Hello from Hanoi, Vietnam, a city of 9 million people, and 7 million scooters, and where it is currently Tuesday morning for me, and Monday evening for you right now. It has been quite the experience so far. The people here are so very kind, the tournament staff has gone out of their way to be accommodating for us. There were a lot of hoops to jump through to get here, and they made it possible and even helped with navigating and jumping. I am blown away by their kindness and generosity.
Then opening ceremony just blew our minds, with the stage show, and everything else. I had not seen anything like it. It is posted on their Facebook Page (ASDC 2026) but it may be a private group still. Try it out and see.
The venue for the Break Announcements was almost beyond description. It was at a place called Sen Tay Ho Buffet. It is the largest buffet in Vietnam. If you are ever here, it is a must see. You can check it out on YouTube. I didn’t get to all of the foods they offered, but what I had was very good. It was all part of the registration fee. In the US, this buffet would be at least $70+, but in Hanoi…about $15. And that is good, because there were close to 500 people in our private group.
And it wasn’t just the food, they hired professional calligraphers using old style paint and brushes, to write anything you wanted on a decorative page that became a hanging scroll. I had two of them made. These guys were true graphic artists from the old school.
Unfortunately, neither of our teams made it to the out rounds, but one is on the alternate list in case something happens between now and the first round.
The first day I was here, I went to Old Quarter to look around, do a little shopping, and take my life in my own hands. If you haven’t been here, the traffic is indescribable. Where Istanbul is known for all its cats, Hanoi has the motor scooters. Millions of them. And they weave in and out of traffic like nothing I have ever seen. And they are a constant. Crossing the street anywhere becomes akin to the old Frogger game and you are the frog. I started at level one and crossed a few back streets with, seemingly, only one lane. (It was actually a two way street, but you wouldn’t know by looking at it). I graduated to more major streets, and topped it off with crossing a major 5 points intersection. I got to test my heart strength and rhythm at the same time. I kept expecting to see scooters and drivers strewn all over the streets and sidewalks, but I have only seen one accident since I’ve been here, and that was on my way from the airport to the hotel.
I also saw families of 4 or 5 all riding on one of these scooters. Business owners with huge boxes strapped to either side, or other wares stacked twice as high as the driver on the back. They drove alongside the cars and busses in the same lane, close enough to touch the cars and busses, then would zoom around so they could turn at the next corner. Car and bus drivers would honk their horns regularly, not in anger (you can hear angry honks), but to let the scooters know they were there. Our bus drivers would get what I would call dangerously close to the back of the scooter, then give 2 or 3 quick toots of the horn, and the scooter would move over. There were no hand gestures, no angry faces shouting bad words, just constant movement and flow of traffic.
As I watched though, I began to see this all as more of an elaborate dance, with cars, busses, motorbikes, and people all moving and weaving in and out in a very fluid motion. Crossing the street, you became part of the dance. You would gain eye contact with the driver, and they would slow, or you would slow and everyone passed by safely. It almost became joyful to cross the street. The more traffic the better.
This has been their life for generations. They have all learned to live this way, and I really didn’t see any complaints. I went into some businesses, I ate at a “hole-in-the-wall” Vietnamese cafe, had coffee in another open cafe. It has all been so very pleasant. This is their way of life, and they have learned to go with the flow. They get up in the morning, load their scooter for the day, sell some things in a street market so they can pay for their food and rent, load it all back up, and go home. They eat some dinner, go to bed, to get up to load their scooter, sell some things to pay for food and rent, load it back up, go home to eat, go to bed, to get up the next morning… And for what? So that they won’t eventually die? But that is the reality. They are all going to die, and they all know it. Still, they go through the same motions every day. Talk about vanity of vanities.
But why do we get up in the morning? Isn’t it so we can go to work, make some money to pay for food and housing, so we have a place to stay, so we can go to bed, to get up the next day to go to work, to earn money for food… Is there any real difference between us and them in this context except that we have more stuff? Not for the Christian.
I just finished 1 Corinthians this morning, but one thing that stuck out to me this time was the whole idea of the resurrection. If there is no resurrection, then this does become our life. We go through the motions to extend our lives, but for what? So we become the CEO of a major corporation and earn 7 or 8 figures a year. Why? So we won’t die? But we know we are all going to die. From the time we are conceived, we begin to journey to death, such that the shadow of death is cast over our lives from that moment until the end. And if that is the end, we might as well eat, drink and be merry. He who dies with the most toys wins!!! Of course, he has no idea he has won, but he is a winner none the less.
But we as Christians know that this is not the end. This life is merely the preface to the introduction of the first chapter of the first volume. We, along with the rest of humanity, will go on forever. We will go on in Heaven where we will be forever in the presence of God’s love, joy, peace, etc. And that is why we get up, go to work, etc. It isn’t so we won’t die, but that we may be “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the works of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain.”
We are in training. There is more to life. Our bodies will be put off and we will eventually get new bodies (Thank you Jesus) that will be perfectly designed for our forever home. And since we know that, part of our work is to let as many others know this as well. And that is the mission of American Logos, and that is why we are here in Vietnam. We want to show and share with others about the love of Jesus and Christian liberty.
But this is also all of our missions wherever we are. Live and walk by the Spirit so that our light will so shine to draw others to the true Light who is Christ.
Amen
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