The long obedience

Sunday, August 4, 2024

I call Mom just after 6:00 a.m. She shares the details of her wonderful 89th birthday party last Friday, thanks to Norm and planner extraordinaire Sandy. Mom enjoyed visiting with four generations of family, plus many friends.

I arrive at the hall without W who has a stomach bug. I've revised (cut) the talk he wrote for the Sunday Gathering since I'm speaking alone. Neither of us struggles with public speaking; it's just easier as a duet than solo.

As usual in the summer, IES Bandung hosts new guests while many of our own attendees are away. Ibu Titik has made a beautiful bouquet.

When I get home, I make toast for W and tortellini for myself. Both are good. We eat outside on the shaded Porch, planning the month ahead. W has 3 weeks of teaching coming up, which defines our August engagements.

Monday

Calls and more calls. Laurel and I enjoy a morning visit. She is reaching the end of her time with us so we evaluate what she enjoyed and what would have made her time easier or more effective.

W and I attend a meeting to discuss a community center before I head to town to collect a delivery. W is able to eat lunch. I scale down his flavors for now. But he's recovering. Yay.

I spend most of the afternoon on a proposal and questionnaire for my next book. Creating a survey is an art and a science. The initial questions must be combined and redefined until they are simple and clear. I'll depend on my academic colleagues for help along the way.

Tuesday

We start with a loop walk and an online call. At a morning meeting, we've asked God for a clear signal: do we kill the project or keep going? The sign to move ahead is in plain sight when we walk in the door. This project needs a series of miracles to come to life. And we're not yet attached to it - it's a mess with potential. It could go either way before we make much of an investment in the idea.

We have lunch with Ps Yoel and Ps Esther to find out how they and their organization handle leadership transitions.  They are wise friends and thoughtful leaders. The food at Waroeng Ethnic is good as always.

We walk home through the neighborhood lane - how creative. With Indonesian National Day coming up, someone has used the bases of 5 liter water jugs as bright flower pots.

They've made tassels from garden twine, attached them to the white-painted bottle tops, and strung them across the alley.

Even the entry is pretty, garnished with Indonesia's national colors: red and white. Indonesians are creative with basic materials.

A driver has swung wide - now the next car has to squeeze by in the narrow street. What you don't see is the motorcycle that zoomed by on the right as the drivers were negotiating their cars. There are 3 vehicles in this squeeze. W and I marvel that metal can pass metal with so little space ...

Here's the campaign poster for a mayoral candidate. We're not sure what he's promoting with the gas mask.

In the afternoon, we have a team meeting. IbuA brings out tea and cookies. By the time I get inside, the helpers have gone. They have packed a bag of cookies for each attendee. My rule is that nothing goes back into the fridge once it's been set out for a meeting. Since everyone has left, the bagged cookies can go home with our helpers tomorrow for their families to enjoy.

Wednesday

First we walk. W checks out a new "container" store that replaces the old van covered with faded tarps and surrounded by old chairs. The menu offers rice and a chicken head @$1.20; ramen noodles @50c, and more. Those are local basics - at a good price. (I'll skip the chicken head, thank you.)

My students have asked for resources. I take a series of pictures of my bookshelves and tell them to look for those in their library or online.

I call up and down the generations before getting to work. First, we find out how our daughter is recovering from surgery. After, I have a l o n g call with Mom - mostly about her birthday. She's reveling in the memories and praying with us for the family and work.

Then it's time for a monthly debrief with God's gift to me: Nancy, an online counselor living in another Asian country. "Live in radical obedience when God shows you the next step," she encourages. She reminds me of priorities and reasons to celebrate God's goodness and offers cautions.

W's stomach is healthy but his back has been seizing up for a few days. He has booked a massage for us in a beautiful setting, a renovated home. "No sexual massage," warns a sign at the entry. Good! (We are decidedly cautious because of the plethora of "other" kinds. A trusted masseuse sometimes comes to our house to knead out my fatigue after a long trip, especially with 8-15 hour plane rides.)

For a married couple, our benches are side by side. The massages deliver pure OUCH to our calves but are helpful to W's back. A diversion from pain? I need to get through some new textbooks. Unless I'm skimming, it's easiest to focus by listening. So I pop in EarBuds, swipe the Kindle reader onto high speed, and "read" until it's over.

After a quick stop at the grocer, we're home to a good lunch made by IbuS. I text a few "movie night" kids - we pray for them and are happy to get their updates. We hope to catch up with graduates who are leaving this month for their home city or country.

Read more:

*I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. Ezekiel 36:26-28

Prayer: God, give us a heart that cares about the things that you care about. Train us to love you and others with all our might, as you do. Thank you for your loving-kindness each day. Amen.

Behind the teacher desk

Monday, July 29, 2024

Ah Bandung, for a morning walk in fresh cold air. We figure it's about 67oF/18oC so I pull on a coat. Look at this double hibiscus.

Some of the trees peel their bark as they grow - and this 2.5' (85cm) chunk looks like a base for flower arranging to me. I tuck it under my arm.

The neighbor asks, "What's that, Ibu?" and I show her the marvelous find. Can't wait to use it.

