The one who holds up my hands

I am fortunate, blessed in a myriad of ways.  One of the great blessings in my life is that I am able to take most every opportunity to walk through open doors and step out of boats, knowing that the home fires will be kept burning.  (Yes, I know, I used too many cliches in a single sentence!)  This blessing comes to me courtesy of my competent, capable, often patient and  steadfast husband, Anthony.

When I explore new opportunities, whether in my work, or in travel with friends, or in this case, going overseas to serve with a mission team, I am able to do so without worrying about how my girl will be looked after, or if my house will be well-kept or really, about anything home-related at all because Anthony somehow makes it all happen.  He does it so well, so effortlessly that it’s easy for me to take this blessing for granted; that is, until I talk to others about how I’m not really making many preparations at all for my family while I’m gone and am then reminded that perhaps this isn’t the norm in every relationship.

This reminds me of the story of Moses looking out over the battlefield with Aaron, his brother, and Hur, positioned on either side of him, holding up his hands so that the Israelites would prevail in the battle:

Exodus 17:10-13 (NKJV)

¹⁰ So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. ¹² But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. ¹³ So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

Anthony holds up my hands so I can prevail, and do the things I need to do.  He keeps it all together when I’m focused on other projects. Without him at my side, I know I couldn’t possibly be going to India.

So this post is for Anthony, who is staying behind and holding it all together, with my deepest gratitude and much love.

My bags are packed, I’m ready to go…

Well, that’s what the song says anyhow.  I’m not exactly ready to go.  In fact, I’m holding rather tightly to home just now, worrying mostly about how Rachel will cope without her mother for 17 days.  And about how I’ll cope without her for that long.  This doesn’t feel like what a mother is supposed to do.

I’ve spent time this morning rereading my own blog posts so I can remember why I am going.  It’s helped a little, but I remain conflicted. I suppose that’s entirely normal.  I pray that the conflict will resolve, and that Rachel will cope and that, most of all, someday she’ll understand why I’m doing this.

With gratitude and a humble heart

I write this morning with a thankful heart, humbled by knowing that so many of you are supporting me in this journey.

Some of you (you know who you are) have contributed financially to this mission, providing support in excess of 75% of my costs.  Thank you so much for your generosity.

Some have offered logistical support to our family during my absence.  We deeply appreciate this and will take you up on your offers.

Even more have provided moral support, and encouragement as I take this step of faith.  That means so much to me.

To all of you, I give you the words of the Apostle Paul, writing to the church at Philippi:

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, ⁵ for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶ being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; …⁹ And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,¹⁰ that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, ¹¹ being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

– Philippians 1:3-11

The power of the words you choose

A friend sent an email with the link to this video today and I felt I had to share it.

Our India team spent some time this past week learning a few words of Hindi so that we can communicate, at least a little, to those we meet in India in their tongue.  We learned to say:

• Thank you – – Dhanyavad or Shukriya
• friend — dost
• My name is — Mera Naam Karen Hai
• Excuse/pardon me — Muaf Karna
• Praise the Lord — Jai Masih Ki

We are taking the time to learn to communicate in a way that has meaning to those we are communicating with.

This video brings home to me just how important it is to consider the needs of the reader or listener in choosing the words you use.  It’s a principle well known to those in the advertising industry and the rest of us are well-advised to put it into practice if we want our message to be heard.

Walking in the light

A few months ago I bought this lovely book of poems by Wendell Berry.  I’ve been slowly working my way through it, and last night, stayed up much too late reading aloud to myself.  This one caught my attention as I’d just encountered it for the first time earlier in the week in a blog posting on Experimental Theology.

It needs to be shared.  Hope you appreciate it as I do:

To my granddaughters who visited the Holocaust Museum on the day of the burial of Yitzak Rabin, November 6th 1995.

Now you know the worst
we humans have to know
about ourselves, and I am sorry,

for I know you will be afraid.
To those of our bodies given
without pity to be burned, I know

there is no answer
but loving one another
even our enemies, and this is hard.

But remember:
when a man of war becomes a man of peace,
he gives a light, divine

though it is also human.
When a man of peace is killed
by a man of war, he gives a light.

You do not have to walk in darkness.
If you have the courage for love,
you may walk in light. It will be

the light of those who have suffered
for peace. It will be
your light.

What an amazing show of support!

Yesterday, the church requested that people make a special offering in support of the team travelling to India, and to support the work of Far Corners Ministry.

I’ve just heard that in excess of $11,000 was raised in this one offering to support our trip.  I am awed and amazed and humbled.

Thank you Whyte Ridge Baptist Church!

Slow Cooker Evangelism and Jesus as my Guru

As part of our team training, we spent an afternoon this past weekend with a lovely couple who have, with their family have themselves spent years in India – he was there as a child and they returned as a young family to spend some 7 years teaching at a Christian-based international school in northern India.

In describing their approach to sharing their faith with people in India, they spoke of  “slow-cooker evangelism.”  As I understood this concept, slow-cooker evangelism involves allowing relationships to form and simmer for a long time so that trust is built and credibility gained before any attempt is made to explain why one follows Jesus and what that means.

It’s an approach that I like – and one that allows for the seeker to ask questions and probe for more information about the faith of the Jesus-follower at her own pace rather than responding to the urgent need of the follower to share that faith.

They also talked about how describing yourself as a Christian in India comes with a whole lot of not necessarily accurate baggage – related to the Christianity of colonialists, the “Christian West” and all that Indian people see when they watch North American television shows, and said that an approach they’ve used is to respond to any questions as to their beliefs with the opening statement that “Jesus is my guru and I am his disciple.”   A good opening line, I’d say.

Finally, they both spoke a lot about the integration of the secular and the sacred in Indian life, in contrast to our western view that separates out the secular from the sacred at every turn.  This integrated Indian approach to life and faith, belief and action is attractive to me.  It seems to be a way to live both wholly and holistically, with great integrity so that  all aspects of life flow into and are part of the sacred dance.

Living a Whole Life

I can’t say it any better than was said by Fr. Richard Rohr in his Daily Meditation for February 1, 2012, as sent out through the Centre for Action and Contemplation:

How does one transition from the survival dance to the sacred dance? Let me tell you how it starts. Did you know the first half of life has to fail you? In fact, if you do not recognize an eventual and necessary dissatisfaction (in the form of sadness, restlessness, emptiness, intellectual conflict, spiritual boredom, even loss of faith, etc.), you will not move on to maturity. You see, faith really is about moving outside your comfort zone, trusting God’s lead, instead of just forever shoring up home base. Too often early religious “conditioning” largely substitutes for any real faith.

Usually, without growth being forced on us, few of us go willingly on the spiritual journey. Why would we? The rug has to be pulled out from beneath our game, so we redefine what balance really is. More than anything else, this falling/rising cycle is what moves us into the second half of our own lives. There is a “necessary suffering” to human life, and if we avoid its cycles we remain immature forever. It can take the form of failed relationships, facing our own shadow self, conflicts and contradictions, disappointments, moral lapses, or depression in any number of forms.

All of these have the potential to either edge us forward in life or to dig in our heels even deeper, producing narcissistic and adolescent responses that everybody can see except ourselves. We either “fall upward,” or we just keep falling.