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Dan about to chow down on durian.
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Fred enjoying his durian
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Caterpillers and grubs at the Naga reconciliation feast
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A different kind of aroma!
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The wonderful smell of coffee in the roaster at Lanna Cafe in Thailand
Philippines and Thailand, May/June 2010
During all my travels in Asia I've been able to avoid trying durian. For those of you who don't know, durian is a notorious fruit, looking a bit like a prickly cantalope on steroids. The problem is that it stinks. It stinks so bad that hotels in Asia have signs saying no durian is allowed in the rooms, halls or elevators.
But now I was trapped. I was with Filipino hosts that were excited to see me try durian. Our friend Fred was telling me with delight that durian smells like hell and tastes like heaven. How does one describe that smell to the uninitiatied? The closest I can come is vomit mixed with sweat socks from a junior high boys locker room. I know that's not nice missionary talk, but it's the truth! I was gagging as they chopped open the durian with a huge knife. The inside was like yellow-orange goo. Fred scooped out a handful and gulped it down with a smile. Then he gave me a wad of the smelling mass. My childhood surivival skill for dealing with unpleasant foods, which has stood me in good stead as a missionary, is to eat what I don't like quickly--then if I need to, wash it down liberally with something to drink! So I smiled, posed quickly for the picture, then popped the durian in my mouth.
My verdict: Smells like hell....tastes like hell! I've never had anything so awful. All my Filipino friends were laughing, but they at least honored me for giving it a try. Eating insects was a lot better than this!
Smells like hell--but it isn't. God made durian. Why, I don't know, but a lot of people in Asia love it. Again, why, I don't know.
But there are a lot of other things that smell like hell and are truly emanations coming from the powers of evil. In both the Philippines and Thailand I was working with the consequences of war and violence. In the Philippines there were at least two layers of civil wars going on plus chronic political violence. In Thailand we were meeting with Naga leaders from northeast India to work on the reconciliation process to end the fighting between Nagas and then between Nagas and the government of India that has claimed so many lives in a struggle that has lasted more than 50 years. General William Techumseh Sherman during the U.S. Civil War said, "War is hell." Maybe not exactly, but it sure smells like it. The Bible identifies the source of so much of our war as sin, specifically greed. Then when you see the lost lives, the torn families, the shattered communities and the scarred earth, this sure smells like hell.
As I saw the work of my missionary colleagues I got a whiff of hell again. Kit Ripley and Karen Smith work at the New Life Center in Chiang Mai. We have so many missionaries with International Ministries that deal with the damaged lives that come from human trafficking and prostitution. This sure smells like hell.
Then I got to visit with Mike and Becky Mann and with Chuck Fox who work in development ministries among poor tribal villages in northern Thailand. Sharon and I also spent time in a slum in San Jose del Monte just north of Manila with our young Filipino pastor/activist friend Asher Quimson. As we saw poverty that locked people in misery, condemning people to ill health and little hope, it sure smelled like hell.
Jesus said in John 10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy." War, trafficking, poverty and so many other evils take away the abundant life that God desires for all God's children. 1 John 3 tells us, "The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil." Missionary colleagues, church leaders around the world, dedicated Christians of all sorts who pour their lives out in ministry to heal, liberate, provide livelihood, make peace, forge justice, bring hope and all the other ways of bringing Christ's love to bear where people have been broken and bound by evil--those wonderful servants of Jesus are undoing the works of the devil.
Or to put it another way, where it smells like hell, Christians engaged in ministry in Christ's love bring the aroma of heaven. Paul speaks in 2 Corthians 2 about how God in Christ "through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life."
God willing I'll never have to eat durian again. But I know I'll smell the pungent stench of hell again and again. That smell is my call to be faithful, to not gag and run away, but to pray and engage. It's the call to be the over-powering and life-giving aroma of Jesus. We can drive out the smells of hell with the loving fragrance of heaven.
Peace,
Dan
During all my travels in Asia I've been able to avoid trying durian. For those of you who don't know, durian is a notorious fruit, looking a bit like a prickly cantalope on steroids. The problem is that it stinks. It stinks so bad that hotels in Asia have signs saying no durian is allowed in the rooms, halls or elevators.
But now I was trapped. I was with Filipino hosts that were excited to see me try durian. Our friend Fred was telling me with delight that durian smells like hell and tastes like heaven. How does one describe that smell to the uninitiatied? The closest I can come is vomit mixed with sweat socks from a junior high boys locker room. I know that's not nice missionary talk, but it's the truth! I was gagging as they chopped open the durian with a huge knife. The inside was like yellow-orange goo. Fred scooped out a handful and gulped it down with a smile. Then he gave me a wad of the smelling mass. My childhood surivival skill for dealing with unpleasant foods, which has stood me in good stead as a missionary, is to eat what I don't like quickly--then if I need to, wash it down liberally with something to drink! So I smiled, posed quickly for the picture, then popped the durian in my mouth.
My verdict: Smells like hell....tastes like hell! I've never had anything so awful. All my Filipino friends were laughing, but they at least honored me for giving it a try. Eating insects was a lot better than this!
Smells like hell--but it isn't. God made durian. Why, I don't know, but a lot of people in Asia love it. Again, why, I don't know.
But there are a lot of other things that smell like hell and are truly emanations coming from the powers of evil. In both the Philippines and Thailand I was working with the consequences of war and violence. In the Philippines there were at least two layers of civil wars going on plus chronic political violence. In Thailand we were meeting with Naga leaders from northeast India to work on the reconciliation process to end the fighting between Nagas and then between Nagas and the government of India that has claimed so many lives in a struggle that has lasted more than 50 years. General William Techumseh Sherman during the U.S. Civil War said, "War is hell." Maybe not exactly, but it sure smells like it. The Bible identifies the source of so much of our war as sin, specifically greed. Then when you see the lost lives, the torn families, the shattered communities and the scarred earth, this sure smells like hell.
As I saw the work of my missionary colleagues I got a whiff of hell again. Kit Ripley and Karen Smith work at the New Life Center in Chiang Mai. We have so many missionaries with International Ministries that deal with the damaged lives that come from human trafficking and prostitution. This sure smells like hell.
Then I got to visit with Mike and Becky Mann and with Chuck Fox who work in development ministries among poor tribal villages in northern Thailand. Sharon and I also spent time in a slum in San Jose del Monte just north of Manila with our young Filipino pastor/activist friend Asher Quimson. As we saw poverty that locked people in misery, condemning people to ill health and little hope, it sure smelled like hell.
Jesus said in John 10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy." War, trafficking, poverty and so many other evils take away the abundant life that God desires for all God's children. 1 John 3 tells us, "The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil." Missionary colleagues, church leaders around the world, dedicated Christians of all sorts who pour their lives out in ministry to heal, liberate, provide livelihood, make peace, forge justice, bring hope and all the other ways of bringing Christ's love to bear where people have been broken and bound by evil--those wonderful servants of Jesus are undoing the works of the devil.
Or to put it another way, where it smells like hell, Christians engaged in ministry in Christ's love bring the aroma of heaven. Paul speaks in 2 Corthians 2 about how God in Christ "through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life."
God willing I'll never have to eat durian again. But I know I'll smell the pungent stench of hell again and again. That smell is my call to be faithful, to not gag and run away, but to pray and engage. It's the call to be the over-powering and life-giving aroma of Jesus. We can drive out the smells of hell with the loving fragrance of heaven.
Peace,
Dan