November 17, 2004

• Half an Hour of Pleasure

  
  

  Each morning at about 8 am, I get into my silver Civic, drive across the longest bridge in California and take up my position as an intern for a Christian sending agency headquartered in northern California.  In the U.S. we run with the pseudonym of Ten40Connect, which is a reference to the 10/40 Window, which we are trying to reach.  Since our staff is relatively small, we share our office with another, large company called Prince of Peace.  They distribute Ginseng, Tigerbalm and some yummy American candy like Almond Roca and Haribo gummies to Asian markets.  Hot, healthy tea is a natural part of day-to-day work, and piping through the speakers overhead is a variety of Christian music, playing all day long.  (Though only half of the employees are Christian, the boss in charge is a devoted believer!)  It’s not a bad place to work, if you ask me!

  
  

  In addition to all that, as part of the blessing of sharing office space, we also get to benefit from POP’s catered lunches everyday.  Yep, that’s right, there is such a thing as a free lunch!  Good ol’ greasey Chinese takeout everyday.  About 11:30 everyday, you can smell the sweetness of newly steamed rice permeating through the whole office, and at 12:00 noon, right on the dot, you can hear a lady announcing overhead, “Ok, everyone, lunch is ready!”  followed by the direct translation in Cantonese.  Like clockwork!  She says the exact same words every day! 

  
  

  Within a few minutes, everyone pulls themselves away from their computers, piles their plates full of steamy rice and an ample amount of a choice of three delicious Chinese dishes.  My staff team and I head for our designated table which sometimes and sometimes does not consist also of the President of POP and his wife.  They’re family, did I mention that?  The President of POP is my director’s brother-in-law.  Not a coincidence, I assure you.

  
  

  Our conversations mostly surround our work, people related to our work, China, and our health.  Sometimes they drone on and on about very adult stuff which, I must admit, is very uninteresting to me – especially when they start talking about people I don’t know and all their relations.  I get lost in all the names.

  
  

  But it is at this point that I finish off my plate of food, wash it, rush back to my cubicle, grab my book and sneak off to my car outside for my half hour of pleasure.  I love the people who surround me.  I love working with a team.  But the day would hardly be quite as bearable without this half hour with the Cambridge Seven.  It’s almost like guilty pleasure.  Sometimes I lay them aside and spend time with my Father instead.  But whichever occurs, I’m finding with certainty that what’s essential is that half hour of quiet away from work, away from the world, where it’s just me and my Civic, my Father and my companions from books…  And for some strange reason, I must admit, the sneakyness of it all – the having to steal away – adds to the sweetness of that half hour.

  
  

  Elizabeth Barrett Browning once wrote, “No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books.”   How did she know my heart’s motto?

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