"Humanly speaking it is impossible, but not with God. Everything is possible with God." Mk 10:29
"For the man who wants to save his life will lose it, but the man who loses his life for my sake will find it." Mt 16:25
"Some want to keep the gospel so disembodied that it doesn't get involved at all in the world to save it. Christ is now in history." Oscar Romero


Jan 20, 2008

rice, beans and not so simple things...

Never in my life have I been so keenly aware of the old adage, “the more you know, the more aware you become of how little you know”. Honestly, I often feel like my life is one large demonstration of paradoxes. This of course, can be tremendously frustrating as we have an incredibly hard time not feeling completely useless living within this state of constant blurred lines and tension. In so many ways we realize that our world and the world of our children has been widened and expanded beyond belief (even just in these short 4 months) and yet we often feel so acutely aware of the fact that also our world has been shrunk as we are living separate from our large, familiar and vibrant community. My hope, though I must admit I have not felt a huge realization of this yet, is that living in this state will season and mature each of us to become more accurate representations of Jesus. And that ultimately we will begin to know in some of our deepest places the truths of Jesus, “the first shall be last, and the last first; small is the gate and narrow is the path that leads to life; you must lose your life in order to gain it…”

Living as an alien in a foreign land requires loads of flexibility, not just in lifestyle but in thought, and paradigm. I have found this to be particularly true when you are hoping to honor, serve and achieve some semblance of assimilation. We often find ourselves laying in bed at the end of the day or sitting with our comrade Grace in a muggy, candlelit room (our water and electricity have been spotty at best the past couple of weeks) scratching our heads, completely baffled by any number of interactions throughout the day. This would of course be a source of frustration if we were comfortable living a carved out life separate from the majority of people here, but as individuals that care deeply about being servants to those around us, it can also lead to discouragement, because of our lame state of being unilingual Americans, or complete wonderment at the greatness of a God who created and loves such an incredibly diverse human race. We land on both sides of the fence, often finding ourselves in the position of reminding each other that Jesus’ power is perfected in our weakness…

We have been tremendously thankful for our relationship with our language instructor. She is an incredible bridge for us, and acts as a cultural compass on so many levels. Additionally, she is a practicing Muslim and has been very open and eager to exchange experiences and beliefs together. This has been a fruitful relationship and a source of encouragement to us.