Did You Know?

Picture: Praying for the world, in Orlando over New Year's.

I love to learn new stuff. Reading, editing, augmenting, and checking info the others pull together for our ezine each week often introduces me to things I'd like to pass on. Things like this --

1. An interesting fact from a news source in the Netherlands:

The big Christian revival that really kicked things off in Korea, about 100 years ago? It happened in what is now =North Korea=! Who would have thought? So now, Korean Christians around the world are calling for people so stay up all night on the anniversary of the revival (Next Wednesday, January 14) to pray for North Korea. It has become a pretty scary place in the intervening years. More info here.

2. What's happening this week in Iran:

It's Ashura! That's the 10th day of the month of Muharram, when Shi'a Muslims mourn their slaughtered leaders from a few centuries back by parading through the streets beating themselves with chains and sticks, and wailing loudly. Over in Iraq many will be making the pilgrimage to Karbala, where one of those martyrs has his tomb. By the time you read this they will be home nursing their wounds. One thing about those Shi'i (redemptive analogy?): They are acquainted with sorrow.

3. A good joke from Burkina Faso:

A Fulani man gets into a bush taxi. Being a devout and respectable man, he took his shoes off before getting into the vehicle.

When the bush taxi arrived at its destination, he opened the door to get out, and exclaimed:

"Hey! Where are my shoes? I left them just outside the door!"

Got this from Keith Smith (no relation) here. I think I may have heard it attributed to a different culture, before... but you know, there are only so many good jokes to go around!

My Niftiest Christmas Gift

My mom is a weaver, and last year she made me a beautiful warm, wool afghan as a Christmas present. This year I asked for place mats. Here's a closeup of the result. Lovely, no?

The pattern has a story - it's one of the first Mom attempted, years ago. She chose it because of its name, "Sylvia," which is also my grandmother's name. The wall hanging she made has hung in our house ever since I was small - well, in the seven or eight houses where mom has lived over the course of those years.

Currently it hangs in the guest bedroom. So I get to enjoy it whenever I come through town. And now I can have the same thing, on my table! (That is, after we put away the Christmas stuff.)

So this is something that is simultaneously traditional and new, sentimental and practical. Nice!

Conference Report

Hey, that big conference to which I alluded, a few posts ago? I may have been remiss to focus on one, kind-of-negative thing one part of it stirred in me.

It was a great conference! See some of the pictures and reports here.

Am realizing how prone I am toward whinging (that's British English for whining - rhymes with binging - and doesn't the word sound like it is?). One big trigger, and that so often of my own making, is overwork. When I fill my life too full and then someone comes in and puts something else on top, I get frustrated.

I got almost no break over the holidays and I feel irritable about that. So I'm staying home today, both to get some rest and to get a bit better organized for 2009. If there's additional whinging needed, perhaps I should do more of it in my journal and not here!

Living on Giving, an Insider's Perspective

I may have to swallow my words about not suffering with the economic downturn. Looks like my support may have taken a hit, after all. The regular monthly donors are all still with me. But it's those December 31 checks that make up the difference. Last year's December giving made up more than a third of my income for that year. Unless there are more checks in the mail or waiting at HQ for processing, December 2008's meager donations will total 6% of what came in for 2008 - less, even, than my budget for the month of December.

That would put me a few thou "low" for the year, and my cushion completely depleted. In January I'll likely start going into the red, costing the organization money. I won't know for sure for another week. Maybe someone sent a $5000 check. Maybe I'll start the year ahead, as usual. I wait somewhat anxiously to see.

"Annual income, twenty pounds, annual expenditure, nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the God of day goes down upon the dreary scene, and - in short, you are forever floored. As I am!" (Mr. Micawber, in Charles Dickens' David Copperfield)

Well, I'm hardly headed to the poor house, like Mr. Micawber, and even if I were it would not necessarily mean "result: misery"!

