I learned something from a short woman with short gray-haired beating the drums with fervor.  Her husband was a Scotsman.  He pointed to her and said to me; “Do you know who Animal is from the Muppets?”  “Yes,” I replied.  “Well that's my wife on the drums.  Be careful if you sit in the first few rows.  It is entirely likely she could explode at any moment.”

I am in Thailand, at a gathering of all the international churches in the city of Chiang Mai.  As we began to sing, this woman played with an abundance of passion and delight.  I have never seen such a drummer.  It was about 40 days ago we left the USA and headed to India.  Even such a short time has forever changed the way I see.  I feel something like the blind man who had mud put on his eyes.  J*sus asked him, “Do you see anything?”  The man said he saw men, but they looked more like trees walking.  We all see, but we see from a distinct position.  When that position changes, how we see changes.  I thought I saw clearly before, but I now feel I did not see wholly, or completely before.

The ordinary here is really quite extraordinary.  We spent time with a family who has lived the last 18 years in the slums of India.  We met an Irish couple retiring from 50 years of teaching in Nepal.  We met a family with 6 children living in China.  We met a single man coming from 14 years of work with street children in Cambodia.  Suddenly, all my confidence and my feelings of superiority disappear.  A child should be quiet in the presence of his superiors.

Even those I thought I knew, those who travel with me, amaze me.  They act with great courage, they endure hardship, they respond in loving kindness, and they will not give up.  They are just ordinary {extraordinary} people.  Perhaps, given more time, G*d will show me the extraordinary in all I think is ordinary, even me.

Right now it is easy to see how extraordinary everyone else is, but I feel depressingly ordinary.  My faults are decidedly ordinary and common.  My gifts don't seem as impressive as those of others around me.  I am uncomfortable and hot.  Extraordinary people can do these things, live these amazing, inspiring lives, but what about ordinary people?  What about me?  What about us?

Maybe this is faith:
A desire gently leading you towards what you secretly fear you are not capable of doing.

If so, I need more now than ever.  Maybe that's good.