Haiti On My Mind

It's Sunday morning and I don't feel like going to church. The why of that is complicated but I think it generally boils down to this part of me that wants to know more than I seem to right now, and I'm not so sure that attending church will do that for me. I'm looking for something else - not that church isn't good or necessary, it just seems too ordinary today. It just feels so redundant and a bit stifling. You know - it seems like the trickling of water after it goes through the dam, without ever experiencing the energy generated.

I just read some emails from a friend of mine who is a missionary in India. Currently she is in Nepal due to requirements to leave India each year for a period of time. I was thinking about the people she is meeting and the experiences she has in her service to God and I had a sudden, completely unrealistic desire to run a race through countries and cultures and experiences. The world is so large and to have the privilege to breath the fresh air of experience is a bit overwhelming... and cooking one more breakfast or washing one more load of clothes in the daily routine of my life seems somehow very, very futile.

I don't normally write this type of post as I'm not a fan of whining. Sometimes life can be sort of...boring. I get that. But I have been thinking about the life we live here in the USA lately. The suffocating shallowness of personal ambition that is modeled everywhere you look, on television and down the streets of subdivisions - car lots and shopping centers - billboards and advertisements. You would think that the only result to a successful life would be that you were a healthy, skinny, young, beautiful and popular rich person. You can't even have imperfect teeth in this country any more without feeling like a loser.

My trip to Haiti recently most likely is the real instigator for this train of thought. I went to Haiti alone, but not really because you are never alone with God. And He set up all the circumstances where I was welcomed into Haiti by a wonderful couple who had never met me but opened their lives to me and they took care of me. And I met others there that helped me along the way. I am so very grateful. But the experience in Haiti has changed me. You see, going to a country like that alters your point of view. It is a beautiful country, with scars. There is beauty from the Haitians themselves and the beautiful mountains and sea. There are foreigners with hearts full of desire to help and to build who live and work in that country for the sake of the Haitians. But there are the scars made by the Haitian people themselves, and a lot of them are from the wounds and interference of others; other countries and churches. And it is complicated. Very complicated. Even so, and in even the middle of all the mixed motives and efforts, a plan is in the works, a good one - and I want to be a part.

And so, I will get on with my day and wonder how this is working out in my life. I have grand girls to pick up for a visit and there is actually clothes in the washer and the dryer as I write this. But if you think about Haiti, please pray for them. And if you have a few dollars to spare, I can give you a link to a ministry run by a very dedicated couple, below. They do make a difference.
http://www.haitiforchrist.net/

Haiti

Port de Paix, Haiti

On March 27, 2012 I flew into Port au Prince, Haiti to visit Hope Vision Children's Home on the north coast of Haiti in Port de Paix. Here are a few photographs from the trip. I would like to make another post later of some of the more heartfelt photos and experiences from the trip, but that's for another day. Hope you enjoy these!

Leaving Fort Lauderdale

Into Port au Prince

My view for a few days, with new friends.

Driving to airport for trip to Port de Paix

Papa Doc Duvalier - I guess not everyone hated him.

Port de Paix sunrise

Net fisherman outside Hope Vision compound

Praying on mountain, early morning in Port de Paix

Guarding the door

Ready for departure

Leaving Port de Paix

Village on mountain - flight from Port de Paix to Port au Prince

Leaving Port au Prince April 3, 2012

Tug and Barge - Santa Rosa Sound

Distracting Internet

Wasting time the other day on-line, clicking from one Favorite to another, I clicked on a certain Christian on-line magazine. To be honest I only clicked on it because I was feeling guilty about the "junk food" I was reading on Facebook and assorted news sites so  I felt an "apple" needed to be on the reading menu. I was really only on the Internet as a distraction. My motivation was certainly not to have a learning experience. When I clicked and began to scan this Christian magazine's Home Page for something meaningful to read, all the titles of articles you could choose to read to give me my dose of "healthy food"  - I got an unexpected sense of feeling unsettled by the choices.


Here are some of the titles I could choose from:
- This Is the Year of the Youth
- This Is the Hour for Women to Arise
- What Really Matters
- Change the World with a Simple Idea
- Start to Do Good
- Quit Trying to Do Good  -- yes, they were both on the same page

I had entered that site with a particular motivation, to counteract all the useless information I had just put in my head. I must have been feeling bad about wasting time. I think internally I gave the Christian magazine web site a different degree of importance and honor  then from what I had given the previous information I was reading. And I think the sense of being unsettled came from the impression thrust upon me from the collage of titles on that page, a lot of do this and do that and you should and I know better type titles. I didn't know where to start! So I did not start, I closed the laptop. I went away from the experience pondering this issue; there are a lot of people who write a lot of things about God and what they think He seems to be saying and doing and wanting. I think too many.