And there's more than a thin silver lining in my case. I haven't been "able" to raise support for years, simply because my income has been equal to or higher than my (pretty modest) approved budget. Monthly pledges hover between 80 and 90%, but income has been greater. So when folks ask me how they can help, in good conscious I have felt I had to send them away. It would have been smart to make a list of those who asked, now that I may need them!

Maybe now I can diversify my support base, not keep leaning on the 2 churches and 20 or so families who have done so much for me these last 14 years (yes, October 2009 is my 15-year-anniversary of taking this job!) Many of them are retiring now and may not be able to keep giving at their current levels, much less increase.

I've been thinking about this recently, as I've become aware of how many people in our church in Colorado give personally to support those who are on the list of "ministry partners." All of them (us) get something from the church's budget but many of them are also well-supported by individuals and families in the church. Not me. Not a one.

So, I'm feeling a bit overlooked. Which is silly, of course, because as I mentioned before when people ask me about my needs I tell 'em to put their checkbooks away! So, I need to get my heart right about this. Make sure I don't walk around with some air of entitlement or self-pity, not compare myself to others who are paid much more for doing their jobs.

There are other benefits that are far greater than my salary - like the opportunity to do what I love, to serve so many people, and yes, to change the world because of how I spend my time. Not to mention the chance to travel the the world, influence thousands, and experience wonderful relationships with people all over the globe because of what I do. Surely I am well compensated. And honestly, the opportunity to live "on support" is one of the things I would count as compensation - the partnership of sharing in the gospel, you know? I love that.

If I do start looking for financial partners among the people I worship with every week - with little clue what their finances, attitudes toward giving, or current commitments may be - I will need to spend a lot of time in prayer. Must make sure my attitude is pure and sincere, since my speech will reflect it, and that I am diligent to see the relationships don't suffer under any strain the "ask" may make on them.

December 2008 Reading: Part 2 - Three Biographies about Crossing Cultures

See previous reading lists and commentaries here. Three more books for 2008 bring our total to 100. This last bunch are all biographies, all dealing one way or the other with cross-cultural ministry.

Same Kind of Different As Me, by Ron Hall and Denver Moore, with Lynn Vincent (Thomas Nelson: 2006).

Picked this one up for our book club; we meet to discuss it next Saturday. The first hundred pages or so tell the story of two men growing up in the 50s and 60s, intersecting some years later at the Fort Worth Rescue Mission where Ron starts volunteering and Denver lives. By that time Denver is very "street" while Ron is slowly overcoming his prejudice to become Jesus-y. Denver is poor and homeless while Ron is a millionaire.

The chapters are written in first person, alternating between Ron's point of view and Denver's ("as told to" others, I assume: he's illiterate, though quite wise). It was actually Ron's wife Deborah who got him involved at the Mission, and pushed the two of them together (she had a dream about a poor man who would change the city, and when she saw Denver, knew it was him).

The second half of the book revolves around Deborah's slow, painful death from cancer and the (not terribly convincing) takeaway from the book, the reason the two men apparently decided to write it, was to persuade people to be more like Miss Debbie. This is their tribute. I'm not so sure I buy it. In their grief they turn her into a saint, the heart and soul of work among Fort Worth's homeless. If this were a novel I'd fault its characterization and plotting on those grounds; it feels like two separate books melded somewhat sloppily. But this is a true story, and if it isn't as graceful as a novel, why should I be surprised?

The book does a pretty good job dealing with race and economic prejudice and illustrating how people fall through the cracks and what it takes to pull them out. Oh, and the colorful writing makes for a fun read; this is definitely a book written by Southerners. (I wouldn't say, as the cover copy advertises, that this is "a story so incredible no novelist would dare to dream it.")

Denver's closing words:

"I used to spend a lotta time worrying that I was different from other people... but I found out everybody's different - the same kind of different as me. We're all just regular folks walkin down the road God done set in front of us. The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or somethin in between, this earth ain't no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless. Just working our way toward home."

