I helped my friend Gwen move during the past two days. Some might call this "benevolence," but I prefer to call it "insanity."
While Gwen is a kind and very helpful woman, she is also very particular. I began to discover this fact as I rearranged her lounge furniture for the 14th time yesterday. No matter how we placed it, the lounge did not suit her. Finally, after shifting every single piece of furniture in her lounge and breakfast area, her distaste was satiated.
We loaded up a truck today with large items like mattresses and plants, and drove them over to the new house. Gwen drove the truck, Jason and Amanda followed in their car, and I took a load of stuff in the Laser. As we made the 10 minute drive to the new house, I noticed that Gwen was taking the roundabouts (still one of my favorite things in Australia) rather speedily. And then a competitive mood apparently hit her, and she took a different route so that she could beat me to the house.
As I drew closer to the house, I noticed a couple of people on the side of the road holding a mattress. I thought, "That's interesting--someone else is moving today!" And then I thought, "That looks like Jason and Amanda's car." And then I thought, "Those people look like Jason and Amanda." And so they somehow strapped the mattress to their roof with a piece of rope that was randomly located in their trunk. And we somehow had a safe rest of the trip over to the house.
Although I often make fun of Gwen for these kinds of things, I really enjoyed the speed bumps that we hit while I helped her move. It's these kinds of things that make funny stories. And that make friendships all the more valuable.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Wrinkles
During my stay here in Brisbane, I have been able to spend some time with a few elderly people. I don't want to define "elderly," because I have found that I lose friends that way.
Something that my friend Wilson McCoy shared with me while he was here stuck with me and has not gone away. Wilson said, "A lack of respect for age is unique to the West." Every other culture honors age as something to be gained. But where I come from, we run from age. We cut, pull, stitch, deprave, and torture our bodies simply so that we may look young. Because wrinkles are bad.
But we don't just run away from looking old, do we? We don't want to have anything to do with old. I feel a punch in my stomach every time I mention Ninja Turtles to a child and that child has no idea what I'm talking about. I feel out of the loop. I feel irrelevant. I feel--old.
And so when it comes to hanging out with old people, many of us cringe. We fear that we won't know what to say, or that we will have to repeat everything louder so that they will understand, or that they will try to show us their wounds from the war. But we mostly fear that we won't get anything from the experience. That we will be bored.
One theme that is found throughout the biblical texts is "taking care of the widow and the orphan"--two symbols of those who cannot care for themselves. Or, maybe better phrased, those who are normally forgotten by the masses. So, friends, I exhort each of us to not only talk to old people, love old people, and visit old people. I exhort each of us to respect old people, because they made mistakes that we, now, don't have to. Because they took care of us when we were not able to take care of ourselves. Because there are a lot of great things that come with wrinkles.
Something that my friend Wilson McCoy shared with me while he was here stuck with me and has not gone away. Wilson said, "A lack of respect for age is unique to the West." Every other culture honors age as something to be gained. But where I come from, we run from age. We cut, pull, stitch, deprave, and torture our bodies simply so that we may look young. Because wrinkles are bad.
But we don't just run away from looking old, do we? We don't want to have anything to do with old. I feel a punch in my stomach every time I mention Ninja Turtles to a child and that child has no idea what I'm talking about. I feel out of the loop. I feel irrelevant. I feel--old.
And so when it comes to hanging out with old people, many of us cringe. We fear that we won't know what to say, or that we will have to repeat everything louder so that they will understand, or that they will try to show us their wounds from the war. But we mostly fear that we won't get anything from the experience. That we will be bored.
One theme that is found throughout the biblical texts is "taking care of the widow and the orphan"--two symbols of those who cannot care for themselves. Or, maybe better phrased, those who are normally forgotten by the masses. So, friends, I exhort each of us to not only talk to old people, love old people, and visit old people. I exhort each of us to respect old people, because they made mistakes that we, now, don't have to. Because they took care of us when we were not able to take care of ourselves. Because there are a lot of great things that come with wrinkles.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Parousia
The term "Parousia" refers to the Second Coming of Christ. We, as Christians, anxiously await his return. I have labeled this post "Parousia" not because I equate my return to blogging with the return of the Christ to the world, but rather because I thought it would be somewhat humorous to think about people anxiously awaiting my return to blogging as much as they anxiously await the return of Christ to earth. If I have offended you, I apologize. If I haven't offended you and you still don't think it's funny, you can leave my blog now.
