So my first full day in Southeast Asia I was one hour off. That’s right, Mr. Time had set his dual–time watch piece one hour wrong for both US and over here. No wonder I was hungry waiting and waiting in my room for the main hotel restaurant to open. It was open an hour before (in fact, I eventually learned it’s open 24-hours). It was after midnight local time when I went to bed. I thought it was only 11.
I’m normally quite good with this. You get on the plane and adjust the clock for the destination. So that’s why we landed an hour earlier than expected. We hadn’t, but my watch said we did. I thought the pilot found a shortcut somewhere between Iceland and Russia.
Vonnie probably remembers the day on our honeymoon when we were an hour–off the entire time. We saved up our money (her money) and visited Israel and went through Europe for an almost month-long celebration of our marriage—visiting my brother and hers in Israel and Germany, respectively. Airfare, naturally, was the most expensive part of the trip. Staying with family, including sleeping in the back of a van in Aschaffenburg, saved a ton of money, and back then you could travel through the old countries on ten dollars a day—so said the book we used. Rome, Venice, Geneva, Frankfort and London were our stops and train was our ride. But it was in Geneva, Switzerland, where we didn’t realize there was a time–change. Didn’t much matter until we missed our train the next day.
The Rock Group Chicago recorded a song with the title of this piece. One reviewer described it as “the kind of existential question commonly posited in the '60s.” Why does society need to be rushing around, going from place to place instead of stopping and smelling the roses, appreciating the small pleasures in life? The descant – “I don’t care” – is heard as the lead singer asks: “Does anyone really care what time it is?”
Time is a non–factor in the villages I visit in this country. A throwback to a simpler, more innocent time, I suppose. Less stress. They go by the mantra “it happens when it happens.” This, while in the big cities and back in the US everyone is rushing at breakneck speed from one thing to the next, falling exhausted into their beds at night.
Chicago took a page out of Ecclesiastes 3 when they observed we’ve got “time enough to cry” and “time enough to die.” So, maybe we should slow down a bit. But don’t go into neutral. Jesus noted: “We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work” (Jn. 9:4).
Oh my, it’s almost 8 pm and I haven’t had dinner yet. Not the fault of the watch this time—just busy writing. I think I’ll leave my watch off for the next few days . . . at least until I need to get on the next flight . . . where times flies.
We vs. I
Dan Allen
2/23/2022
Going to Hell
Dan Allen
12/14/2021
Stay Away from the Meatloaf
Dan Allen
11/6/2021
A Dog Leading the Way
Dan Allen
7/27/2021
The Speed–Breakers of Life
Dan Allen
7/10/2021
High School Reunion
Dan Allen
4/8/2021
"Skin, it's the thing that's in"
Dan Allen
3/13/2021
Emerging from a Covid Cell
Dan Allen
2/20/2021
'Twas The Real Night Before Christmas
Russell T Allen
12/17/2020
Christmas Catalogs
Dan Allen
11/14/2020
Cancel This!
Dan Allen
10/3/2020
Don't Judge By Its Cover
Dan Allen
9/8/2020
Our Plans Trumped by God
Dan Allen
9/5/2020
We Fall Down
Dan Allen
8/5/2020
Battle with a Bug
Dan Allen
7/13/2020
Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out
Dan Allen
7/3/2020
Setting the bar too low
Dan Allen
6/25/2020
Good is Evil, Evil is Good
Dan Allen
6/9/2020
Misguided Freedom
Dan Allen
6/4/2020
A Preaching Nightmare
Dan Allen
5/9/2020
Restaurant and/or Church Possible
Dan Allen
5/2/2020
A Good Dose of Cloistering Going On
Dan Allen
4/15/2020
So, Where is God in All of This?
Dan Allen
4/14/2020
I Finally Learned How to Wash My Hands
Dan Allen
4/13/2020
Fire Truck - Glory Train
Dan Allen
4/16/2019
Some Sins Seem to Do More Damage
Dan Allen
4/16/2019
The Canopy is Gone
Dan Allen
12/15/2018
Brushing Teeth with Iced Tea
Dan Allen
11/5/2018
Never in Danger, but Could Have Been
Dan Allen
11/4/2018
Another Festival
Dan Allen
11/3/2018
Cow Town
Dan Allen
11/2/2018
Dressing Down
Dan Allen
11/1/2018
#MeToo
Dan Allen
10/25/2018
All Alone Among 1.35 Billion People
Dan Allen
10/24/2018
Does Anyone Know What Time It Is?
Dan Allen
10/23/2018
Time To Be Spiritual Weather Forecasters
Dan Allen
10/22/2018
Words Change . . . But Someone Gets the Final Word
Dan Allen
9/4/2018
To Cremate or Not to Cremate
Dan Allen
7/15/2018
I Want to Hold Your Hand
Dan Allen
7/4/2018
I Finally Caught a Foul Ball . . . Sort of
Dan Allen
6/8/2018
I Can Only Imagine
Dan Allen
6/1/2018
Do Panhandlers Have Regulars
Dan Allen
4/8/2018
Can't Good Dogs Go To Heaven?
Dan Allen
4/3/2018
At the Taj . . . in pictures only
Dan Allen
1/24/2018
Cold, But Warm Inside
Dan Allen
1/22/2018
Don't Remove the Plastic
Dan Allen
1/12/2018
Put Your Big Boy Pants On
Dan Allen
1/9/2018
In the Spirit . . . or not?
Dan Allen
1/3/2018
You Could Cut It With a Knife
Dan Allen
1/1/2018
Personal Message Boards
Dan Allen
11/24/2017
Men Acting Badly, err Should We Say---Horribly!
Dan Allen
11/18/2017
History of Bible Fellowship Church of Ephrata
Dan Allen
8/29/2017
Large Crowd Diversion
Dan Allen
6/19/2017
Bikes, Bikers, and Trying New Things
Dan Allen
6/18/2017
Lessons from T-Ball for Churches
Dan Allen
6/17/2017
Authenticity of and in Jeans
Dan Allen
5/11/2017
Don't Let Me Fall
Dan Allen
4/22/2017
Have We Lost the "Awe-factor," Wonderment?
Dan Allen
4/21/2017
Bumped - Not Bumbed
Dan Allen
4/13/2017
Go Fly a Kite
Dan Allen
1/18/2017
What's In Your Bag?
Dan Allen
1/17/2017
Cultural Faux Pas
Dan Allen
1/13/2017
The Three Hour Trip Ends Up 23 Hours
Dan Allen
1/12/2017
Walking Headrest Cover
Dan Allen
1/9/2017
The Gift that Keeps Giving
Dan Allen
12/17/2016
Let's Keep Things in Perspective
Dan Allen
8/1/2015
I've Got the Nine
Dan Allen
6/26/2015
God Often Works in Mysterious Ways
Dan Allen
6/5/2015
I'm From Negadelphia
Dan
3/24/2015
Positive Spin
Dan Allen
2/16/2015