Mary Slessor - Everybody's Mother: The Era and Impact of a Victorian Missionary, by Jeanette Hardage (WIPF and Stock Publishers, 2008).

This is probably, as an Edinburgh professor quoted on the back cover says, "The best biography of Slessor so far produced" at least in terms of its thoroughness. I love that Hardage was so careful, and that she footnoted everything! So, if I were teaching formally this is the one I'd turn to. It is the best reference. But it seems a bit lacking in readability and the ability to inspire, and it also sells for $40, which is steep for a paperback. (I preordered it at half price).

The previous one I read (Mary Slessor: The Barefoot Missionary) was much easier to digest, but not so academically solid perhaps. And it's still not up to popular American standards, not likely to be a "hit," like, say, Bruchko, or Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret.

There are at least two or three biographies of this famous Scot which =are= written for a popular audience, none of which I've read. I recently downloaded the very first biography written about her, published back in 1916 or so and now (conveniently) in the public domain. But it may not be an easy read either, and may feel quite dated, lacking the benefit of being able to reflect on her legacy over time.

I may do a blog series of the M. women of Africa, like the series I've done on China. We'll see.

Here's a fun tidbit: Mary was quite the rough-and-tumble sort, and much more comfortable with African tribesmen than the refined Presbyterians who supported her back home. She was ashamed of her broad accent, and didn't like being famous.

"As Slessor's popularity grew church groups asked her to address meetings. At first, she balked. She was too shy to consider such audacity. Finally convinced that it was her duty, she began to fulfill requests. She insisted that she speak seated in the center of such groups, would not go up on the platform, and sometimes asked men in the audience to hide themselves behind a pillar or leave the meeting." (p. 9)

Growing Up Yanamomo: Missionary Adventures in the Amazon Rainforest, by Michael Dawson (Grace Acres Press, 2009).

I picked this up for a couple of reasons.

(1) I've met Mike a couple of times; he came through town to consult on the film some of my friends made about the Yanamamo. It's called The Enemy God, and has been showing in film festivals the last year or so. Supposed to be released on DVD within the next few weeks. So, it would be handy to write a review of the two items together, and publish it in the ezine.

(2) There are lots of missionary biographies out there, including many written for children. But what about biographies ABOUT missionary children? This is almost the first (nonfiction) MK story I've seen. Do you know any? Something more positive than say, The Poisonwood Bible (fascinating as that was)? I did like Margaret Meyers' Swimming in the Congo.

Growing Up Yanamamo does include some stuff about Mike's adult life, including what it was like losing his wife to malaria, but much of it is about being a kid and teen in a remote part of the Amazon. Some good culture stuff about what Yanamomo culture is like, written by someone whose family was mostly only white on the outside. (Mike's parents, now quite old, still live in the jungle, only coming out for medical tests in the city or Miami when they absolutely have to.)

This book is more hijinks and hunting and fishing stories than stuff about M-work, though. (If Patrick McManus was an MK, this is the book he would have written.) I believe there is at least one giant anaconda snake in each chapter! "I could almost hear the girls ooohhing and aaahhing over me as I told the story of how I single-handedly killed a thirty-foot snake," reports Mike in one typical story, before things fail to go as planned. Of course, they do get the snake in the end!

I'll write proper reviews of both the Mary Slessor book and the Yanamamo book for our ezine later this month.

Psalm 103 and the Need to Break Away from the Herd

Had some moody moments yesterday. Big group events tend to have that effect on me - everybody else seems so happy, so connected, so, well, I don't know. Suffice it to say it's hard for me to learn or feel comfortable in a room with hundreds of people, especially people I do not know, even when there's great teaching or worship.

Maybe it's like crying - that's something I pretty much do only when I'm alone. And it may be why I don't go to a big church; just can't let my guard down and "enter in." How can people do that? Sit and listen to some speak and be deeply "touched" by the words of someone they don't really know, in a room full of people?

