The other day I drove past a most welcome sight. A wheat field that was ripe for harvest! Granted, in this part of Texas the wheat fields are significantly smaller than in western Kansas, but still it was wheat and it was ripe and oh, what a beautiful sight. Yesterday I passed another field with a combine moved into the field ready to start the harvest. This brought to mind the memory of older boys/young men starting their summer jobs on custom harvesting crews. Starting now in Texas and ending in August in North Dakota or Canada, working 14 hour days for 3 months straight. Days off are rain days. Rainy days are rare (and unwelcome) during the harvesting season, which is always where they are located. The days are hot, long, and tiring with always another field to cut just up the road. By the middle of June all excitement has waned and it is now simply long, hard labor and the prospect of another 70 days of the same frenetic activity facing these young men.
How do they keep going? What stirs within them as they rise for another day.
They eagerly listen to the daily reports. Yes, fields are ripe around Wellington! Kiowa reports two more days and the fields there will be ready. Get ready boys. We're crossing into KANSAS. There we will find the sky is bluer, the air is cleaner, the sunflowers bigger, and the wheat is better! The heart of the high plains of America. It lifts the spirits and dreams of young men to new heights. Harvesting in Kansas - it doesn't get any better.
But alas, three fast weeks and Kansas will be behind and the northern high plains will be the new ground. Still, the three weeks in Kansas stays in their souls and the memories stir them to continue onward. They can finish the harvest season because they have been to Kansas. Their hearts have been strangely warmed. And like Dorothy (Wizard of Oz) they will now always possess a yearning to someday get back to that special place called Kansas.
OK, now that I have those thoughts out of my system it is on to other good things.
We (Cross Timbers Church) have eight seniors graduating from high school this year. I am so proud of these eight youth. They have wonderful hearts and cheery dispositions. They are a 'good crop' of youth. As my late grandmother would say, "they come from good stock." Best of all is they each love the Lord and are doing their best to actively follow Him. Way to go Joshua, Jonathan, Parker, Kinzey, Bradley, Natali, Simon and Sherry. May God richly bless these eight as they begin new chapters in their lives.
In other happenings of importance. I bought tickets to go see my lovely wife in the Philippines. I will be arriving in Tagbilaran on July 27th. That is 59 days from now (but who is counting?) I don't know who is more excited about this coming trip - Christie or me. What I need to find is one of those countdown clocks that have the days, hours, minutes, and seconds on it. The days go by too slowly in this matter. I need to see more progress. A countdown clock with minutes and seconds would show progress is being made ever so surely and swiftly to reach the 27th.
Speaking with Christie this morning, she now has electric lines run to her rental house and wiring of the house was done yesterday. Next Monday she will talk with the power company and have them push the magic switch allowing her to have lights in the home! But wait, you have heard it said, "give someone an inch and they will take a mile", well this just happened. Before the electricity is flowing to the house, the kids were asking mom if they would be getting a TV! Ha, some things are the same the world over.
It is time to move on into the day, so until the next post, blessings to everyone.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Choices
I remember my first morning in the Philippines. It was 4:30 in the morning, the roosters were all ready active and crowing. Stumbling into the bathroom to take a shower I was greeted with a single water knob. "'What is this?" I thought to myself. This situation was more than my introduction to cold water showers. It was the opening revelation to me of the reality of abundant choices we have as Americans. We are blessed to have more than an abundance of choices in almost every area of life here in the USA. Now, fifteen years later I am still wondering how anyone can stand to take cold water showers. And yet the majority of the world's population can not even conceive of hot water showers. And herein is part of the missing construct in most of the world.
Choices, or the lack of choices, have a profound affect on our ability to dream or to stay stagnant! And choices, or lack of choices, also spur our desire to change or inhibit one's motivation to move forward.
If a man finds himself in a room with two doors opening to the outside and he chooses the first door he will invariably begin to wonder about the possibilities which lie beyond the second door. His imagination becomes alive and active with the possibilities for more than a single outcome. That same man in a room with only one door finds it hard to imagine of any possibility other than the reality presented to him through the one door. His ability to dream is limited by lack of choices.
I think dreaming is a learned activity as much as it is an innate human trait. God gives us the ability to dream but it must be nurtured into maturity. And choices are one of the 'breeding grounds' for this nurturing of dreams. Thus, here in the USA , we find it easy to dream of other, bigger and better plans because we have choices available to us. This is one of the reasons we can say America is blessed. When our choices are lessened, one by one, as a people we lose our
ability to nurture our dreams. When this happens we begin our slide downward into the lower realm of lesser dreams and hopes.
