Thursday, May 21, 2020

Trek Day Seventeen

in the palace of the poor
"This poor widow has given more than all those who are contributing..." -- from Mark 12:38-44

Today, let's START with the questions:
Questions for Today
What is required to treat someone royally?
What makes someone see your home as a palace not a hovel?
Are there people in my community I would never invite into my home?
Why would I not invite them?  

Return to these questions after reading the story from a global worker named Max Edgar:

Vietnamese celebrate Tet, the lunar new year, by donning new clothing, visiting friends and eating special foods. One year Ba Hein, a refugee in a camp near the town of Quang Ngai, invited us to enjoy a Tet meal with her. We reached her home late in the afternoon. Ba Hein's one-room bamboo and mud house was in the center of the camp. The kitchen was a lean-to in the back. Ba Hein graciously invited us to sit on low stools drawn up to a table. In a corner of her house I saw family photogrpahs, including one of a young man and a small child. She said they were her husband and daughter who had been killed by American artillery in the war. Ba Hein served tea from a pot with a borken spout. The cups were beer cans, scrubbed immaculately clean. As we sipped tea, Ba Hein busied herself preparing and serving the few dishes. She did not apologieze for the meager fare or for the sad state of her home. She served that meal with dignity, confident her hospitality was as valuable as that of the wealthiest homes in Quang Ngai. As we left, I turned to bid Ba Hein farewell. She stood at the door, strong and defiant, smiling confidently. I had been serve a mean as though I were a king, in the palace of the poor.





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