Are any of you like that, unable to get much out of big group events? Why do you suppose that is?

On the other hand, I am quite an extrovert. I love meeting new people - it may be my favorite thing to do - and comfortably strike up conversations between the 'plenary' sessions. A group of 10, 30, even 50 is just fine with me; workshops often "work" for me, and I like to teach and join in group discussions. So I don't stay away from conferences all together.

Anyway, I was feeling blue to think about how many things I had hoped to see come together in 2008 did not. Many of them have been on my "to-do" or "to-hope-for" list for years. I want to (1) accomplish more, and (2) be more of the kind of person God made me to be. And of course those things are rather in conflict. Productivity and character development may be related (you will accomplish better work when you find your niche and fill it with integrity). But busy-ness and personal growth - well, they pull us in opposite directions.

And I may be healthier and happier than I have at times, but guilt and shame and fear and worry are still out there, like scattered clouds that might suddenly take over my whole sky and do, fairly often. Why do I live in bondage, when freedom, peace, or joy are on offer to all?

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." (Jesus, in Revelation 3:20)

So, while hundreds sang at the top of their lungs as our conference came to a close last night, I reached for my Bible and soaked in the words of one of my favorite psalms... 103. God so =gets= it, doesn't he? It's great to have such a Wonderful Counselor!

1 Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-

3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,

5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:

8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.

9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;

10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;

16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.

17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-

18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.

21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.

22 Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.

2008 Book Blogging Roundup, for the archives

I read for many different reasons. Sometimes for simple pleasure, to relax, or to pass the time while traveling (which I do a lot) or exercising (which I do a little!). Sometimes I read for professional and personal development. Sometimes I read just because someone gives me a book and suggests I read it. And yeah, I’m one of those women who reads more fiction than anything else. So, I’ve sorted the list by genre (by my own rough taxonomy) so you can ignore the kind of books in which you have little interest.

Here are the titles and authors I blogged about or at least mentioned reading in 2008. In most cases the links go to amazon.com. The easiest way to see what I said about the work, use the search engine, upper right. I’ll put stars by the one or more in each category I’d call “best in show.”

Nonfiction – History

• Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus, by Thomas Cahill
• What Has Christianity Ever Done for Us? How It Shaped the Modern World, by Jonathan Hill
• Islam: A Short History, by Karen Armstrong *
• Salt: A World History, by Mark Kurlansky
• When Asia Was the World, by Stewart Gordon *
• We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda, by Philip Gourevitch

Nonfiction – Theology/Christian Life

• The Old Testament *
• Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, by N.T. Wright *
• Living Water, by Brother Yun, ed. Paul Hattaway
• Serious Times: Making Your Life Matter in an Urgent Day, by James Emery White
• Intercessory Prayer: How God Can Use Your Prayers to Move Heaven and Earth, by Dutch Sheets
• Telling Secrets, by Fredrick Buechner *

Nonfiction – Christian/Mission Biographies

• Growing Up Yanamomo: Missionary Adventures in the Amazon Rainforest, by Michael Dawson
• Point Me to Skies: The Amazing Story of Joan Wales, by Roger Clements
• Mary Slessor - Everybody's Mother: The Era and Impact of a Victorian Missionary, by Jeanette Hardage
• Mary Slessor: The Barefoot Missionary, by Elizabeth Robertson
• The Billy Graham Story, by John Pollock
• Nothing's Too Hard for God: The International Teams Story, by Kevin G. Dyer
• Whom God Has Joined, by Isobel Kuhn
• Each to Her Post, by Phyllis Thompson *
• Not Less than Everything, by Valerie Griffiths *

Nonfiction – Other Biographies

• Same Kind of Different As Me, by Ron Hall and Denver Moore, with Lynn Vincent
• Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom
• Listening Is an Act of Love, ed. Dave Isay *
• The Twelve Little Cakes, by Dominika Dery

Nonfiction – Christian/Missions, Misc.