Yes, freedom to hope. Freedom to dream. Freedom to be inspired. Much of it comes forth from the choices are have before us. As a nation we strive to preserve choices. In political verbiage we call them 'freedoms'. Without them we begin to dream little and aspire less.
Thank you, Lord, for the choices I have and the ability to dream. Amen
Blessings
Choices, or the lack of choices, have a profound affect on our ability to dream or to stay stagnant! And choices, or lack of choices, also spur our desire to change or inhibit one's motivation to move forward.
If a man finds himself in a room with two doors opening to the outside and he chooses the first door he will invariably begin to wonder about the possibilities which lie beyond the second door. His imagination becomes alive and active with the possibilities for more than a single outcome. That same man in a room with only one door finds it hard to imagine of any possibility other than the reality presented to him through the one door. His ability to dream is limited by lack of choices.
I think dreaming is a learned activity as much as it is an innate human trait. God gives us the ability to dream but it must be nurtured into maturity. And choices are one of the 'breeding grounds' for this nurturing of dreams. Thus, here in the USA , we find it easy to dream of other, bigger and better plans because we have choices available to us. This is one of the reasons we can say America is blessed. When our choices are lessened, one by one, as a people we lose our
ability to nurture our dreams. When this happens we begin our slide downward into the lower realm of lesser dreams and hopes.
Yes, freedom to hope. Freedom to dream. Freedom to be inspired. Much of it comes forth from the choices are have before us. As a nation we strive to preserve choices. In political verbiage we call them 'freedoms'. Without them we begin to dream little and aspire less.
Thank you, Lord, for the choices I have and the ability to dream. Amen
Blessings
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
The Wedding
Well I finally managed to get married the other day. I would not have suspected things could change in such short notice since I am not an aggressive and bold risk taker. But around 4:00 PM on April 24, 2010 in Tagbilaran City, Bohol Philippines at Glory Evangelical Holiness Church the beautiful Christie Buyan became Christie Hall! And now our lives take on new hopes and challenges. For those who may not know much about this marriage, Christie's first husband was a pastor who died suddenly about 18 months ago. Christie had been hoping and praying for another pastor whom she might marry and, lo and behold, this handsome American pastor shows up who was available!
Now the challenge is to get Christie and her children into the good land known as the U.S.A. legally and as quickly as possible. In this task, the time line appears to be 6 - 12 months (with 12 months suggested as being closer to reality). But we are praying for God to grease the wheels of bureaucracy at the U.S. Embassy in Manila and see this time shortened.
While in the Philippines waiting to get married I had the privilege of preaching on both Sundays and speaking twice at a youth leaders retreat. It is fun to worship with believers in other nations and join with them in their style of expressing their love to the Lord. This was really a treat as it offset the mind numbing, trivial hoops the bureaucracy continuously puts you through as you try to make advances in the Philippines. What follows is a story of such 'hoop jumping' when we went to open an account in a bank in Tagbilaran City. Everyone needs a picture ID to validate themselves as a living body sitting in front of the desk of the "New Accounts" officer. This bank required a photo to go into their file along with the photocopy of your picture ID. This still wasn't much of an inconvenience until they informed you that the photo they required had to be 1" x 1"! OK, so this means leaving the bank and finding a photo store to purchase the necessary photos. Take your photo, wait 30 minutes (thank God Dunkin Donuts was next door), pick up the six 1" x 1" photos and head back to the bank. In the Philippines it seems like everyone and everything done requires some trivial hoop like this microscopic 1" x 1" photo which will then validate their copy of your photo ID. So let's just say the wheels of efficiency move a little slower there than here.
But every culture has its nuances that seem to make sense to us and look like oddities to those outside the culture. I remember when visiting Poland one month after the 9-11 attacks. The Poles where questioning why we would let Muslims from the Middle East still enter our country with no hesitation. Trying to explain our desire to protect individual liberties was a hard sell to the Poles who thought we were nuts not to restrict all movements of those who fit the "profile" of our enemies.
Crossing cultures can be eye opening with frustration and wonderment occurring within minutes of one another. Such is the joys of travel to 'another world'. Well, I must go to bed and get reoriented to U.S. time once again.
Blessings
Monday, April 19, 2010
Rings Purchased!
In my last blog I forgot to mention that I got to watch a Filipino pastor climb a coconut tree and fetch a fresh coconut for me to sample. It is absolutely amazing how easily he climbed 30 feet up the tree ( in about 30 seconds). This without spiked boots or a safety belt. I got a video of this accomplishment but, alas, I am back at an Internet cafe without ability to upload the video. McDonald's (with free WI-FI) is still in my future plans.
