Wherever I May Roam

I have been back living in America for 253 days and counting.
Why does this feel like such a long time?

My life took an interesting turn a few years back. Since then, I have been out of the country every year. First Taiwan. Then Taiwan again. Then Mexico. Then Taiwan again, then Taiwan again for a year, then while there, Macau, then the Philippines, then Macau again, then China, then back to the US, then to Mexico again, and soon, Taiwan for the 5th time.

Seeing a pattern? I love travelling, and I really love Taiwan. (我真的愛台灣!)

The life of travel appeals to me in many ways. How can it have become part of my life so quickly? My family didn't travel, and my parents have very little experience out of the country.

Somehow, on my first trip to Taiwan, something was unlocked inside of me, that developed more and more with each subsequent trip out of the country. Now I feel at home in international airports, like living out of a suitcase rather more than from a wardrobe, miss my change drawer with several currencies prepared against visa trips, and suspect my passport may be be in need of extra pages before it expires.

And this is only the beginning.
I have some cursory knowledge of Chinese East Asia, and to a lesser extent Mexico.
Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America, remain totally unexplored.
Will I get there? I hope so. One might say that it's simply a matter of going, but time and funds are always a factor in traveling, and preparing for a life of ministry does not provide one with either in excess.

But soon I will be back in Taiwan. Even though it's merely for two weeks, I'm so excited.
Taiwan feels like home, in an odd way. Not home as in the place you have spent most of your life, but more like a place you moved from when a small child, and that stirs emotions in you on your return.

I long to be there, especially in Taipei again, my adopted home city. The morning sandwich shops, the sun rising over the encircling mountains, the 101 looming hazily on the horizon, the little moon-walking men on the crosswalk lights, the MRT, "surfing" the MRT, the omnipresent 7-11's with their frosty breath in the summer, the orange bottled milk tea available at those 7-11's, catching buses at the last minute, losing myself among quiet streets, studying Chinese, trying out new phrases and listening for them in random conversations on the bus, meeting my friends randomly for lunch or dinner, crowded nightmarkets with their unique lights, colors, smells, and sounds, traveling down the east and west coasts, so different and yet so uniquely Taiwanese, Dan Shui in the rain, Nantou in the mist, the green fields of Da Jia in the summer, the waterfalls of I-lan, the black sand at Da Xi on the east coast with Turtle Island visible at sea, Taroko Gorge in Hualien, with the leaping fish rock and the water cave, small beach towns and high mountain hamlets, downtown Taipei with christmas lights, the wind at the top of the 101 building, the sun on the roof of my apartment, Yong Kang street and the restaurant Lao Bans who knew me on sight, Sababas and the online scrabble game that won me a free drink there, Jin Ji Yuan, that yellow dumpling place, passion fruit red tea, bubble tea, Oolong tea with pocky, Green tea with chocolate, Coffee in Dante's downstairs with my Chinese textbook, Church on Sunday mornings, lunch at church after the service was over, teaching English to Taiwanese students, writing my own lessons, translating for friends who knew even less Chinese than I did, live music in the park near my home, the crowds in the main transit station at rush hour, my attempt to hack my yo-yo card so it would fit in my watch (it will work next time!), the appreciative smiles of Taiwanese people when they realized I really did love their country, the joy that filled every day, the thrill of living abroad that somehow never diminished, my friends, my acquaintances, my co-workers, my God...

All this is but a sample. I could write pages. I could describe days and days of experiences that I will never forget, or that will become blended with time into a happy memory of a year unlike any other.

But one cannot go back, one can only move forward. It is my determination that each part of my life will have unique meaning, without which my life as a whole would be incomplete, so that I can never truly say the best of my life is behind me.

Lord Willing, it shall be so.

I will not say that Taiwan lies ahead of me, because that knowledge is not given to me. I can strive towards a goal, but I cannot guarantee that I will reach it, or even if it is the goal to which God is moving me. The disciples rowed with all their might against a storm towards the place Jesus told them to go, so that they might meet Him on the water, and He might send them to a different place.

So now I am rowing towards that goal, and we shall see where I end up.
God already knows, and He will inform me in His good time.
Meanwhile, I intend to enjoy the journey.

-Joseph