Through My Window

I'm Still Alive . . .

2005-01-09T18:10:00.000-05:00

Apparently, since classes ended, I have lost all sense of self-discipline. Of course, I have been working at the store quite a bit lately and some of those East-end women can really stress me out. We did make it home for Christmas, arriving the day before the major ice storm that turned out to be worse in Tennessee than it was up here. By Sunday the 26th, though, it had melted enough to safely drive back to out new home. The next week, David Alan’s mom came up to visit us for three days and stayed on the new futon (it’s just like yours, Kim). Classes will begin on again on the 19th for me and I’m taking Church History II and Cross-Cultural Missions. DA’s already gone back to school. Pray for Kaitlyn, one of his 6th graders who had a stroke on Wednesday, during PE class, and things do not look particularly good for her right now.

Other recent events include:
--Our church will not be merging with another local church with whom we’d been meeting for the past year. Although it would have been great in many ways, it really is for the best since there were some destructive traits coming out in a few of the members of the other congregation (very few, but most of the trouble-makers were leaders—the majority in the congregation were very wonderful, loving people). It is sad, though, to leave some of the youth who were really beginning to grow and ask good questions.

--Now that we’re back in our own building, our church has to decide how it will reach out to the community when so much of it does not speak English. My current thoughts are concerning what will be done for youth. Any ideas are welcome—simply leave them as a comment. I’m really at a loss for what to do. Keep in mind that money is supremely limited.

--The B. work continues. Friday, I walked down to the apartments and visited with a few women as well as we could, knowing only a little of one another’s languages. By the last place, I thought I couldn’t hold another bite of food—or another glass of Tang or fruit juice. I spent nearly five hours there. Yesterday, on my way home from work, I had thirty minutes to kill while I awaited my second bus downtown, so I visited briefly with a man we know who owns the store downtown. Today, DA and I went to the other store and I saw some women I know and spoke briefly to them in their own language—isn’t that so cool? When I hear them speak to each other, I just wish I could understand so much more—not simply the vocabulary, but the grammar. It’s so difficult learning a language that is not written.

A Crazy Month!

2004-12-01T21:54:00.000-05:00

How to start . . . How to start . . .

I have to apologize to my faithful, um, reader, for the lack of info. coming from my laptop lately. This past month has been the busiest, perhaps ever for me—or at least since my wedding. A long time, anyway. So, here goes: the past month in a nutshell.

To begin with, we moved—a much more gi-normous task than we’d ever imagined. How did we get so much stuff?! We’re still unpacking boxes! But, we are in a wonderful, larger apartment that’s within walking distance of many of the B. people who live in this city. God has brought Africa to us!

Also, I feel as though I’ve written so many papers this semester that I don’t have any words left to write. Finally, though, I’ve begun my final exams—only one left next Tuesday. The break is much needed!

We had planned to go back to TN for Thanksgiving, but decided against it at the last moment when we thought about the fact that we’d be driving nearly 15 hours round trip to and from David Alan’s aunts house in Jackson with only two days to even do everything and see everyone—not to mention gas prices. So, we stayed in L’ville and had Thanksgiving dinner with our pastor, his wife, and his parents.

On Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, I—yes, I—served a home-cooked 19 lb. turkey and several side dishes all cooked by yours truly (OK, so DA made the stove-top stuffing) to several of our B. friends. On October 14, they had invited us to celebrate Eid El Fidder (sp?) with them, and we had gone, so we thought that it would be fun to show them an American Thanksgiving and share with them the real meaning behind it—thankfulness to God for all He has provided. After dinner, the ladies and the children helped me decorate the Christmas tree, and when R. came across a little wooden cut-out ornament of a manger scene, she looked confusedly at me. “This is Isa, Mariam, and Yusuf (sp?)” I was able to explain (the ladies speak very little English). R. nodded and looked at it a little longer before we hung it on the tree. They’re small steps, but they’re something. As long as the relationship continues to grow, when the language barrier becomes less of a problem, more can be explained.

This Friday night, we are having the middle-schooler’s from our Sunday School class over for a Christmas party. Hopefully, in this case, too, we continue to build personal relationships with them outside of Sunday morning business. Two of the girls are especially shy, come from mainly non-Christian families, and don’t know Christ personally, so please pray for D. and S.