Yesterday was a day trip to Cebu to shop for rings. Half the mission was accomplished. This morning the second half was accomplished here in Bohol!
Now for the ordeal - shopping for shoes! I had forgotten what it is like shopping with a women hunting for a pair of shoes. Arrrggghhh. But it is not only shoes for Christie but for her mother and three kids as well. Arrrggghhh times 5. After 3 hours of no progress it was decided to: 1) Bring John (10) and Shekinah (8) into the store to try on shoes so they would actually fit. 2) Give Crisielyn (18) money and she can shop and buy the shoes she wants. 3) Let Christie and her mother shop tomorrow for their shoes without me around!
Tomorrow will be a busy day as we must travel. Traveling anywhere in the Philippines is a time consuming activity. I will be traveling somewhere to a youth leader's retreat and get the privilege of sharing with those in attendance. I will be speaking in the evening which means from noon on I will be somehow engaged in the following three activities. 1) Waiting. 2) Traveling. 1) More waiting. 3) Speaking. 2) More traveling. I expect to be back to my room around 10 PM. I will find out this afternoon what is suppose to happen and then tomorrow find out what will really happen. Life can be full of serendipity events - especially here in the Philippines.
Lest I forget to mention this, it is 4 days and 4 hours until the wedding.
Blessings to everyone.
Yesterday was a day trip to Cebu to shop for rings. Half the mission was accomplished. This morning the second half was accomplished here in Bohol!
Now for the ordeal - shopping for shoes! I had forgotten what it is like shopping with a women hunting for a pair of shoes. Arrrggghhh. But it is not only shoes for Christie but for her mother and three kids as well. Arrrggghhh times 5. After 3 hours of no progress it was decided to: 1) Bring John (10) and Shekinah (8) into the store to try on shoes so they would actually fit. 2) Give Crisielyn (18) money and she can shop and buy the shoes she wants. 3) Let Christie and her mother shop tomorrow for their shoes without me around!
Tomorrow will be a busy day as we must travel. Traveling anywhere in the Philippines is a time consuming activity. I will be traveling somewhere to a youth leader's retreat and get the privilege of sharing with those in attendance. I will be speaking in the evening which means from noon on I will be somehow engaged in the following three activities. 1) Waiting. 2) Traveling. 1) More waiting. 3) Speaking. 2) More traveling. I expect to be back to my room around 10 PM. I will find out this afternoon what is suppose to happen and then tomorrow find out what will really happen. Life can be full of serendipity events - especially here in the Philippines.
Lest I forget to mention this, it is 4 days and 4 hours until the wedding.
Blessings to everyone.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
T Minus 5 Days, 22 Hours
I have access to the Internet! It seems improbable to be so long without Internet access but the days do turn into a blur and end without the necessary stop to an Internet cafe. Here is a brief rundown of what's happening in the Philippines while we wait for the wedding.
Arriving at midnight on the 13th I proceeded to the US Embassy in Manila at 6 AM on the 14th and thought I would arrive early (like 2 hours before they opened). To my surprise I was probably number 200 in line! But, Praise God, all went well and I got the required "Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage". Then off to Tagbilaran and filed this critical piece of paper completing all the hoops to get our marriage license. The license will be issued on the 23rd (another of God's favor) and the wedding will be on the 24th!
Thursday was a day to get "fitted" for the wedding gowns and my special 'barong'. A 'barong' is a Filipino dress shirt. This way I don't have to wear a tie or tux to the wedding!!!! Friday was setting up banking matters with Christie so we can hopefully make Western Union obsolete. Of course, any official transaction seems to take a minimum of two trips to the office with errands in between getting some obsolete piece of information they require. Saturday was spent visiting pastors and inviting them to the wedding. In our travels on
Christie's motorcycle, we got caught in a downpour so spent 30 minutes under a mango tree trying to stay dry.
Today I preached at Glory Evangelical Holiness Church (where we will be married). I am scheduled to teach at a youth conference on this coming Wednesday night. Next Sunday I will be preaching at 10 AM and probably at 1:30 PM. At this point I am declining all speaking invitations!
The days fly by fast but seem to crawl toward the 24th. There has been so much to do this past week. This coming week will be pretty easy as we have all the details taken care of (as far as can be discerned). I just discovered that McDonald's has free WI-FI so my next post will have some pictures.