• 2020 Vision: Amazing Stories about What God Is Doing around the World, by Bill & Amy Stearns *
  
• From Seed to Fruit: Global Trends, Fruitful Practices, and Emerging Issues Among Muslims, ed. Dudley Woodberry *
• Muslims, Christians, and Jesus, by Carl Medearis
• Un-earth: Exploring a Land with No Name, by Christy Vidrine and Autumn Rogers

Nonfiction – Miscellaneous

• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver et al.
• Ruby Slippers: How the Soul of a Woman Brings Her Home, by Jonalyn Grace Fincher *
• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, by Malcolm Gladwell *
• The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest, by Timothy Egan

Fiction – Science Fiction

• Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show
• Space Boy, by Orson Scott Card
• A War of Gifts, by Orson Scott Card
• Ender in Exile, by Orson Scott Card
• Ender's Shadow, by Orson Scott Card *
• Passage, by Connie Willis
• All Seated on the Ground, by Connie Willis
• Inside Job, by Connie Willis
• Miracle, by Connie Willis
• To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis
• D.A., by Connie Willis *
  

Fiction – Children’s and Young Adult Fiction

• The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate diCamillo *
• I Am The Cheese, by Robert Cormier
• Miss Billy, by Eleanor H. Porter
• Mary Marie, by Eleanor H. Porter
• The Outdoor Girls at Wild Rose Lodge by Laura Lee Hope
• Charlie Bone and the Time Twister, by Jenny Nimmo
• Emlyn's Moon, by Jenny Nimmo
• Mortal Engines, by Philip Reeve
• Old Peter's Russian Tales, by Arthur Ransome
• The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling *
• Predator’s Gold, by Phillip Reeve
• Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah *

Fiction – Mysteries, More or Less

• The Singing Sands, by Josephine Tey *
• The Franchise Affair, by Josephine Tey
• Sweet Revenge, by Diane Mott Davidson
• The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, by John LeCarre
• Short and Tall Tales, by Lilian Jackson Braun
• Huntingtower, by John Buchan
• Thief in Retreat: A Sister Agatha Mystery, by Aimee and David Thurlo
• The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs, by Alexander McCall Smith
• Portuguese Irregular Verbs, by Alexander McCall Smith
• Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, by Alexander McCall Smith
• The Careful Use of Compliments, by Alexander McCall Smith
• The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday, by Alexander McCall Smith
• The Right Attitude to Rain, by Alexander McCall Smith
• The Sunday Philosophy Club, by Alexander McCall Smith *
• The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith *
  

Fiction – Classics

• Persuasion, by Jane Austen
• The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle *
• Around the World in 80 Days, by Jules Verne

Fiction – Miscellaneous

• Dead Heat, by Joel C. Rosenberg
• The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini *
• Summer Island, by Kristin Hannah
• On Mystic Lake, by Kristin Hannah
• The Faraday Girls, by Monica McInerny
• A Tangled Web, by L.M. Montgomery
• Shepherds Abiding, by Jan Karon *
• At Home in Mitford, by Jan Karon
• The Joys of Love, by Madeleine L’Engle
• A Severed Wasp, by Madeleine L’Engle *
• The Small Rain, by Madeleine L'Engle
• Playing for Pizza, by John Grisham
• The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
• A Wodehouse Bestiary, by P.G. Wodehouse

Fiction – “Christian” Fiction

• Controlling Interest, by Elizabeth White
• On The Road with the Archangel, by Fredrick Buechner *
• The Shack, by William Young
• The Room of Marvels, by James Bryan Smith
• Rhapsody in Red: A Preston Barclay Mystery, by Donn Taylor *
• A Place to Come Home to, by Melody Carlson
• Everything I Long For, by Melody Carlson
• Looking for You All my Life, by Melody Carlson
• Someone to Belong to, by Melody Carlson
• A Place to Belong, by Nancy Moser and Vonette Bright
• The Outlaw’s Twin Sister, by Stephen Bly