And so now I am writing this (with an open laptop, on the Internet - how ironic is that?) . I am not writing about God, it's about me and my experiences in this learning journey of life. My conclusion? Less Internet surfing. :)

The Feel of Books

I don't think I will ever stop liking books, you know, the real thing. Books that have fronts and backs and you can touch and even smell. I understand time moves on and progress and all - Kindles and instant hand held devices with information available almost anywhere...but give me silence and a book to hold and turn the pages by the oldest machine around -  my body, through my hands. I have a bookshelf where I keep those books - the ones that spoke to me for one reason or the other in the past. Sometimes I sit in the chair that is positioned by the books and just look at them. Weird maybe but that's me. Calvin Miller's trilogy, The Singer, The Song and The Finale are three on the top of this list. It is a mythic retelling of the story of the New Testament. I am including a link below to Intervarsity Press where you can purchase the trilogy, if you feel so inclined. I highly recommend it.

"The Singer is a narrative in the tradition of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien - a retelling of an age-old story whose significance is unmatched in human history"

bookshelves: literature 

"If you like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien AND you love poetry, this is the trilogy for you. It isn't long but the story is fascinating. Miller uses his own voice to tell an inspiring tale. This is a must read if you enjoy poetry".

bookshelves: christian-fiction

Recommended for: Anyone who likes fiction, poetry, and the New Testament combined

"An amazing piece by Calvin Miller, and one of my favorite books of all time. It is written entirely in poetry form with smaller poems and phrases as chapter introductions, for example "A god to big to walk in human shoes, has outgrow all hope of human use, and heavy skeptics weighed down with doubt can never rise to find what God's about" (or something really really close to that I'm going by memory) As for the separate books, each corresponds with a portion of the New Testament 'The Singer' - the gospels, Jesus' life, ministry, death, and resurrection. 'The Song' - work of the apostles in carrying out the ministry, establishing the Church, and enduring persecution. 'The Finale ' - Revelation, the last days and marvelous second coming of Christ.
It's been a long time since I read them, but it makes an excellent pleasure read with the chapters being usually short, and easy enough to read for something light, yet without disengaging your brain. The imagery and creativity in this re-telling was great, I know the style isn't for everyone but I would suggest at least reading 'The Singer', if for no other reason, it's originality, I have yet to find another book like it".

http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=1321

A Herodian Motivation

Reading the Gospel of Mark, chapter three the other day, I read a phrase that got me thinking - oh dear! :)  It was the section from verse one to verse six. I stopped at verse six because just those six verses were quite a lot to digest. But what caught my eye were the Herodians, a group that joined with the Pharisees to plot to kill Jesus. I wondered, who were these Herodians?

"Herodians: Influential Jews who favored the Herodian dynasty, meaning they were supporters of Rome, from which the Herods received their authority. They joined the Pharisees in opposing Jesus because they feared he might have an unsettling political influence on the people"*. An unsettling political influence on the people...why? I don't know the answer to that except that the common fear of the Pharisees and Sadducees was the allegiance the people might give to Jesus, upsetting their own influence. But it seems to me from the description above that the Herodian individual must have been influential first, political second, Jews last. Ego first, power second, person last. And it is obvious that they did not recognize who Jesus was.

We should vote and as a citizen of any country that allows you to do so, should be grateful that you can. Organized groups that share common beliefs to further the goals of those beliefs should be allowed. But I am very, very, very wary of any individual or group who use their faith to force an issue because ultimately, what is their true motivation? What is really driving them? Where are the true allegiances?

Years ago I read Chuck Colson's book Kingdoms in Conflict (it has been republished under the name God and Government: An Insider's View on the Boundaries Between Faith and Politics). I highly recommend it. My opinion of Chuck Colson is that of a man who allowed the humbling and mistakes he made to become part of being a much better human being. In this book, Colson gives several examples of clashes through history with politics and religion such as Hitler, Chamberlain, and Nixon. I came away from reading it grateful to have read it.

Since we are in this election phase of our country, perhaps this post on this particular subject might be timely; the push and influence of groups towards influencing a populace. In all the different ways we live more and more in a virtual world, where words and images have become king, our own accessibility to witness the actions of and have personal interaction with the people running for office become less and less. We should stop and take a moment to really pray and meditate on who we should vote for and be driven less and less by people and groups with a possible "Herodian" motivation.