I’ll try to write more often now that we’re pretty much settled in and hooked up to the internet—and now that I have no more papers to write! Whoo-hoo!

Wienermobile Sighting!

2004-10-29T20:02:00.000-04:00

We went to sign the contract for our new apartment on the south end today and guess what I saw for the first time in my entire life:

The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile!

We passed it on Crittendon Drive. I'm just thrilled! It's always been a dream of mine to see it--really!

Rest at Last!

2004-10-29T13:09:00.000-04:00

We spent Monday night in the emergency room. What a fiasco! David Alan almost never gets sick, but beginning last Friday, he’d begun to have trouble breathing and coughing a lot. So Monday after he left his school, he found a doctors office that was open until 8 pm. We headed out around 7, and by the time he’d finished with x-rays and blood tests, it was 9. The doctor said that he couldn’t tell very much about the x-rays (they weren’t very good), so he was going to send us to the emergency room because DA had either pleurisy or a blood clot. What kind of an “or” is that?! One thing that is not-so-bad if treated and one that is completely terrible! So, we headed to Baptist East, where we remained until midnight. DA said he felt stupid and knew it was probably pleurisy and all he needed was for someone to give him antibiotics, but again they did x-rays and a million other tests. Finally, they said, yes indeed it was pleurisy. We could have told them that, and did, without a medical degree. We picked up his antibiotics at Kroger, and he came home and did his best (which was pitiful that night) putting together a sub folder.

The next morning, I drove out at 6 am to Bullitt Co., to drop off his sub folder and returned home, using to the hour and a half that I had before class to finish cramming for the Church History exam I had that morning. What a couple of days. Well, after taking care of him (which was no problem, really!) and working at the store, I sort of crashed today and slept in (DA went back to school yesterday). It felt sooooo good, too. I didn’t even get up until noon! Of course, I do have a paper due Tuesday for Theology that I should probably begin.

The Start of Ramadan

2004-10-15T14:57:00.000-04:00

Today is the first day of Ramadan for Muslims. It will continue until November 13th of this year. Ramadan is a time when Muslims fast all day long and may eat only after dark until just before dawn each day. This period of time provides them with an opportunity to get “bonus points” with God—to make up for the bad things they’ve done during the past year, so that someday, when they stand before God, their good works might outweigh their bad.

As Christians, we know that this is not what determines our eternity, but rather by God’s grace alone, through faith in Christ alone as Savior. It is difficult to watch people who are trying so hard to please God, miss Him altogether. Please pray for our Muslim friends as they observe this month. Pray that they will seek the true God and that He will reveal Himself to them through various means. Pray also for us as we continue to build relationships with the people and share Christ with them. Last night provided another opportunity for us to share the gospel with S. We have also received an invitation to join them for the feast they have to celebrate at the end of Ramadan. Pray that we will be ready with answers when they ask questions about our faith in Christ.

Easy Recipe for Baked Mashed Potatoes

2004-10-13T21:32:00.000-04:00

Here’s a recipe worth trying—it is so good and easy! Those of you who know me know that I really can't cook, but this was so simple and it looks like it took forever. I've made it a couple of times now. If you try it, let me know how it went.

Baked Mashed Potatoes:
8 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
5 tablespoons butter, divided
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon paprika
Shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
Bacon bits (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 2-quart baking dish.
2. Combine potatoes with enough water to cover in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Boil until tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of the liquid.
3. Combine potatoes, reserved liquid, cream cheese, sour cream, 4 tablespoons butter, salt and black pepper in a large bowl. Mash or beat until smooth.
4. Spoon half of the potatoes into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle cheese and bacon bits to taste. Repeat these steps with the other half of the potatoes, finishing with more cheese and bacon bits. Dot with remaining butter. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake for 8 minutes.

Struggles

2004-10-03T20:11:00.000-04:00

It's something I've been struggling with for the last week or so, now. My mom called to tell me that my aunt, my father's younger sister, has been diagnosed with lung cancer. Apparently, it's pretty far along, and the doctors don't give her long. It's really hard to think about all that she and my cousins will have to go through in the next few months. It's such a hard road.

