Have mercy!

I've been thinking about mercy a lot lately. God tells us that we will receive mercy to the extent that we show mercy and while I don't particularly want to think about that deeply because it hurts, I find it is an incredible motivator to show kindness to the undeserving. Take my moto driver yesterday for example.

After leaving the Russian Market (where you can buy anything from rip-off North Face packs to car parts), I hailed a moto driver and asked him to take me to Gasolina, a restaurant where some of the crew was meeting up for some food and salsa dancing. He assured me that he could get me there for 2000 riel (about 50 cents).

Now, a moto driver will maintain a reasonable speed as long as he knows where he's going, but not fast, they never actually go fast. However, when he's looking for something, or somewhere, he slows down noticeably. So when my driver slowed down and started looking around, I realized I'd been had and he had NO CLUE where Gasolina was. We stopped and asked several tuk-tuk drivers and got excellent directions all the way across town, but of course, upon arriving, no Gasolina to be had. This went on for roughly an hour and a half. In the meantime, I saw some beautiful temples in Phnom Penh and observed wonderful street life. No closer to Gasolina.

So I brusquely dismissed my driver after realizing we would never get there, with full intention of giving him the promised fifty cents. And I did. But somehow after realizing how much I've been given and how frequently I wander without really having direction I couldn't part leaving him with such a pittance. The world says we should give people only what they deserve. Not so in the Kingdom of Heaven.

I ended up finding Gasolina's address online and directing another driver there myself. A great system. No salsa dancing on Tuesday nights anymore though. The Lord is teaching me patience.

Flash back to the Russian market: these little girls kept hounding me for food and looking quite sad and disheveled. I was a good tourist and politely ignored them after saying no. Yet when I found them later and bought them some food, the smiles on their faces were priceless. I think I've found a new hobby. Jesus told us that if we give even a cup of cold water in His name, He will remember us. So I tried to teach them to say "Jesus loves me," but I don't think they quite got it. They just smiled a lot. And said "thank you, sir."

After Gasolina, we went over to an expat house party for a bit and played some Nintendo Wii before I flagged a moto and retired for the evening.

Morning was glorious as usual. My patio overlooking the Mekong River is beautiful at 8 o'clock. Surgery was slow again today. I watched a cataract repair, a cleft lip and a cheiloplasty (lip repair). I also saw a woman with some nasty acid burns on her chest and shoulders. Terrible. Which reminds me that we toured an acid-burn victims' rehab center yesterday where they basically re-integrate acid burn victims into society. Really cool work they're doing there.

Had some good talks about Christ, Islam and Mormonism today with my friends here. Crazy stuff people believe... One of the highlights of the day was Aoife teaching Scott and I how to do a full cardiovascular exam. She's brilliant.

Show some mercy today. To some one who doesn't deserve it I mean. You might just like it. Peace!