It's 1:58 am on a Saturday!

Now, to most of my readers, this is no big deal. But given my job, for me to be up this late on a Saturday is a rare thing. I had a game night tonight to celebrate that I didn't have to be fully awake tomorrow... and I won't be. And to be honest, I am actually somewhat bothered by that. I believe God deserves my worship... and that I should gather with my community of faith ready to give God my best worship. And I mean that. So... this is rare for me on a couple of levels.

But it is still pretty cool to not have to work tomorrow.

Okay, so you can learn a lot about people by playing games with them. For one, I have found that I'm an honest person who can't lie in a game to save my life (my mom warned me years ago not to play poker.) But I also found that most of my friends lie quite well. And that Patrick is, well, just pure evil.

And I still can't figure out mdog...

To my friends... thanks for coming over. I really love having you in my life. I consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world. And if I ever have to kill you to keep safe the town of sleepy nod, or sleepy hollow... or whatever the heck Tobias kept calling us... know that I will kill you with great grief... and the love of Jesus in my heart.

Home

There was something pretty surreal about watching my two-year-old walk the same hallways I did when I was two. It seems nothing has changed. Because my parents no longer live there, the house is pretty much the same as when I left 20 years ago: same wallpaper, same carpet... it is amazing. Like stepping back in time.

Home has always been a secure place... and it's almost like time stops when I'm there. But this year I was very much aware of the passing of time. Generations moving on. I have a daughter, my parents are aging. Stores that were there when I was younger, now long gone. And yet it all seems so familiar.

I wonder if heaven will seem familiar? I wonder if it will be totally different, and yet feel so comfortable... like we lived there before. Like everything is as it has always been... or at least should be.

Merry Christmas.

Happy Blog Birthday to me!

Two years ago today I started this blog.




What was I thinking!




I need a life. :O)

Friends

There is nothing like an expected phone call from a good friend to brighten your day!

We miss you both.

.

And to another friend, thanks for dropping by and making cookies. That was just way too cool.

Calls, cookies, and Key Lime pie.

I'm blessed.

I'm just not sure...

So I'm curious: What do my readers think of this? Whereas I think it is good that people get convicted of sin and confess... and I think it is good that leadership be walking the talk... something about this final paragraph bugs me.

"New Life Church leadership requests, again, that, if anyone has factual, first-hand information regarding the spiritual health of this Church, its ministers or ministries, they should report directly to the Overseers through the means provided on the Church's website."

Or am I being defensive?

_________________________

From Monday Morning Insight: A Second New Life Church Leader Resigns

I continue to be impressed by the way that New Life Church is dealing with the Ted Haggard situation. It has lead to another staff member resigning over sexual issues. This is the press release from the church.Check out the pro-activeness of this release. It is clear, concise, and direct (and written by Carol Haggard, a close relative of Ted, who is in charge of media relations at New Life. It reads...

On November 4, 2006, an external Board of Overseers for New Life Church ("Church") permanently removed Rev. Ted Haggard from any position of leadership due to his admitted sexual immorality. The following day, Rev. Haggard advised the Church congregation by letter that he was a "deceiver and a liar" and that he had been warring with a "darkness" his whole adult life.

Immediately after this event, Acting Senior Pastor, Ross Parsley, asked the Overseers to further assist the Church to ensure that its ministers and ministries are rightly ordered as the Church moves forward. As a result, the Overseers interviewed many members of the pastoral staff beginning with the senior leaders.

This process is continuing. The Overseers thereafter invited, through the Church website and other means, any person who had any concerns about the Church's ministers or ministries to contact them. A second group, including independent outside professionals, has interviewed other persons. The Church leadership took this action to make sure that any secondary effects of Rev. Haggard's disordered moral life would not be partof the Church's future.

On Friday, December 8, 2006, the Director of New Life Church's 24/7 ministryresigned his position, and the Church accepted his resignation. The 24/7ministry is a young adult leadership training program. This Director resigned because, in meeting with the Overseers, it became apparent that he had displayed poor judgment in several decisions throughout his tenure. This poor judgment included one instance of consensual sexual contact with another unmarried adult several years ago.

Pastoral work and personnel decisions are, by necessity, often confidential. Throughout the events in the wake of Rev. Haggard's termination, the Church has tried to be open about its disciplinary processes consistent with respect for the privacy of others. It, therefore, plans to make no additional statement about this matter than those contained in this pressrelease.

New Life Church leadership requests, again, that, if anyone has factual, first-hand information regarding the spiritual health of this Church, its ministers or ministries, they should report directly to the Overseers through the means provided on the Church's website.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Okay...

Seriously...at least for Mdog's sake... Merry Christmas.

Yummmmmm

Thanks mdog.

A break from the seriousness of this thread....

And I thought Jeff (the friend who loves cars) had some great answering machine messages. Wouldn't you just love to do this?.

