A Twelve-Year-Old Girl

There is a twelve-year-old girl in a desert country who is helping her family reach families with The Best Story. You know what it is that makes her brave enough to do this?

It's not that she's fluent in the local language.

It's not that she's got lots of experience sharing the Good News.

It's not that she's the super poster child for TCKs*.

What makes her brave is that she has a nativity set. A nativity set and willingness.

Willingness to sit in the heat.

Willingness to sit through a long visit (and a lot of coffee drinking by the adults).

Willingness to let her dad translate for her (have you ever tried to speak with a translator? It's tricky and requires patience).

Willingness to say yes.

So a twelve-year-old girl in a desert country takes out her nativity set and arranges it on a flat space. She tells the story: The Best Story. And families in a desert country hear the story. Maybe for the first time ever.

*TCK: Third Culture Kid

The Good News and The Bad News

Enjoying a beach on the island.

The good news is: I get to live on this beautiful island.
The bad news is: I have to get a visa to do it. Not the plastic card to go shopping with. The boring paperwork kind.

The good news is: I can get one that lasts one year!
The bad news is: my year is up...time to apply again.

The good news is: I know how to do it since I did it last year.
The bad news is: some of the rules have changed.

The good news is: I get all the passports and forms and documents together and I'm ready to go to immigration.
The bad news is: It takes all morning to drive to the mainland, sit at immigration, and wait for my turn to turn in my paperwork.

The good news is: I get to see/meet all sorts of interesting people in the waiting room. Saudis, Sikhs, monks, Indian, Asian, European, children, couples, families.
The bad news is: I have to wait for an hour for my turn and the whole time I have to go to the bathroom.

The good news is: once I turn in my paperwork, I'm done until next week when I come pick up the passports, AND, I know there's a bathroom downstairs.
The bad news is: The one western style toilet has a hose in it. I'm not going to pee on the hose and I'm not about to touch it to take it out just in case someone else DID.

The good news is: There are two Turkish toilets (otherwise known as squatty potties) so I can use one of them.
The bad news is: There is water all over the floor and I have long pants on and am carrying a purse and a large plastic expandable file.

The good news is: I can somehow manage to do my business in a wet bathroom with no shelves and when I slip I don't fall or do the splits...not entirely anyways.
The bad news is: I almost did and I pulled muscles in my leg while trying to save myself.

But the GOOD news is: my kids should get their visas in a week.
The bad news is: my visa will expire in the meantime.

The good news is: They will let me apply for an extension when I go next time.
The bad news is: there are three more next times because I'll have to do this all over again three more times before the process is complete.

The good news is: when it IS complete, I'll get to live on this beautiful island!

Soccer and the Good News

Almost every week I visit a temporary housing neighborhood with a partner. We pray for the people there and often get to share stories, including The Best Story. Last week I met a young boy. He enjoyed practicing some English and was also surprised that I could speak his language.

"Where do your children go to school?"

I told him.

"Yes, I know. They come to my school sometimes."

"Oh really?" My oldest son volunteers at a local school. He has helped play games, teach songs, and practice English with the students. They are all of the majority religion here. "My son's name is A."

"Yes, I know him."

"Really?" I was doubtful.

"Yes, does he speak our language?"

"Well, yes he does speak a little."

"Yes," said the boy. "I know him."

Wow, there I was in a poor neighborhood with people I was only meeting for the first time. Actually my son has met their children. Little did I know that my own child was touching this neighborhood long before I arrived.

God is good! I went home excited to tell my son that he had a part in the spreading of the Good News to this neighborhood. Sure, he was teaching English and kicking the soccer ball. But his presence made an impact on this boy. And the people in this boy's neighborhood are getting exposed to The Best Story. Maybe they will be more receptive now that they know we care about their kids too.

There are a lot of ways kids can help spread Good News. What are your ideas?

When Horizontal is Vertical

You know the story. There are two brothers.

The older one works hard. He's strong, he's tan, he probably wore the world's first overalls. Cain, the successful farmer. He's a man's man y'all.

The younger son sits around a lot. Sure he walks a bit, and flicks a stick around. He sits in the shade. He plays the world's first harp because it's boring to sit in the shade all day. He's Abel the able shepherd.

One day Cain decides to give God an offering. I mean, since God created all of his harvest anyway, why not give Him some of it. Abel decides to do the same thing.

Both of these guys give God an offering but only one of them is accepted. Do you remember who?

Abel's offering is accepted and Big Brother Cain's is not. That really chaps Cain's hide. This is not ok with Cain.

God speaks to Cain. God warns Cain that his heart is not right. God even gives Cain a pep talk. Cain does not listen.

Cain let's his own personal problem with God rupture his relationship with Abel. He must have become obsessed by his anger toward Abel. Finally, Cain actually kills Abel, his only brother.

God punished Cain for the murder of his brother. The story in Genesis 4 documents Cain's response, which borders on the absurd. He says that his punishment (for MURDER mind you) is too much for him to bear. I am amazed at God's patience with Cain.

When I read the story of Cain and Abel, this is what strikes me: our broken relationships with others often are the result of our strained relationship with God.

When we hit a rough spot in a friendship, are we quick to inspect our own hearts and our own relationship with God? Or are we quick to blame or compare or get angry?

This week I am thinking a lot about this. When my horizontal relationships (with friends and family) are suffering, it is mostly likely because my vertical relationship (with God) needs some attention.

What do you think?

Are You Special or Not?

I drank a cup of coffee too late in the evening and now here I am, thirty minutes past my usual "bedtime" and I'm deciding to blog.

The neighbor (who shares a wall with our house) has a dog who recently gave birth to eight babies. Eight. Babies. Eight baby mutts. Eight squawky baby mutts.

I don't know if it's the caffeine or the squawky baby mutts that are giving me a headache...

This morning I went to the market and bought fresh veggies. A lot of them. So I spent a lot of time in the kitchen washing and cutting veggies. I listened to NPR on my ipad while doing so. It's nice to hear something that sounds like American news...well, I mean it is American news...so that explains that.

The program was some man talking about his job exploring the universe and how he was looking for life in outer space that must surely be trying to contact us. For real, this was a serious program.

He said something that stuck with me all day. When asked if he thought there was life in outer space, he said something like this:

If earth is the only planet with life on it, then that would have to mean it was a miracle. We would have to assume that we are special. But it's easier to believe that we are not special.

Wow. Well, I agree that it would have to be a miracle. Because in fact, it IS a miracle! God creating something out of nothing is a miracle. We are a miracle! And even if that man thinks it's easier to believe he is not special, that fact remains that he IS special.

I don't know if there are life forms in outer space. Honestly, I don't care. It doesn't negate the fact that God created the world, that He breathed life into our bodies and planted souls in our being. God wants a relationship with us...so much so that He made a plan to redeem us: to buy us back when we fell away.

We are special because we are God's.

And yes, it is a miracle.