*Note - NIV Study Bible, Zondervan

For the Sake of an Illusion

“I was beginning to say these politics are crazy. I’ve experienced so much loss, and created so much loss, for the sake of an illusion.”
The sentences above are the best in a very good article in the New York Times today. It's about Judith Clark, a radical from the 1960's in the USA that was sentenced to a very long prison sentence for her part in a robbery of  Brink's armed truck in 1981 where 3 people were murdered. The article  highlights to me the waste of extreme views that do not allow for community - community that consists of variety. It also made me wonder what seeds of her early character were sown in her life by her parent's earlier extreme views. Regardless, I found it worth the time to read it. I recommend it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/magazine/judith-clarks-radical-transformation.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Magnolia

I loved this photo so much that I have to repost in the winter!!!

Flight

Reverse Image

I find it interesting that when you look in a mirror you see the reverse of what other people see of you. I  decided that would be a great subject to write about some day and... today is that day! Of course with that visual in mind I thought about reflections, perceptions and even conclusions we have about ourselves based on what we see.  When I use the word see I am referring to something more complex than the function of the eye, I am meaning to understand or to interpret both what you see, have seen and have experienced. This forms that opinion of yourself. But often times what we see or think we see may not be as it really is, the reverse image in the mirror thing. I thought that it would be interesting to write about that dynamic, the challenge we have as human beings of faith when the reverse of what we expect happens. How do we react to events and experiences that we go through that are not at all what we expected?

Because the Bible and the stories in the Bible are something I have read since 1974, I thought that using examples from people in the Bible would be interesting to use in this context. Whatever your belief, the Bible is a powerful book that I have never grown tired of all these years. Through my ups and downs it has been an anchor, a light, a comfort, a standard and an inspiration. I love it.

I'd like to start with Joseph, the Joseph of the coat of many colors. He was the son of Jacob, later named Israel, and Rachel: he was a true love child. You can read about Joseph in Genesis 37-50. Joseph's life was complex and there is much to read in those chapters but I want to concentrate mainly on Joseph's dreams and Joseph's destiny - and how I feel he must have been bewildered during at least some of the journey between having dreams of greatness, and when he actually was great. How could Joseph have known, at 17 years of age, that the relating of his dreams to his family would start a process of enslavement and deception that would last for years. The opinion of himself that  I think Joseph had from his dream, and his position of favored son must have given Joseph a sense of security and confidence even though he was ridiculed by his many brothers. I can image a confident young man just waiting for the wife, the tent, the flocks and the beautiful children running around. It would have been inevitable, and expected. Yet his life took a sudden turn in a complete reverse of that very soon after having the dreams.

Another example of life taking a reverse turn is the one of John the Baptist. His conception was prophesied by an angel, his destiny to proclaim the Son of God was certain, his ministry was public and powerful - yet  he ended up in prison with what I believe was a crisis of faith. I believe this because John as a child in the womb leaped when Mary, the mother of Jesus visited her cousin Elizabeth, John's mother, while pregnant with Jesus (Luke 1:41). During John's ministry as he saw Jesus approach he proclaimed "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29-36). John the Baptist KNEW WHO JESUS WAS  - but - while John was in prison he sent some of his disciples to Jesus to ask a question. I found this question strange for some years until I came to believe that John was in a personal crisis, a crisis because his circumstances in prison must have been the reverse of what he had imagined for his life.  The question was - "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" (Luke 7: 19) John knew who Jesus was at the river. I find the last sentence of the passage where Jesus responds to the question that John had his disciples ask - "Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." (Luke 7:23) WOW! John was confronted with a reverse image of what he had previously thought about his life, yet the new image was the true one. He had been called to die. Would he fall away when he saw it?

I don't know how both of these men felt. I can only imagine what they might have felt given the details of the stories. One of them, Joseph, eventually rose to the power and prominence in this world that he had dreamt about. The other, John the Baptist, lost his head due to the wishes of a vengeful woman. Both were presented with life changes that were challenging to say the least and I believe that were contrary to how they may have viewed their lives initially. As I have aged I have found challenges also, comparing what is to what I had expected. Everyone reading this  that is of a certain age has gone through that process, in varying degrees. But I write this in hopes that I can understand and embrace the fact that perception changes with time and that I can approach those changes with grace and patience when I see that image of myself as it is. I will not "fall away" but will face that image with grace, faith and strength of purpose in what and Who is unseen.

There, I did it. :)  MB