"So why the haitus?" you might be wondering. Trust me, it's not from lethargy or lack of desire. A group of Lipscomb students just spent a month in Brisbane, and we helped out at two camps, we orchestrated a Vacation Bible School, and we spent a lot of time ministering to people in the Brisbane area. I'm sorry about not updating my blog.
I can't fit all of our experiences into one post, and so I want to show you snippets of the past month. I find that I enjoy reading books with pictures more, and so why not read a blog with pictures?
This is a picture of my roommate, Jonathan, throwing a frisbee beneath a tree. This picture represents the time that we spent at the team retreat. It rained the first day that we we there, but the next morning was beautiful and we were able to spend some time outside. The team retreat is useful, as it is a good time for all of us to get to know one another a little better before our time of ministry here.
This picture is of Andy, Katie, and me at Camp Orion. Camp Orion is an outdoor camp that encourages kids to stretch their comfort zones--physically and socially. The people who run the camp are Christians, and we invite people from all different walks of life to this camp. It's a good way to teach the ways of Jesus to kids through relationship. Katie and I were two "counselors" at the camp, and Andy was our assigned "buddy." Our role was to invest time and energy into making sure Andy was having a good camp experience. But I'm not sure he needed our help with that--he seemed to do just fine on his own!
We hold a Holiday Bible School (HBS) for three mornings during the trip, while the children are on their Winter Break. I helped out with the wee ones this year, and we talked about Jesus' twelve friends, the disciples. Heidi and I were in charge of story time, so we read the story of the day to the kids and asked them questions about the story. As you can see, we had our hands full.
This picture doesn't really represent anything. We took a trip to the zoo one day, and my host brother, Chris, and I enjoyed hanging out with the kangaroos. I thought that it would be funny to get out my map of the zoo and act like I was getting directions from the kangaroo. It's funny, because while the kangaroo would probably know it's way around the zoo, it can't communicate with me, a human.
I hope that you have enjoyed this small photographic look back upon my last few weeks. I hope to blog more in the next three weeks of ministry here. Until then, may the peace of Christ be with you all.
"So why the haitus?" you might be wondering. Trust me, it's not from lethargy or lack of desire. A group of Lipscomb students just spent a month in Brisbane, and we helped out at two camps, we orchestrated a Vacation Bible School, and we spent a lot of time ministering to people in the Brisbane area. I'm sorry about not updating my blog.
I can't fit all of our experiences into one post, and so I want to show you snippets of the past month. I find that I enjoy reading books with pictures more, and so why not read a blog with pictures?
This is a picture of my roommate, Jonathan, throwing a frisbee beneath a tree. This picture represents the time that we spent at the team retreat. It rained the first day that we we there, but the next morning was beautiful and we were able to spend some time outside. The team retreat is useful, as it is a good time for all of us to get to know one another a little better before our time of ministry here.
This picture is of Andy, Katie, and me at Camp Orion. Camp Orion is an outdoor camp that encourages kids to stretch their comfort zones--physically and socially. The people who run the camp are Christians, and we invite people from all different walks of life to this camp. It's a good way to teach the ways of Jesus to kids through relationship. Katie and I were two "counselors" at the camp, and Andy was our assigned "buddy." Our role was to invest time and energy into making sure Andy was having a good camp experience. But I'm not sure he needed our help with that--he seemed to do just fine on his own!
We hold a Holiday Bible School (HBS) for three mornings during the trip, while the children are on their Winter Break. I helped out with the wee ones this year, and we talked about Jesus' twelve friends, the disciples. Heidi and I were in charge of story time, so we read the story of the day to the kids and asked them questions about the story. As you can see, we had our hands full.
This picture doesn't really represent anything. We took a trip to the zoo one day, and my host brother, Chris, and I enjoyed hanging out with the kangaroos. I thought that it would be funny to get out my map of the zoo and act like I was getting directions from the kangaroo. It's funny, because while the kangaroo would probably know it's way around the zoo, it can't communicate with me, a human.
I hope that you have enjoyed this small photographic look back upon my last few weeks. I hope to blog more in the next three weeks of ministry here. Until then, may the peace of Christ be with you all.
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