Driving home yesterday from the funeral of my sister-in-law who died four months after discovering she had inoperable cancer gave me a chance to reflect on a life well lived. Listening to those who shared about Colleen's impact on their lives I found myself in agreement with what a great gal she was. And yet a part of the story was left out in the narrative of her life. Yes, Colleen was a believer in Christ (and a very effective and mature one), but the story behind the story is the transforming work of grace in Colleen's life. The power of the Holy Spirit is so real and is able to renew a life and make the heart and soul on an individual so in sync with the Heavenly Father that what naturally flows out is the image of the Father. Colleen excelled at this. Life - the life of God came forth from her so naturally. This is as it should come forth - naturally. As Paul states in Philippians 1:6, God is at work in us throughout our lives. Colleen worked to remain open and pliable to the things God was depositing into her life. As a result of her open heart to the things of God in combination with the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, throughout the years Colleen consistently brought God's life to many others. Well done, Colleen. Well done, Holy Spirit!
My countdown clock shows 30 days, 2 hours until I return to the Philippines to spend time with Christie and the kids. Four days ago we officially filed papers to start the process of getting Christie and kids visas to come to the U.S. Time wise we are hoping sometime in December there will be cause to celebrate the family uniting in the U.S.
Life is certainly good. Family and friends in abundance. A great country in which to live. A future brighter than the past. A new golfing buddy coming back to Valley View. And a God who loves so extravagantly. Life is good.
Blessings
Friday, June 25, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
107 - Pancakes - Electricity
I am writing this blog from Arizona while attending a conference. Landing at 4:00 in the afternoon to be greeted with 107 degree temperature did feel rather excessive. However, the conference site keeps the meeting room so cool that I get "goose bumps" before each session ends. So the solution (since I did not bring a jacket) is to run outdoors at every possible break to get warmed up! The conference has been great. I head home tomorrow to more normal temperatures.
At lunchtime on Monday I found myself staring at the Denny's menu offering "all-you-can-eat-pancakes" for $4.00. When I asked the waitress what the record was she said 9 pancakes (by a 12 year-old boy) was the most any of her customers had eaten. Ah, the challenge. I can do more than that. So here you have me vainly trying to revert back to my gluttonous childhood and consume 10 pancakes - just for the record. All was going well on the road to the record even as each bite of the 7th pancake told me a wiser person would quit while still able to crawl back to the car. But just 3 more pancakes and the record is mine! As I was finishing off pancake number 8, the waitress brought pancakes 9 and 10 along with horrifying news. The waitress on the other side of the room said she had served an eight year old girl 11 pancakes. This is like moving the goal line whenever you get close to it. I've played games with people like this. They keep informing you of another rule to the game as you go along. Of course, the new rules never seem to be an advantage to you. 10 pancakes were within distance but 12? How stupid was I going to be on this afternoon?
On the home front. This morning I heard the statistic that there are 1 billion persons on the earth living without electricity or running water in their home. (U.N. statistics) As of today we can remove 4 of those statistics. Christie and children have now gotten electricity to their home! The first electric appliance Christie was going out to buy was . . . an electric rice cooker! I will get to see how well Christie cooks rice in 46 days, 5 hours, 12 minutes. That is when, according to the countdown clock on my computer, I will land in Tagbilaran to see Christie and the kids again!
Well God is certainly good. It is fun being His child. And, by the way, I did quit at 10 pancakes. I decided to let the eight year old girl keep her record. And yes, I felt stuffed for at least 24 hours.
Blessings.
At lunchtime on Monday I found myself staring at the Denny's menu offering "all-you-can-eat-pancakes" for $4.00. When I asked the waitress what the record was she said 9 pancakes (by a 12 year-old boy) was the most any of her customers had eaten. Ah, the challenge. I can do more than that. So here you have me vainly trying to revert back to my gluttonous childhood and consume 10 pancakes - just for the record. All was going well on the road to the record even as each bite of the 7th pancake told me a wiser person would quit while still able to crawl back to the car. But just 3 more pancakes and the record is mine! As I was finishing off pancake number 8, the waitress brought pancakes 9 and 10 along with horrifying news. The waitress on the other side of the room said she had served an eight year old girl 11 pancakes. This is like moving the goal line whenever you get close to it. I've played games with people like this. They keep informing you of another rule to the game as you go along. Of course, the new rules never seem to be an advantage to you. 10 pancakes were within distance but 12? How stupid was I going to be on this afternoon?
