I am in Thailand with my mom and sister right now, in Bangkok! I only have a few minutes left since we pay per minute. Things are cheap here, and the city is very busy with activity!

We are about to head south on a train and then take a ferry to the island we will be staying. We spent about 21 hours on planes yesterday, so we are happy to be here walking around, though it is hot and muggy. (Like College Station).

All is going great with my sister–she knows the area and how to get around. Thankfully so, for my mom and are don’t have a clue!

The G is supposed to make blog posts in my absence, so he had better get going.

My friend Nathan is in town this weekend, and he and I pulled out our old Magic cards to play a few games. We’ve been playing for over 10 years, but now we only play it with each other when we get to hang out, which isn’t too often. It was fun and brought back a lot of memories.

He hadn’t seen the Return of the King extended edition, so we watched that as we played. He and I are both huge Lord of the Rings fans. He gave me the unique gift a few Christmases ago of a personalized license plate with the letters LOTR on it! So in Texas, I AM the lord of the rings!

Nathan brought out the mighty Shivan Dragon–could Devin respond? (My Kudzu card is overrunning his lands).

Finally on my side, I took the game with the Autumn Willow and a Thallid Devourer, aided by the Lure card that made his defenders (in a future turn) block my little Fyndhorn Elves.

Some people feel the game is evil, but if you play it with a good heart, it is alright I think. Most of the cards I play with are creatures or artifacts that are powerful but good.

…since I packed up and left on my own, and I carry a heavy load, just trying to get back to the Heart.

I received so much grace at work this week and the last, thanks to St. Joseph’s prayers for me and God’s abounding love. I had a good bit of work to finish before going on vacation for two weeks, and miraculously, I finished all the important stuff!

Today, one of my coworkers came in and told me he overhead a conversation in the elevator where some people complimented my work. All the credit, all the thanks to God. He is just that good.

The G and I had a conversation tonight about the Hurricane Katrina disaster and the evil things that some people have done in the aftermath. He mentioned that he read that some of the refugees from New Orleans might come to live in Austin, and people were being asked to host them and let them live with them until they got on their feet again.

I don’t know if what he read is really happening, but we started talking about whether we would host someone. I immediately imagined getting someone who would steal your things and possibly even try to harm you. Who knows, right? Some random person could be godless and do such evil things.

But Gerardo brought up a good point: If we distrust everyone, then how are we going to ever do what Jesus commanded when he told us to love our neighbor and gave us the example of the good Samaritan helping the person dying on the side of the road?

I brought up the classic argument: “But times are different now than they were then” which turns out to be about the easiest to defeat argument ever made. After all, there’s nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes). There were people who did evil things in ages past and in our present time.

I told Gerardo that I would be willing to host a faithful young Catholic girl (chastely of course, and perhaps she would be my future wife), but Gerardo brought up the point that it would probably be wrong to do (appearance of evil and all that). Oh well, there’s no way to win.

What about people on the side of the road whose car has broken down? Are we supposed to stop and help them? What if there is a gas station close by that they could go to? I RARELY even offer to help someone on the side of the road having car trouble. Is this the modern day equivalent of the person dying on the side of the road, or have these situations changed enough to be different from what Jesus described?