probably successful.

Also, Butt women are known for their un-aided beauty. The Butts are supposedly attractive and usually wear no make-up because they don't need it. So, if someone tells you you look like a Butt, say THANK you and smile. You are a beauty!

Here is an example for you. Yes, look close, that sign says "NEW BUTT SWEETS." You SO have to love it! I mean seriously!

Some faces from my time in Pakistan:





Some places:

Inside a salt mine...made completely of salt...pretty neat


The coolest Masjid I have EVER seen...inside it was amazing.

My trip to Pakistan was awesome. I want to go back and hope that some day I will get to. There is too much to say about the trip and the country so I am choosing to go with few words...if you get a chance, you, too, should go to Pakistan.

Nepal was cool.

27 feels NO different than 26.

Been home for a day.

Leaving for Pakistan tomorrow.

I just found out that my Great, great, etc. back to 1614 Grandfather died in Lahore. I really wish I had some writings about his impressions/experiences from back then...how awesome would that be?...and to think over 400 years later I am walking in some of the same places he did...that is pretty cool...I look forward to visiting his grave site in Agra in July...I should be keeping a better journal of my travels...
 Maybe adventure is in the genes....

PS. I just read Vikram's final entry and it made me cry! A piece of my heart feels broken...and it is not even my life...

I am getting on a plane for Nepal in 1 hour!!! ROCK ON!!!

No wonder amongst my writings of gracious living I have a struggle with the issue. It always seems to work like that...you say you want to do something and the opportunity smacks you in the face...sometimes you do well, sometimes you fall on your face. Thankfully the "holiness by grace" phrase was resonating in my mind this morning before I had meeeting with said "guy on the phone who made me angry," and I was able to treat him as he should have been.
Anyway, have I stated before that I don't understand this culture sometimes? Today, sitting in my favorite Subway, I picked up the paper and read this little article. Thought I would share as I think it is just "too good" not to share. Talk about confusion...

The Emperor's New Clothes
The law is ok with women going topless, but figure hugging clothes won't do. "Women may go topless in public, provided they are not doing so to promote business of any kind." According to this new rule passed by the state legislature last week, one may see some hot action on the city's premier Brigade Road and MG road. Call it irony or the right body not knowing what the left body is doing, but the very same day the state legislature passed yet another rule: "It is illegal for a woman to be on the street wearing body-hugging clothing."

Today was one of those days. A day I would classify as having severe culture ANGRY moments. I feel for my friend Peter who went through it with me, and thankfully he did, as I REALLY needed someone to hand the phone off to as I was about to really GO OFF on the Indian guy on the other end. Peter is a really sweet kid...

ANYWAY, you will know when I am REALLY angry if I cry. I know, it is weird, but when I am REALLY mad, I cry. As I walked down the dark street to find an auto, in a neighborhood not my own, I almost REALLY cried right there. Oh, I cried, just not "attention getting" cry.

I just get SO tired sometimes of the way things run here. AND I get SO tired of everyone bashing America. As I was mad at "guy on the phone", I picked up the paper to read an article (there is ALWAYS AT LEAST one in every paper) that had a statement comparing America to the British when they took over India. HI, I beg to differ PUNK! FREAKIN A!!! How about stop bashing America and get off your lazy caste system butts and do something for the improvement of your own country. If people spent the same amount of time doing something to improve this country as they do bashing America then who knows what could happen here. Yesterday, I had a guy tell me how much better India is than America because of all the excess money India has. Yeah, so explain to me why so many are poor and starving if there is so much excess! Is it because you are corrupt jerks??

AND, if you have SO much excess, then why do you have to DEMAND tsunami relief help from the outside, and get MAD at America if we don't donate funds to you, if you have SO MUCH excess and are SO MUCH BETTER than America! If you hate us, then quit taking our money, and don't you dare ask us for help if all you want to do is bash us! Hypocrites!

Boy I wish I could go running right now. SO NOT possible...I need to chill out...STILL MAD and that stinks.

I have received word that I will get to spend May and June in Sri Lanka participating in the Tsunami Relief effort! I am stoked. As I think about working down there, and what my friend told me about how the Sri Lankans reacted to his help, it made me think about the verses I have been pondering lately. They asked him if he was "helping them so he could get to God". I loved that he was able to say no.

Ephesians 2:8-10 states, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

As I continue to ponder grace, which I so often refuse to accept in its true simplicity, this verse becomes more powerful. So, as I have been thinking about grace and the "Church" lately, I read Jaywalkers site today and it just seemed to fit really well into the scope of things I have been thinking about. Read the article. I think it is great.

Holiness by Grace. What a profound, yet simple, concept. What a great message.

The more I get to know people here, the more I realize how alike all humans are the world over, despite exterior cultural appearances. This fact has continued to be over my many years of traveling all over the world. It is one of the strongest evidences of creation for me. The desires of hearts. You may make people operate according to a cultural norm, or force them into secrecy in regards to behavior that does not follow it, to make your culture seem more conservative or what have you, but you can not change the fact that each heart longs for/struggles with the same things...

India gives off this appearance of conservatism/purity. And while there are some that are conservative, my legs are the palest they have ever been in my life and my rear always covered because of "appropriate clothing", there is just as much drinking, sleeping around, racism,adultery, lying, intolerance, cheating, bribing, poor parenting, arrogance, elitism, lustfulness, greed, etc. in this country as any other...it is just hidden a little better by such things like forbidding for there to be ANY kissing aloud in a Hindi film, or excusing elitism because of a caste system, calling it national pride when hating Pakistan and it's people who not too long ago used to be of the same country.

I have also come to realize the depth at which honesty is what I value from people. I value straight up honesty in how people live life or struggle with it, because all of the hidden stuff just annoys me when I find out. I think that whether it be culture that demands secrecy, or the Church's lack of grace, that almost requires people to operate in shame because of weakness, that we need to do some overhauling that results in freedom. I do know it is a lot easier to stand on my soap box than actually step down off of it and walk. But the REAL conversations with people from the heart, no matter how smucky, happy, sad, humbling, harsh, etc. they may seem, are the conversations I walk away from feeling almost refreshed. I would take Simon over Paula any day.

Give me Howard Roark.