I'll close for now. All is well. God is good. He is still on the Throne issuing forth mercy and grace! 5 days, 22 hours till the wedding! (But whose counting anyway).
Blessings
Arriving at midnight on the 13th I proceeded to the US Embassy in Manila at 6 AM on the 14th and thought I would arrive early (like 2 hours before they opened). To my surprise I was probably number 200 in line! But, Praise God, all went well and I got the required "Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage". Then off to Tagbilaran and filed this critical piece of paper completing all the hoops to get our marriage license. The license will be issued on the 23rd (another of God's favor) and the wedding will be on the 24th!
Thursday was a day to get "fitted" for the wedding gowns and my special 'barong'. A 'barong' is a Filipino dress shirt. This way I don't have to wear a tie or tux to the wedding!!!! Friday was setting up banking matters with Christie so we can hopefully make Western Union obsolete. Of course, any official transaction seems to take a minimum of two trips to the office with errands in between getting some obsolete piece of information they require. Saturday was spent visiting pastors and inviting them to the wedding. In our travels on
Christie's motorcycle, we got caught in a downpour so spent 30 minutes under a mango tree trying to stay dry.
Today I preached at Glory Evangelical Holiness Church (where we will be married). I am scheduled to teach at a youth conference on this coming Wednesday night. Next Sunday I will be preaching at 10 AM and probably at 1:30 PM. At this point I am declining all speaking invitations!
The days fly by fast but seem to crawl toward the 24th. There has been so much to do this past week. This coming week will be pretty easy as we have all the details taken care of (as far as can be discerned). I just discovered that McDonald's has free WI-FI so my next post will have some pictures.
I'll close for now. All is well. God is good. He is still on the Throne issuing forth mercy and grace! 5 days, 22 hours till the wedding! (But whose counting anyway).
Blessings
Saturday, April 10, 2010
There and Back Again!
The lovely lady in the picture is Christie! I have spent this past week in the Philippines attending a one-day marriage seminar which was required in order to meet the requirements for a marriage license. (This was one of three things requiring personal appearances in order to get a marriage license.) So I arrived in Tagbilaran on Wednesday morning and we immediately took off to visit Christie's parents. After visiting with her parents and putting my best foot forward (no attempts at humor) they gave what I had hoped to receive - their blessing on our marriage!
Then it was attending the required marriage seminar on Thursday. God must have sense of humor as the seminar was conducted in Cebuano. But I got my piece of paper signed and certified! Hopped on the plane on Friday and zoomed back home. I got to spend time with Christie's children and it was a good two days with them.
The wedding is planned for the 24th. I am heading back to the Philippines on Monday (12th) and stay there until coming home on the 29th. There seems to always be another unseen bump in the road so all I know is that as of this posting all is set. I am out of here for now as I have a few things to do for tomorrow and wash clothes for the next journey. I thought you would enjoy this picture of Christie (I know I do) so I had an excuse to practice further picture posting.
Have a great Sunday tomorrow.
Blessings
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
No, This Is Not a Pre-April Fools Joke
Place: Bohol Tropics restaurant. Tagbilarn, Bohol, Philippines
Time: 6:30 PM. February 3, 2010
Event: Evening Supper. Last night on Bohol before heading home to America.
There she was sitting across the table from me invited to share a meal with us by a mutual friend. It was the first time I recall seeing her. She had been attending the pastor's seminar for three days but, hey, I was not looking for a prospective bride so I never noticed her. Now that the seminar was finished and we were at the table together I did notice her. Though we spoke but 4 or 5 sentences to one another during the meal, still when she left there was a lingering memory. But I didn't even remember her name.
By the time my companions and I arrived home from the Philippines there were the usual five or six emails from various pastors thanking us for coming and giving testimonials of what god had done in their lives as a result of attending the seminar. Her email was one of the six. Who is Christie Oscaris? Which pastora (female pastor) was she at the seminar? She introduced herself as the woman at the supper and hoped I remembered her. How could I not remember her - she was the only woman at the table with four other men.
To hit the 'reply' button and respond or go on to the next email. That was the question. Perhaps it was the lingering memory from the supper, but as most of you know by now, I obviously hit the 'reply' button. And I have kept hitting the 'reply' button until one day it was her turn to reply to me. In response to a proposal of marriage she hit the 'reply' button and said YES!
As I shared the news with family first, the universal response was, "What!?" (shock) and then the congratulations. Perhaps I should have sent out an email announcing I had met a woman. And then followed up this email with weekly status reports. This would have eliminated the shock factor. But I did not want to be answering questions every week on this matter. Besides, shock is good to get the adrenalin flowing! So now that the shock is worn off and people can process some information, here are some details. In other words, answers to questions asked.
