i just Like GOING

I recently found an idea worth stealing from another blog.
I should be more creative, but we all
have our moments, right?

Someone smarter than me found a site called wordle.net.*
It takes any text and makes it into
a word cloud. The biggest words are the ones used most
frequently. Below is a link to
the Holy Heathens word cloud. I was surprised, but not too
disappointed. Except for "like". Gross.
Enjoy.





*On the bright side, someone smarter than both of us
actually put the site together.
Ha.
No one wins.

All Work and Some Play

Part of my goal to become a better neighbor involves learning Korean. So I dusted off my brain, liguistically speaking, got out my calendar, and decided to take up Korean classes with one of our teachers again. She teaches Korean and calculus at our school. I think she was teaching me Korean, but since they're both foreign to me, I can never be too sure.

After establishing I don't retain past lessons well, we settled on verbs and using them to make sentences. I did okay enough with past and present, but it soon became apparent I hadn't learned the future tense and we decided to work on that.

I hate the future tense. Passionately.

That weekend, a group of teachers and students went to In Su Won Grandma House for more cleaning and singing. We made good time, so we were able to clean and visit without that pesky rushing thing. Students surprised us by explaining the songs we sang in Korean, and helping us communicate what we should do in the future. There's plenty to look forward to.

At some point that week I saw a video online talking about how kids and teens will do kingdom work not now, but someday when they're all grown up. I respectfully disagreed and went back to my online quiz or whatever I was doing. I must be going senile in my old age.

Sunday, twenty adults, children and teens met together in a church parking lot to help with a BBQ at a local orphanage. Our pastor said we expected to visit with between sixty to eighty of the one hundred kids. No one ran away after he said that, so that was a good sign we were somewhat ready.

The number turned out to be twenty, while food was brought to the rest of the kids. We played a variation of Simon Says, and then Hot Potato before we munched burgers and hot dogs. Thanks to all the adults and teens who translated and kept repeating "you're out, please sit down" or"circle" as needed. You helped put the "organized" in "organized chaos."

At the end we broke into small groups, and practiced simple English conversation. I was surpised when we translated "What do you like to do" and didn't hear the usual student answers I get of "play computer games." "Skating" and "playing catch" were two answers we got. Others were no less active. Of course, active was the best word to describe this group.

Again, we relied heavily on translation, so thank you. You know who you are.

In the end, we told the kids why we were there, to share His love. We said goodbye a dozen times, played around some more, and then left.

Before we went I asked several kids if they had fun. They looked puzzled. I asked again in Korean. "Yes", they grinned as they answered in English.

I'm glad the lessons went as well as they did. Thankfully, I kept the conversations in the present tense. I'll save the future for later. Much later.

Word Ban

I talked to a friend the other day who's listening to a book on his ipod. He said the word "excrutiating" was invented to describe the pain Christ felt on the cross.

We have no idea what that means.

I'm officially cutting it from my vocabulary.

Why I Like Elementary

There's something about teaching elementary students that goes to the root of human nature. Greed, selfishness, finger pointing, it's there. Generosity, forgiveness, unique moments of wisdom, also accounted for. It's like a sermon without the pulpit or barrage of singing. Well, in my classroom anyway.

I never realized until I seriously looked at the life of Christ how Biblical "mind your own business" truly is. Don't worry about them. What are you doing?

It's a good thing we outgrow the selfishness and tattletaling and not the generosity or forgiveness. Then we'd be totally lame.

Taking a Break

I'm slamming the brakes again for a couple of weeks or so, giving people a chance to catch up on any posts they might have missed. More is on the way, just not yet. If you missed any of the last few, such as fallen warrior, and have any thoughts please feel free to comment.

Later.

Closing Thoughts on India

I wish I had found out about the trip being cancelled before I sent out our visa applications, but it turns out the timing could have been worse. We were able to cancel our flights and applications with refunds and minimal penalties. Not a big deal in the whole scheme of things, but it's at least a nice little happy thought.

Call me or visit me if you want to know more about what happened there, but I don't have a lot more to share. The VBS we were going to help with kept expanding every year, and locals in the area didn't like that. As it was explained to me, "The situation is not good."

I'm dissappointed we can't go, but I feel worse for the people there. I have never felt close to actual opposition before, not "you're stupid", but "I don't like what you're doing and I'm going to stop you." It was a sobering phone conversation.

I was impressed by the maturity of our team. Teachers and students took the news well.

Our school's missions trips to the Philippines in the spring and summer are still going strong, and may even expand if members of our team decide to join.

I can look for reasons in all this, but that will only make my head hurt. I'll end up with more questions than answers.

I want to thank my wife for encouraging me as I saw this trip through from beginning to end. She helped me feel like a leader even when I felt like there was nothing left to lead. Thanks, honey.

I don't want to end with my feelings, however. I'm just a tourist. Please pray for India, Burma, China...

...the list goes on.

About India...

I'll have more to say on the subject, but for now I should just cut to the chase. Our school's Spring Break Trip to India is a no go. The ministry where we'd be going is facing opposition, specifically the VBS we planned to help teach. Mix that with an election going on in April, and you have less than desirable conditions for bringing a group of foreigners. The man in charge of the ministry and I grieved, and agreed:

1. God has a plan, even in this.
2. We should cancel the trip.

I don't know how much information I should share at this time. Please pray for them.

You're Pretty Dumb

Sometimes we just need a good laugh.

There are these Christians in Hollywood (see,you're laughing already) who made a movie called Jesus People. It's a Christopher Guest style mocumentary about a fictional Christian dance group. I looked up the show it's based on, and I laughed a lot. A standout character is Zack, the judgmental one. Here's a "reply" he did to the first episode.

The Whole Truth

A couple of Sundays ago our pastor was preaching on Galatians 2. His main point was about legalism and adding to the Gospel. So far, so good. But while he read verses touching on different topics, he didn't mention them. I'm not saying you should dwell on every single topic every time you read, but these two topics seemed worth an aside or two.

In one verse Paul basically said "I don't care who said that, because titles don't mean much." In this American Idol generation, being a respecter of persons is kind of relevant. Even in Christian circles, we seek the spotlight and have our favorite preachers. God in His Scripture kind of frowns on that.

The comment in church? Crickets.

In another verse Paul mentions taking care of the poor as something he was already eager to do. It's worth mentioning that Nebuchadnezzar was advised through Daniel's counsel to show mercy to the poor before the former was humbled by eating grass. God sees this taking care of the poor thing as pretty important.

Again, crickets.

If you think I'm criticizing the pastor, you're wrong. I know him well, and have no doubt these issues are close to his heart as well. There's nothing unique about the omission of these topics from preaching, however. I've never heard it addressed, even when it's there in black and white print.

I blame myself, and all of the other "selves" who only support moral issues if they require no effort on our part. I'll pray sing and speak, but God forbid there's a command to obey. That's legalism, anyway.

If a decision or prayer produces no change in me, if I'll love the Lord but not my neighbor, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, I might as well die on the spot.

The following week the pastor mentioned reaching out to people we wouldn't normally, and keeping each other accountable for our actions in love. I hope we do exactly that.