Journal Entry: Friday, December 1

Wow, what a difference a single day makes. Honestly, I'm still not crazy about the idea of running into creepy crawlers in my bed, but this place grows on you quickly.

Today, we began working at Montana De Luz property. We broke into two teams and worked on two different projects, but we were all working in the same area, which was great. The group I was not a part of dug up these square sewer thingys (That is the technical name).

So let me begin by saying that Larry J. is one of the hardest working people I have ever met. I don't know for sure, but I think he is around 70. He looks MUCH younger and acts even younger than he looks. Every day, he was the first to start working and the last to leave. And the man works hard. I thought he was a great witness to the Honduran workers.

My group worked on replacing and "cleaning" playground sand. Basically, we shoveled the sand from the sandbox, put it in wheelbarrows, wheeled it around to the back of a building, dumped it, and wheeled the wheelbarrows back... this time with kids! The children were on break, so they spent a lot of time with us, which was fantastic.

Life here is simpler, although their lives are more complex. The kids all are HIV positive, and have a daily medical routine and regular doctor visits. There is so much more to worry about here, but they seem to worry less. Does that make sense? The kids just have a freedom that comes... I guess from just being a kid. But I'm glad they have at least that.

Poverty

I have no pictures of the drive from the airport to Montana De Luz. I wish I could say it was for artistic reasons (fear of blurring scenes, an inability to frame a shot, etc). The blunt, honest truth is that I was just too overwhelmed with what I saw to take any pictures of it.

I have never seen as much poverty as I saw in Honduras. It is pervasive. From the moment we got in the van until the moment we arrived in Montana De Luz, we saw conditions that were deplorable: everything from concrete block houses with dirt floors, to quite literally, a piece of tin held up with 4 sticks. My words seem inadequate to describe the scene.

Even the "nice" houses are below what most of us would feel a reasonable standard living. One of the houses to the right is one of the Montana De Luz volunteer houses in the town Nueva Esperanza. The town was built after the hurricane largely to give housing to displaced families. Some of the Montana staff live there as well. Again, for Honduran standards, the houses are nice. But it was just a reminder to me how high our standard of living really is in the US.

Here is where I most wrestle as a Christian: What do I do? In my mind, (before the trip) I thought I would come back to the US and just get rid of stuff. "Live simply so that others may simply live" and all those wonderful bumper stickers. But that just doesn't seem to cut it. I'm not even sure it is an income issue. Governments are corrupt, the country is in debt, the is no infrastructure to speak of (roads can help an economy, I have heard)... but that DO have a damn nice statue of "Big Jesus."

"Big Jesus" (or his official name: "Jesus Christ in El Picacho") is a 2,500 ton, 100 foot tall statue of Jesus that was built in 1998 to the tune of Lps. 8 million (which isn't bad for such a hunk of rock!) The protestant pastors loudly opposed it, not because they would have used that money to... oh, I don't know, maybe feed people or build roads... but they opposed it because it is a "Catholic" Jesus. Whatever that means.

Former President Reina, along with his cabinet and a number of prominent Tegucigalpa businessmen set up a special foundation with the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa to raise funds for the project. The business sector responded immediately with a flood of donations and each of the cabinet members pledged a full month's salary.

Read that last sentence again... go ahead, I will wait.

[waiting]

Yes, the cabinet members pledged a FULL MONTH'S SALARY.

Now, go back up and read the second paragraph again. Go ahead... I'll wait again.

Yep. That is right. They gave a month's salary for a hunk of rock and yet there is so much poverty. Is there something wrong with this picture?

What do you do with so much poverty? Is it an issue? Do we embrace communism so that there is more equality? Is that the answer? Will that change anything?

And here are some questions: Is my quality of life all that better just because I live in a nicer house? Am I REALLY more blessed? Am I closer to God because of my wealth or does that wealth get in the way? Does my wealth really add anything tangible?

Looking at his disciples, [Jesus] said:

"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

"But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

Journal Entry: Thursday, November 30

"As I write this I'm in Honduras with a team of folks from Central: Larry and Mary Tracy, Maru, Jared, Tina, Wendy, Karen and myself. So far, I hate it. I'm ashamed to say that... but quite honestly I have a lot of fear at this point. I can't put my finger on it. I have fear of all kinds of stuff: getting sick, finding 'things' in my room, getting hurt... I fear facing the truth of my life and all the privilege in which I currently live. And I hate that I'm fearful. I just am.

Montana De Luz is nice enough, although it is way below the standard of living in which most Americans are used to: it is more like a summer camp. But how many summer camp staff tell you: "Make sure you check your bed for scorpions before you get in..." (and then tell you a story of someone who didn't and regretted it!).

What would it be like to live like this all the time? Or worse? Actually, the accommodations here are much better than the vast amount of Honduras. The water is safe to drink. There is a roof over our heads. There is a certain level of sanitation as all the kids have HIV and compromised immune systems. So in a sense, we are very pampered. But right now... I'm not feeling very pampered."