Christie is a Christian. Yes, we have both prayed about this. No, Christie is not nuts. (I may be but she is definitely not nuts.) Christie speaks English. Christie is a widow whose husband died 18 months ago from a sudden liver problem. Her husband was a pastor and she has been asking the Lord for another pastor so she could continue to be a pastor's wife. (OK, maybe she is a little nuts.) Christie is 33 years old. She has 3 children. And yes she is beautiful. (Spoken by one who is in love with her.) Her children are Crisielyn (18), John (10), and Shekinah (8).
The wedding is planned for April 24th. After the wedding I will return home and begin the process of getting a "spousal visa" so Christie and the kids can come to the U.S. This process usually takes six months before the visa is issued. So realistically it will be sometime in November when we get to have the house filled with new family members.
Now for a picture of the future bride. There are three women in this picture that are special to me. The lady in pink was healed of breast cancer the previous night during the seminar. The lady on the far right was also healed of a "throat problem" that was painful and made it impossible for her to speak above a whisper. Both women wanted a picture with us and then the other women joined in the picture. Christie is the beautiful woman in the middle! (Of course, I am the tall, handsome one among the men.)
Now that this news is posted I can resume posting of various topics which are of "Not so urgent matters." Also, if this picture is actually posted, it means I have learned to post pictures with my blog and a whole new world is before me. I'll keep you posted.
Blessings
Time: 6:30 PM. February 3, 2010
Event: Evening Supper. Last night on Bohol before heading home to America.
There she was sitting across the table from me invited to share a meal with us by a mutual friend. It was the first time I recall seeing her. She had been attending the pastor's seminar for three days but, hey, I was not looking for a prospective bride so I never noticed her. Now that the seminar was finished and we were at the table together I did notice her. Though we spoke but 4 or 5 sentences to one another during the meal, still when she left there was a lingering memory. But I didn't even remember her name.
By the time my companions and I arrived home from the Philippines there were the usual five or six emails from various pastors thanking us for coming and giving testimonials of what god had done in their lives as a result of attending the seminar. Her email was one of the six. Who is Christie Oscaris? Which pastora (female pastor) was she at the seminar? She introduced herself as the woman at the supper and hoped I remembered her. How could I not remember her - she was the only woman at the table with four other men.
To hit the 'reply' button and respond or go on to the next email. That was the question. Perhaps it was the lingering memory from the supper, but as most of you know by now, I obviously hit the 'reply' button. And I have kept hitting the 'reply' button until one day it was her turn to reply to me. In response to a proposal of marriage she hit the 'reply' button and said YES!
As I shared the news with family first, the universal response was, "What!?" (shock) and then the congratulations. Perhaps I should have sent out an email announcing I had met a woman. And then followed up this email with weekly status reports. This would have eliminated the shock factor. But I did not want to be answering questions every week on this matter. Besides, shock is good to get the adrenalin flowing! So now that the shock is worn off and people can process some information, here are some details. In other words, answers to questions asked.
Christie is a Christian. Yes, we have both prayed about this. No, Christie is not nuts. (I may be but she is definitely not nuts.) Christie speaks English. Christie is a widow whose husband died 18 months ago from a sudden liver problem. Her husband was a pastor and she has been asking the Lord for another pastor so she could continue to be a pastor's wife. (OK, maybe she is a little nuts.) Christie is 33 years old. She has 3 children. And yes she is beautiful. (Spoken by one who is in love with her.) Her children are Crisielyn (18), John (10), and Shekinah (8).
The wedding is planned for April 24th. After the wedding I will return home and begin the process of getting a "spousal visa" so Christie and the kids can come to the U.S. This process usually takes six months before the visa is issued. So realistically it will be sometime in November when we get to have the house filled with new family members.
Now for a picture of the future bride. There are three women in this picture that are special to me. The lady in pink was healed of breast cancer the previous night during the seminar. The lady on the far right was also healed of a "throat problem" that was painful and made it impossible for her to speak above a whisper. Both women wanted a picture with us and then the other women joined in the picture. Christie is the beautiful woman in the middle! (Of course, I am the tall, handsome one among the men.)
Now that this news is posted I can resume posting of various topics which are of "Not so urgent matters." Also, if this picture is actually posted, it means I have learned to post pictures with my blog and a whole new world is before me. I'll keep you posted.
Blessings
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