Our speaker this weekend, who’s name has slipped me at the moment, shared a super funny but completely ridiculous article. I couldn’t do the story justice, so go ahead and read it for yourself.

Starburst Fruit Chews are exactly as their name would indicate: chewy. But one Michigan woman says the candies are so chewy, they should come with a warning label.

“I don’t know, maybe about 3 chews and it literally locked my jaw … and it just literally pulled my jaw out of joint,” she told MyFoxDetroit.com.

Muawad says McArthur offered to negotiate a settlement with Starburst’s insurer to pay for her rehabilitation, but the company said no way. A spokesman for Mars refused to comment.

McArthur says she just wants to make sure nobody else meets the same end she did when she decided to indulge her sweetooth.

“I don’t want to see anybody else have to go through what I have gone through from eating a piece of candy that was supposed to be soft chew,” she said.

 




I'm not exactly sure what she was thinking. I don't know about you, but when I'm eating a starburst and my teeth get stuck together, my first reaction is NOT to rip them open, but to calmly let it dissolve into my mouth (resulting in an instant cavity). I’m not sure what I find more ridiculous here, the fact that she in fact was injured eating a starburst, or that she truly believes the candies should come with a warning label.

The point that was touched on after this story by our speaker had a good point behind. He posed this question to the crowd,”Should Christianity come with a warning label?”. I mean, when I was introduced to Christianity (keep in mind I was under 10 years old), I was just told to pray a prayer, and that’s all it took. 

Little did I know that a decade later, God would be sending me to the jungles of Brazil, and I would experience a whole different God than I ever expected. The God I “found” was exciting, adventurous, and from my point of view, a little crazy. I have experienced highs and lows, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. No body ever warned me that any of this would happen. But then, I wonder if I would have begun to follow God in the first place if I had known the path it would take me down.

So here is my question to you. Should Christianity come with a “warning label”, and if so, what would it say?

 

             Thailand has some very diverse cuisine, which includes influences from Burma, China, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. It also varies from depending on the region of Thailand you’re in. Being that we will be in Chiang Mai, I wanted to focus on some of the dishes we’ll be eating on a regular basis.
 

Kaeng Ho
(One or more types of curry are refried with glass noodles and other ingredients such as kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and bamboo shoots.)


Yam No Mai
(Thai salad made with strips of boiled bamboo shoots, shallots, herbs, fish sauce, lime juice, and chillies.)

And finally my personal favorite (That I've eaten so far)

Panang Curry
 (Indian influenced coconut curry with beef. chicken, pork or seafood such as soft shell crab.)



 

               This is just a small taste of everything that I'll be eating once we get to Thailand, but it's a good respresentation of the region. Hopefully I didn't make you too hungry, but if I did, I'm sure you could find a good Thai restaurant near you. Be sure to keep up with my blog as we continue to explore the country and culture of Thailand!


I am still in need of financial support so I can continue this journey to Thailand. If you'd like to find out how you can get more involved, check out my latest blog.

                Another festival, Yi Peng,  which coincides with Loi Krathong, is celebrated in a way more well known to most people. They release floating paper lanterns into the sky, which once released, look like a sea of giant glowing jellyfish, gracefully floating through the sky.

                At the end of their rice season, they celebrate by racing their “beasts of burden”. In the case of Thailand, they race water buffalo. A joking announcer excitedly narrates the races, and picks fun at the ones who are thrown off by their buffalo. The prizes aren’t much in the long run, but it’s done for their enjoyment.

      It’s not what I always thought I’d be doing. At one point I had wanted to go to culinary school and become a chef. Go down the road a little bit and I found myself wanting to join the Marines. I had even talked to a recruiter at one point to figure out the best route for me. Well long story short, He made it clear that it wasn’t the path he was leading me down.   

It's a whole lot easier said than done, as I have found out.


 

Something needs to change.



 

So here's my challenge to you.