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I walked into the hotel room with my leftover chicken and rice container in one hand. My first words? "There's no fridge." About 5 seconds later, I discovered that the room did have a fridge after all. I hadn't really looked before I made my declamation. In went the styrofoam box.

One morning, our team decided to spend some time at an archeological site being excavated for information about the ancient Burman kingdom of Pyu. We parked in front of the museum and looked at their sign. "Open Tuesday through Saturday." It was a Monday. I allowed myself to feel disappointed. No museum for us. We got out of the van to examine a large map of the excavation sites. In about 5 minutes, one of the museum employees approached us and asked if we would like to have a look around the museum. So we did. And because it wasn't officially open, we didn't even have to pay a fee! Fascinating place.

It was 5am in the village, and I was desperate to find the toilet, a situation exacerbated by my unwillingness to visit the facilities the evening before while it was pouring rain. When one of our hosts noticed me wandering around the mountainside in the morning, he perceived my need and offered to escort me to the prescribed location. Down the hill, around the fence, up the hill, across the field, and there they were: 4 beautiful outhouses. Necessity can make anything beautiful. Three of the outhouses had padlocks. I would have been quite happy to avail myself of the one that did not. My host, however, considered it his duty to determine which was the highest quality toilet and recommend it to me. He approached the first stall for inspection. "It's locked," said I, for so it appeared. "Are you sure?," asked my host, and with that, he reached up and flipped the padlock open and lifted it out of the latch. Without a key. The padlock had been situated so that it appeared impenetrable, but it wasn't completely clamped shut. So really, the door wasn't locked at all. While I was impressed with my host's obviously superior skills of observation, I was equally eager to have the area to myself, so I thanked him and informed him that I could take it from there. He was free to leave, and did.

On this trip to Bago Yoma, I began to notice something disturbing about my perspective: I default to impossible. Rather than imagining what could be, I tend to see what can't. My mind works more like a branch that gets caught on the rocks and less like the water that flows around them.

The 3 villages we visited and the 10 more we heard about are all full of problems. For much of the year, they don't have enough water. They scrape it out of holes they dig in the riverbank and haul it up to their houses. Then they suffer from skin sores when they bathe in it, and from stomach ailments when they drink it. Their only health care comes from teenaged medics with 6 months of basic training. They don't have money for hospitals, for travel, for food, for medicine, for soap. Few of them have any education beyond the 4th grade. Most of the villages have only one toilet, total, and a lot of the people don't see the point in using it. The government aid that is supposed to provide vaccines and deworming medication only reaches the few villages located on the road. The leaders are tired and overworked.

Like rocks in a riverbed, the obstacles loom large. And it would be easy to default to impossible. There is no fridge. We can't get into the museum. The toilet door is padlocked. These 13 villages are way beyond help.

I am reminded of Mary and Martha, whose brother, Lazarus, was dead. They expected him to stay that way. Then Jesus came.

“Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (John 11:39-43)

So much for that rock. If death didn't deter him, why should anything else? I belong to the One for whom even resurrection is not impossible. My default ought to be him.