On a corner, can you spot the "Chameleon" working on the ladder? Three guys are putting up a new sign. One supervises from the side. Two others adjust the vinyl banner to his satisfaction. Every few months, the banner tears in the wind and sun so there's a new offering hauled above the street.

I open the office curtains to the view across my desk. It's the final prep day, ensuring everything is ready for tomorrow's doctoral class online. My 16oz mug of Turkish tea is at hand, along with binders of notes.

At IES Bandung this year, we've been preaching through the book of Acts. This fun find is leaning against the wall in my office: a poster book of Bible summaries. Each book of the Bible has a designated page with highlights from that book.

Herbert is graduating this afternoon. PakDanny, W and I join other friends at his graduation ceremony, delighted that he's completed within the deadline. The ceremony, attended by the university rector and faculty, is for 2 graduates. They offer a warm welcome to the graduates, ask them to recruit for UNPAR, and give them their hard-earned diplomas.

Tomorrow, Herbert is off to Jakarta on his way home to Tanzania. Indonesian scholarships bring students from every corner of the globe to various Bandung universities. Surprising to us is that within a day or two of completing your studies, you are shipped back to your country.

We share lunch with Herbert and friends and hug him goodbye.

He promises to keep us updated - we will miss him on the team!

Tuesday

W and I walk as high schoolers on motorcycles buzz to the second week of classes after their month-long break.

I spot something on the road: is that a snake? It's worth a second look. Nope, it's a ripe bean pod that fell from the tree above. Whew.

I log onto the zoom class an hour early to get ready. Except ... oops - their time zone is an hour ahead and it's time for class NOW. We have all kinds of challenges this first day: our Indonesian internet quits, so I have to log in again. They reset the zoom permissions so I can see the class and share my screen at the same time. The cohort may be small but they are wonderful.

W takes a class hour to explain background theology and offers his contact email to students for further discussion. I mess up the lunch schedule so they eat a half hour later than promised. "Tell me when it's lunch-time, if I go over!" I say to them after realizing my mistake.

"Ah, when the information is so interesting, we just want you to keep going." Well, that's one thing, but I'm sure they are hungry. We have 5 hours of class each day, which is a lot of information!

After class, W helps me swap out the "easy-care" IKEA rug (set down during travels) for a multi-color one. The grey checks go back into our bedroom corner, softening the stone floors for morning exercises.

I like the colorful texture of the Pakistani rug. While we're away, I don't want to think about getting the expensive one wet if someone mops the floor.

A few hours of writing and prep, and it's late afternoon. Time to read and relax.

Wednesday

At least today I know what time my class is starting! I look forward to seeing the students and sharing the notes. We hit the last PPT slide as my final alarm sounds. They're off to lunch before the last hour of class, which is set aside for their presentations.

During the break, I consume my uneaten dinner from yesterday; I would only snack after lunch if it were only myself. However, W likes to eat supper so I usually make something. Yesterday, I had no appetite beyond fruit and snacks. I put my dinner back into the fridge. So today's lunch is dumplings, Malaysian curry chicken (with spices from Penang), and more tea. The rest of the household has a fresh lunch prepared by IbuS.

My nose start to plug up and my eyes start to water mid-morning. Hopefully this is temporary.

Thursday

I'm wakened by calls as the phone buzzes throughout the night. (Why? My ringer and notifications are off between 10 and 6!) By 4:00 I give up, turn on the light, reply, and catch up on messages. I stay behind when W and the dogs head north to the weekly mountain hike. This is the walk I miss.

Time to rest. Um, maybe not. I make some calls and write book reviews. Also on the to-do list is writing two monthly newsletters and reviewing the sermon for Sunday. It will be our first time speaking in 7 weeks. Oh my, we are glad to be home.

Read more:

*God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish. Psalm 9:18

*Jesus said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Luke 6:20

Moravian Prayer: Merciful God, amidst all the clutter of our days, we need constant reminders that you do not forget us; our hope in you and your promises remains strong. Further remind us that we are never alone, as Jesus has promised us, “I will be with you always.” Amen.

Got connections?

One of the most startling things about life is its connections. Nothing takes God by surprise and he delights to show his children that he is in control of his world.

In what ways can you look back to see how God orchestrated meetings with people or connected resources for his purposes and your benefit?

Here are a few our stranger "coincidences" of the past decade:

• I was praying for a friend who was moving into an isolated house. "Get her a dog," God whispered. "What?!" I found the perfect adult dog that had been abandoned at a breeder's. I chickened out of surprising my friend and told her. She was thrilled and that Saturday we scooped up Beau, her fabulous companion of the next 7 years.
• Reading my guest books from years gone by, I'm amazed at how many people we don't know. Women came for monthly teas - from the doctor's office, grocery checkout lines, church, and other chance meetings. I saw many of them twice: the first time to invite them and the second time at the tea table.
• One Wednesday, W read a comparison of two car models. That weekend, a friend deciding on which car to buy asked him if he knew anything about those exact cars. W passed on the information.
• "Who 'just happens to have' office dividers the right color and size in their garage?" asked a friend. Well, apparently we did. We'd picked some up 2 years before, the perfect backdrop for the university's art shows.

