You know, I complain about the rain. And it has been raining here all day. But, the truth of the matter is that the rain falls on plexiglass, corrugated tin, wood, and cement all within feet of my front door. It's like a rain symphony. And the man on the second floor, across the lane, has a bird that sings so happily when it rains.

I did put on my boots and tromp around in the rain for a little while this afternoon I only went around the block... a double block. That is I walked up to Nanjing Lu, then turned left and walked about two blocks, then back to Beijing Lu, and then back home. So, I I walked the perimeter of four or six blocks, not just my own. But, really, who wants to be out there where it's so hot and wet? I was glad to get back home and take a shower. -- I did some exercises inside. Some days, that's enough.

The air quality has been good, though, and I've enjoyed that. Breathe it in while you can, kids... that's what I say.

I spent a good part of the afternoon Googling things relative to my essay for this week. I'll be including a link to a fascinating article about coins and the value of those 10 thousand talents of silver. It's a little geeky, but I learned a lot from it.

YES! I will be writing about Naaman, the man from Aram. It almost rhymes. There is a lot there.

For one thing I compare Naaman with Jonah... they both went down. Jonah went down to Joppa, down into the sea, and down into the belly of the fish... whale in Islam. And Naaman, a proud, nationalistic, and probably very rich fellow is going to have to come down off his high horse if he wants to get healed. That would make a nice little essay.

There is also the insider/outsider angle. Naaman was an insider, a favorite of the king! But his leprosey also made him an outsider. So, we can see right from the beginning that this is a story about bridging the chasm between the insiders and the outsiders. Also note that without the slaves and foreigners none of this story would have happened.

But the most interesting bit of the story happens in the last third... You can kind of divide the story up into thirds where there is a natural break between them. It's this last section -- it's not in the lectionary -- that interests me. I am going to have to think on it. It's getting late, of course, nearly 2 am here in China. I'd better think fast.

Love to all.

Oh, and here's a picture of me at school clowning around with some of the kids. I am teasing them about their expensive trainers. They all have several pair.