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I laughed when I walked into a hotel room and saw this...
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Hi Reader, A couple weeks ago, I booked a hotel room here in Indonesia for two nights. It had "holiday hotel" in its name, and had a pool. It was even $10 per night cheaper than what I'd pay if I were to continue staying where I was. When I got to there, I saw it was on a narrow dirt road. The pool was cloudy and needed more water. Was this "holiday hotel" going to be what I thought?
In the room, the first thing I really noticed was this: I'm like...
I mean, c'mon, that toilet seat! And then I looked to my right and saw this. I laughed out loud. (It's a shower without a handle. It was broken off and sitting on top of the soap dispenser.) One of my hopes about coming to this hotel was that there'd be hot water in the shower. I'd only been having lukewarm showers. But when I saw all this, my hopes were dashed that there'd be any hot water in the hotel. I sent photos to my family. My mom noticed how pretty the flowers were on a bush outside the hotel. (My wife says my mom always puts a positive spin on everything.) But my sister suggested I leave the hotel. She sent me a few reviews of the hotel I hadn't seen, like this one: Obviously, I hadn't seen anything like that online. The main worker at the hotel was really nice. His hair was short on the top and long in the back. He always called me "brother," and was happy to try to resolve everything. To his credit, without my asking, he checked another room and asked if I wanted to move.
In room #2, I wiped things down the way I always do, cleaning the key and light switches with soap, and spraying the toilet with hand sanitizer liquid. But then I flushed the toilet, and a black sludge rose up from the shower drain.
It looked like coffee grains. I hoped it was. I went outside and found the worker--the guy who called me brother. Seemed he'd seen this kind of thing before. He took a picture of it, ran some water, and used his bare foot to try to wash the black stuff back down the drain. This time I asked if there was another room I could go to. The third room was better, though there was a blood stain on the duvet cover. Oh, well. But there was hot water in the shower (once). Then, the next day, all the water in the neighborhood was shut off for a while and I bought two large bottles of water from the convenience store to take a shower with. Each room was its own adventure. But the air conditioners worked great (though I try not to use them too much.) The hotel cost just $15 per night (including breakfast). Yep, $15 USD. And, while the breakfast tables hadn't been wiped for a while, the scrambled eggs and buttered toast were delicious. Like, surprisingly delicious.
So, sometimes things that seem bad at first, turn around. But sometimes they don't. Maybe there's a situation in your life right now that you feel is a disaster. You make one change, expecting improvement, but you see little or none. Everything's going wrong. One thing after another. You're hoping for a turnaround. But you're stuck in the same place as before, all the time wondering how you got there to begin with. How we deal with our challenges, and approach them, can be helpful in how we feel about them. I won't go into it here but, personally, I've found myself having become more negative in, and about, life.
I know this isn't the best attitude to have. My prayers for wanting to want more hope seem canceled by other feelings and words I tell myself. What can you do - what can we do - to really give everything to God, and move forward with hope for a better future? What words can we say in our prayers (and feel in our hearts) that can lead us to be who we want to become? Thanks for being part of my reader community. John Christopher Frame p.s. Curious about more of my adventures in Indonesia? If you didn't see my last email about my time here, you can check it out here. If a friend or family member forwarded this email to you, and you'd like to receive my emails, too, just click this link and add your email address: https://www.johnchristopherframe.com/get-johns-emails _____________________________________________________________________ |
John Christopher Frame.
Join my reader community to see forgotten places in the Bible I've traveled, and to be inspired to better live out your faith!
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