• In a Seattle shop, I found a Bösendorfer grand piano for a friend's weekend house. When the house sold, the piano lived with us and got a few years of technical upscaling by Steve Brady, our extraordinary piano technician. My brother was looking for "the perfect piano" around the time we were downsizing. It moved to his house in Edmonton in December.
• One of my academic mentors had most of the supplemental research material I needed, neatly stowed in file cabinets in her garage. She also attended language school in Bandung (like we're planning) and was assigned as the designated missionary with our organization; her husband was listed as "the spouse" (like us.) Her trailblazing model of mission calling and work reassures me.
• It took 5 years to complete my PhD in Intercultural Studies. I didn't know why I was in the program, except I was sure God had sent it my way. A year after graduation when we were called to missions, two of my classmates were our overseers. Three of the four missionaries we'll work with are alumni, whom I met through my job as NU Alumni Director.
• I talked to my friends about downsizing and moving into the basement last fall, when it was still heaped with storage. They talked me out of it ... but God moved us down a year later. I gave away something every day in January last year, great preparation for moving into our smaller space. In October last year, I felt I should get certified in TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) last fall as well: I resisted. No more classes for me! But I succumbed in February and signed up for summer school - just before our call to missions in March.
  
  None of these impulses were premeditated. They were God's provision for our future, giving us the will and the means to do his good pleasure.
• Nearly everything in our basement suite is repurposed. Our bathroom vanity, complete with sink and faucet, was torn out of a home being remodeled = the week before we started to build. Our dining "buffet" was assembled from cabinet "leftovers" of the same house. We purchased our kitchen cabinets from a missions writer and practitioner who encouraged us in our calling. One extra cabinet was perfect for our laundry room.
• Earlier this week, two teachers and two entrepreneurs visited us at our place. Listening to God provide interchangeable resources for each of them was great fun.

Sometimes being is enough. Then doing emerges naturally - or supernaturally - as a matter of course. The road of obedience seems paved with a thousand blind "yes"es.

Read more:

The Lord said to Abram, "I will bless you and you will be a blessing." Genesis 12:2 NIV

*Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant. Psalm 86:16 ESV

*The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" Luke 17:5 ESV

*Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Romans 12:14 ESV

Moravian Prayer: Gracious God, you have blessed us in many things. We are grateful, but often we forget that the blessings we receive are not fulfilled in purpose unless they become blessings to others. Give us the devotion to live a life of blessing. 

We pray for the poor, the homeless, those who have had their faith shaken, and those who are afraid and without hope. Cover us all, O Lord, that we may be strengthened. Increase our faith! Amen.

"We'll stay in touch!"

How many times have we said, "Hey, let's stay in touch!"? What friends did we mean to stay connected to, who have drifted out of our lives?

Sometimes God surprises us with the joy of reconnection.

This morning, I had the privilege of seeing someone for the first time in 10 years. She and her husband moved to the Great Lakes area for ministry ... soon after I left music ministry to train women in ministry at the church. We had played piano and organ together at Overlake Christian Church for years, alternating Sundays on piano.

Connie was that "fabulous choir pianist" every conductor craves: she could play any score. Poor Roy, the orchestra pastor: I often need complex music ahead of time to play what was on the page. (My eyes and fingers drift apart when my ears hear the music. I can play anything by ear but it's better to nail down the notes in advance if the music is complex.)

We had such fun chatting, catching up on families, on ministry, and this stage of life. Then we pulled out Dave Morgan's old chorus book and started our duet. We played through the entire book, some choruses more successfully than others. We laughed and kept going when missing chords or figuring out the old rhythms. And we worshipped.

Music touches the heart. The gift of familiarity and friendship, given and received through conversation and songs of praise, comforted and encouraged me this morning. I think it did the same for Connie.

So how do you reconnect?

1. Seize the moment. I met my friend's husband Tom at a meeting. He told me they recently moved back to town.
2. Be willing to initiate a meeting. I wrote an invitation to Connie, "Want to reconnect?"
3. Accept whatever the answer is: yes or no to renewing an acquaintance. Not everyone wants to connect again. Connie called back and was happy to meet.
4. Set a date. A vague, "Let's meet sometime" will rarely materialize.
5. Enjoy God's provision together. Be open to whatever comes your way, whether that's looking forward or back together. We had time to talk but also to minister to each other with music.
6. Trust God for the future. We prayed together before parting. And we're planning to meet with a larger group of women from OCC in the New Year.

I'm thinking back on the morning with a glad heart. God gifted me with a visit from someone who has played the music I remember but haven't touched for over a decade. Our fingers climbed and laughed over the keys in old familiar patterns and long-forgotten ways.

God is good! And we've become the "old hymn" ladies. HAHA Who knew!

Read more:
*I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Isaiah 43:3

*May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 NIv 

*Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:1

Moravian Prayer: Lord, we know you are our Savior. Help us to grow in our faith to understand what it means that we are saved. Let us share that message and grow in numbers. Amen.