Lilet

Last night a friend in the Middle East shocked me with the news that another friend was fighting stage 4 cancer of the lungs. What was really strange about this was not the news, but rather my reaction.

I’m not a sentimental person and being a doctor for 30 years I have developed a steeled attitude towards sickness and death, sometimes to the point of being indifferent and apathetic. The sadness and shock that overwhelmed me last night made me realize that I was softening up or was it my feelings to the person concerned that shook me up to the core?

Eight years ago God called me out of my cultic state into his kingdom of truth. I imagined myself a newborn babe totally dependent on someone else for spiritual food. I’m quite certain that God anointed Lilet together with a dozen more to look after me and help me take my first uncertain steps into realizing the true essence of Christianity.

This lady and her team brought me to the mountain villages for a week at a time to minister to the marginalized tribes. That may be how it looked to them, but for me it was actually the abandoned mountain folk who were ministering to my soul.

As a physician, I have a tendency to deal with stage 4 cancer patients with a sense of hopelessness and futility and this case of Lilet may not be different from the others. The only thing that sets her apart from the rest is that I know that God is in charge and in His greatness I am in no position to analyze His intentions for her.

My heart cries out to God for Lilet’s healing and recovery.

divers go VEGAN!

This dive trip took place in a dive site about over an hour’s drive from my place. It is called Nuj’s Nook at the 5^th floor of the PNP Mansion northeast of downtown Bangkok.

We didn’t get wet nor did we have to don our diving gear. All we brought was our empty stomachs with apprehensive and anxious thoughts of food poisoning and gagging on meatless food concocted by a self-styled and plant-crazed diver who had grandiose plans of out-living and out-diving us to the age of 99.

Enough is enough… let’s get on with the photos.

 this is what met us the moment we got into his flat. a rather benign menu of food he was going to feed us.

 caught in the act trying to mix his secret ingredients 

while looking innocent

 the final setup... to me it looked like a convicted man's last meal before the gallows.

 some juice which i suspected originated from the deep recesses of the infamous khlong saen saeb

 that's my plate... not heaping on the first trip to the table, but mind you, i made about a dozen trips back for more and more until the serving plate showed its butt to me. in other words the food was exceptionally delicious. yum yum!

 the other divers were relieved to realize that they didn't choke or grimace at the taste. they echoed my sentiments and dug deep into the tasty and delicious stuff.

 the soup was really good

 a pan of carrot cake going nuts... somewhat moist with the tendency to stick to the palate and brush against the uvula on its course through the esophagus down to the stomach. somehow it managed to pass by my heart and i instantly fell in love with it.

 the after effects of vegan food... and did you notice
that we were all in the same blue-jeans-white-shirt attire?
this was the dress code for the occasion and he wouldn't
let us in if we came inappropriately dressed.

 some more bizarre signs and symptoms associated

with vegan dining

we just couldn't get over it

i just hope the next dive trip to Nuj's Nook 

is not too far off.