Spiders should not have hair: Reflections on a week in Honduras, part 2

Thursday, November 30

Our flight left Thursday morning, so our group decided to go to Columbus the night before and stay at a hotel so we could be up early. As I laid in bed Wednesday night/Thursday morning, it suddenly dawned on me that I didn't bring my camera bag and that was really stupid thing to neglect. I could not sleep, so I actually thought about driving back to Athens to get it. I laid there thinking, "Okay, it's midnight. If I leave right now I can be back in Athens by 1:30 am and back here by 3:30 am." Must have been the Malaria medication talking. Fortunately, Jared talked me out of it.

We had to be at the airport Thursday morning by 5 am, so we were up by 4 am. The hotel bus to take us to the airport was late... really late... and so we got to the airport by 5:45 am with our flight leaving at 6:20 am. Other than Tina sacrificing her 3.5 oz of Applesauce to the security folks (if they had only been 3 oz packages!), security was pretty normal.

Our flight connected through Texas and there was a "storm a brewin'," so we were delayed on the runway for 1.5 hours. Yes, you read that right... 1.5 hours on the runway; smelling jet fumes... waiting to take off. Now, BECAUSE we were on the runway for 1.5 hours waiting to take off, when we finally DID take off and fly to Honduras, we had to cut our trip short and land in San Pedro... as... yep... we were running low on fuel. So we landed at the San Pedro airport (I use that term very generously), got some fuel, and we were off to Tegucigalpa.

Now, the runway in Tegucigalpa is... well... miniscule. It is the shortest runway I have ever seen. To add to the challenge, Tegucigalpa is surrounded by mountains (notice those big black things just beyond the short runway?). So for a plane to land, it has to first drop out of the sky once it clears the mountains. It is a world of fun.

Upon arrival in Tegucigalpa (after dropping out of the sky to land on the world's shortest runway), the following images stick in my mind:

The money exchanger holding wads of cash... probably thousands of dollars. They don't bother with banks in Honduras apparently, there are these guys who just walk around with HUGE wads of cash and change your money.

The realization that I have no luggage. Yes, the airlines decided to break my run of dozens of fights without ever losing a piece of luggage. I think this was the most appropriate place to lose luggage though...seeing that I would be working in the heat, sweating like a pig (yes, I know that pigs don't sweat!) and having only brought one extra shirt in my carry on. More on the lost luggage later.

The young kids who met us on the street asking for money as we walked to the car. There is something even more compelling about kids begging in Honduras... but we were given very clear instructions about not giving money... which alleviated some of the guilt.

Our team met our driver (a Montana staff person who spoke only Spanish) and then loaded into a red van for the hour-long drive to Montana De Luz on the main road (I use that word, "road" very generously). Driving in Honduras is... well... an adventure. There are no rules. Heck, there are no lanes. The attitude is basically, "Hey, there is some open space between these two cars (mountains, etc) I think I will wedge my car in there!" Passing on a blind curve going up hill? Not a problem! Although this usually would bug me and make me tense, I have to admit I laughed about it more than I worried about it. Mostly, because I was so struck by all the poverty.

To be continued.

An aside... everyone sing along!

"Jesus is mad, this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones make him insane.
When He comes, He'll bring the pain.

Yes, Jesus is mad.
Yes, Jesus is mad.
Yes, Jesus is mad.
The Bible tells me so."

Spiders should not have hair: Reflections on a week in Honduras, part 1

So I think I could blog about this past week for the next several months. To be honest, I have been a bit hesitant to post as I think I'm still processing it all.

I think it is safe to say that the Thursday I showed up in Honduras, I was ready to leave, vowing never to return. The very next day I met the kids of Montana De Luz. Wow.

Let me say, I really don't like kids all that much. I feel pretty uncomfortable around them. Granted, some of that has changed with me having my own... but I still am not a kid person. But these kids won my heart pretty early.



There is a lot of pain around Honduras. To be honest, to me the most overwhelming thing was all the poverty. If you have never been to an underdeveloped country, you can't really understand what it is like. The drive from the airport to Montana de Luz was one of the most confusing/painful/eye-opening/terrifying times of my life. The poverty is staggering. And, in time, I will reflect on that.

But, in the midst of all that pain, there is a lot of joy. In the midst of conditions that I have never experienced before, these kids live. Fully live. Don't get me wrong, they are kids. They fight, and cry, and sometimes want things their way. But these same kids, all HIV positive, all living in conditions which any of my readers will probably never experience, make and sell jewelry to raise money for "less fortunate" kids. All together now.... wow.

So to Kevin, Wendy (both of them!), Omar... to all the kids of Montana de Luz... thanks for showing me life. I will hold you in my heart forever.

Back...

And changed.