More selfishly, I've been constantly reminded of my families own struggle with cancer, which my dad fought and ultimately died from back when I was a senior in high school. After his death, I tried to be strong--pretty much a requirement placed on me by my mother, since I was the oldest and "the example," after all. As a result of her attendance at a word-faith church, I was not allowed to voice my fear that he wouldn't make it, so I kept that fairly secret. I tried to move on and forget about it all after he died. I went away to college a few months later and the transition helped me to not think about it all very often. I've never even gone to the cemetary since the funeral. I simply sought to grow in my faith and trust God with the whole situation. He comforted me. I thought I'd succeded in dealing with it all fairly well until I received this news about my aunt. Suddenly, all of the memories of that time (much of which I'd forgotten) have flooded back.

For the past week I've been a little depressed, but I've been slow to share this with anyone else--even as a prayer request. I'm not sure why. But, it is for this reason that I'm posting this. Not for pity or trite advice, but for prayer for my aunt, her family, my grandmother, and myself as I deal with this, too, for the other reasons I mentioned above. I'd really appreciate it.

Maay oh Maay

2004-09-19T19:54:00.000-04:00

Since we’ve been working with our refugee friends, I’d thought I’d begun to learn quite a bit of Maay Maay (pron. my my), their native language, and what most of them speak.

The husband of this one family we are particularly close to has gone to Washington DC for a few days, so he asked us to check on his wife. Today after church, we went to see her—and the rest of the extended family, most of whom speak very little English. During the course of the afternoon, I tried to recall the Maay Maay I’d learned, only to realize that ¾ of it is useless in a normal conversation. While I could remember words like pot: sofee, pan: tow, crayon: coloretta, and squirrel: tuclish, I did not know “Nice to meet you” or “How are you?”

Oh well, if anyone who knows only Maay Maay needs help putting a tuclish in a sofee, I’m your girl!

Shallowness at Its Best

2004-09-14T17:12:00.000-04:00

I am all about the Bible being translated into other languages and I get excited when I hear stories about how Bible translators have completed a complete Bible for a people group who has never before had access to God’s Word in their language.

In addition, I understand that in sharing Christ with others, we have to take into account the culture in which they live. For example, in sharing Christ with a Hindu, one would not want to use the term “born again,” since the individual might understand that as reincarnation. Also, even in our culture, there has been a need to translate the Bible into a version that was easier to understand. How many 14-year olds do you know who can comprehend the King James Version of the Bible?

However, the other day I received a Christian book catalog in the mail and as I was glancing through it, I noticed a new version of the New Testament that really disappointed me. The title: Becoming: The Complete NCV New Testament for Women. The format: a magazine for women. Earlier this year, a similar concept was published for teenage girls, called Revolve. I also found Revolve to be, disappointing, but I figured the publisher must have realized the shallowness of the faith of many teenage girls (not all, but many), and decided to make some money off of it. With Becoming, though, I am absolutely disgusted. The blurb in the magazine reads:

You grow, girl! Wrapping the New Testament in a cutting-edge
women’s magazine format, this can’t-put-down “Biblezine” brims with practical tips for bringing your “faith thing” into everything. Special Features: Easy-reading NCV test. Tackles tough relationship issues. Articles on beauty, men, fitness, career, money, and more. Interactive quizzes.

Furthermore, one can read the titles of articles such as, “What’s Your Spiritual IQ?,” and “Men: The Inside Scoop,” on the cover.

Biblezine!? Faith thing!? The thought that this is what Christian women want made me embarrassed to be a woman. How shallow are women today if God’s Word to us has to be packaged similarly to Cosmo for a Christian woman to read it? And even if this is meant as a tool to reach non-Christian women, is it right for the gospel to be presented in a way that is this dumbed-down and gimmicky? What’s next? Car magazine Bible’s or a “PrayBoy” so the men will read?

When it was aimed at the young girls, I was annoyed at best, but I think it is absolutely wrong to coddle the shallowness of many Christian women today (again, certainly not all, but many). For one, that is how many of the teenage girls get that way—they don’t see the life of a godly woman modeled at home. They see a grown woman who does the church thing and looks great doing it, but real depth is often lacking.

Certainly we all fail in modeling a Christian life, but we still should be striving for it and we should not be content with presenting a cute, superficial gospel to those who are watching us. We also should not give non-believers the idea that Christianity is simply a popular accessory.