On the home front. This morning I heard the statistic that there are 1 billion persons on the earth living without electricity or running water in their home. (U.N. statistics) As of today we can remove 4 of those statistics. Christie and children have now gotten electricity to their home! The first electric appliance Christie was going out to buy was . . . an electric rice cooker! I will get to see how well Christie cooks rice in 46 days, 5 hours, 12 minutes. That is when, according to the countdown clock on my computer, I will land in Tagbilaran to see Christie and the kids again!
Well God is certainly good. It is fun being His child. And, by the way, I did quit at 10 pancakes. I decided to let the eight year old girl keep her record. And yes, I felt stuffed for at least 24 hours.
Blessings.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Wild Thoughts on a Summer Afternoon
Here are some thoughts floating through my mind while waiting for the last graduation service of the year.
Someday I may "get it". I just received a text from my sister coming back out of the Rocky Mountains. How could someone want to spend a week in the mountains when they could enjoy the wide open spaces of the prairie? Someday I may understand this phenomena. But for the time being I will enjoy watching the masses cross the prairie to the mountains totally oblivious to the beauty surrounding them. When I watch this migration I am reminded of the lemmings running blindly over the cliff to their deaths.
The oil spill in the gulf is a great boon to the evolutionary scientists. With so much oil spewing forth in the gulf it must surely be creating such hostile environments that today's species will have to evolve into something different to survive. The fittest of these survivalists will one day get their pictures in "Nature" and "Science" magazines. So the evolutionists are gleeful in their anticipation of these future new species. The only problem is, they won't be around in 50 million years to know if this ever occurred! Oh, the poor evolutionist. He will have to live by "faith" since he will never be around to observe what he believes.
An idea worth pondering. With the gulf oil crisis having no end in sight this is another opportunity to explore additional alternative energy sources. How about inventing cars that run on hot air. Then President "O" can nationalize all the BP gas stations in the U.S. as a punitive measure for their mistake. Government owned and operated service stations will then be available for all freedom challenged individuals. Now this is just the first step in getting America back to work. Next will be the construction of a pipeline network connecting the government owned and run BP stations to a source of hot air to run the newly invented "hot air automobile". Millions of Obamajobs will be created. Endless Obamajobs - just building another BP service station will require another pipeline to the source of hot air. Where, you ask, will all these pipelines run to the source of such massive quantities of hot air. Follow the pipelines east, young man, east across the Potomac to a big white house and an outhouse with 535 stalls.
Blessings (and enjoy the day)
Someday I may "get it". I just received a text from my sister coming back out of the Rocky Mountains. How could someone want to spend a week in the mountains when they could enjoy the wide open spaces of the prairie? Someday I may understand this phenomena. But for the time being I will enjoy watching the masses cross the prairie to the mountains totally oblivious to the beauty surrounding them. When I watch this migration I am reminded of the lemmings running blindly over the cliff to their deaths.
The oil spill in the gulf is a great boon to the evolutionary scientists. With so much oil spewing forth in the gulf it must surely be creating such hostile environments that today's species will have to evolve into something different to survive. The fittest of these survivalists will one day get their pictures in "Nature" and "Science" magazines. So the evolutionists are gleeful in their anticipation of these future new species. The only problem is, they won't be around in 50 million years to know if this ever occurred! Oh, the poor evolutionist. He will have to live by "faith" since he will never be around to observe what he believes.
An idea worth pondering. With the gulf oil crisis having no end in sight this is another opportunity to explore additional alternative energy sources. How about inventing cars that run on hot air. Then President "O" can nationalize all the BP gas stations in the U.S. as a punitive measure for their mistake. Government owned and operated service stations will then be available for all freedom challenged individuals. Now this is just the first step in getting America back to work. Next will be the construction of a pipeline network connecting the government owned and run BP stations to a source of hot air to run the newly invented "hot air automobile". Millions of Obamajobs will be created. Endless Obamajobs - just building another BP service station will require another pipeline to the source of hot air. Where, you ask, will all these pipelines run to the source of such massive quantities of hot air. Follow the pipelines east, young man, east across the Potomac to a big white house and an outhouse with 535 stalls.
Blessings (and enjoy the day)
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Oh Those Golden Fields
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.
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.
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.
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