Happy Chinese New Year! 2025

Wednesday, January 29, 2025 Happy Chinese New Year!

I finally fall asleep at 2 AM and wake at 6. Not a long night. I start packing for Friday's flight to Canada, where I'll spend a week with my mom.

Happy New Year for the incoming Year of the Snake, which our friends consider a year for big changes. We have a wonderful lunch with Josie and her family. Her mother, who writes and edits the Mandarin newspaper, loves to cook traditional food. It's delicious!

We feel honored to be included in their New Year feast.

On the way home, we spot a motorcycle rider carrying a flower board - we can't see him behind his huge foam-core slab.

It's back to packing and editing for a few hours. W has written a few more chapters and sent them my way. It's more work for him to write than for me to edit, but with thick theology on the page, it is still work on my end.

Thursday

One more hike before I'm in the flat country of my hometown. And what a hike it is! It's been raining on and off for the past weeks so the clay soil, compacted and wet, is a slick as ice. 

We stab our walking poles into the ground and get a good arm workout. We're walking off-clay whenever we can, putting our shoes on the grass- and weed-covered rims. Sometimes it's not possible: there are drop-offs on each side.

Every one of us wipes out. I slide onto a knee on the last incline. Bummer. I thought I'd make it without getting a dirt patch on my trousers. Nope. And our shoes and socks are covered in mud.

"It's an easy walk," we're told. It's in the mountains so we're traversing up and down the slippery slopes, though we skirt the tall hills.

Our goal is the star at the top of the next mountain.

The wildflowers are abundant.

We climb over fallen trees and skitter along the track.

We stop for lunch at Opera, where the pasta is lukewarm but otherwise tasty.

I finish packing in the evening. I dream that I miss the flight, and then it's morning.

Friday

My body wakes me before the alarm at 5 AM. I'm in the shuttle to Jakarta Airport by 7. Our Jackel driver is excellent, not a risk-taker or constant lane-switcher (-swerver, as is usual). The constant lane-changing creates traffic jams - and high-risk slow vehicles suddenly "appear" in front of the car as a driver swerves over to get around a slower car.

At one of the toll booths into Jakarta, our driver takes an exit. Suddenly, we're on the other side of the highway with our lane is separated from oncoming traffic by cones. (Later in the day, they'll switch those orange cones to the other side of the freeway  to provide one more lane for home-going traffic.) We zip along since there's no way for drivers in our one lane to weave in and out. Meanwhile, regular traffic is stop and go. Mostly stop. He probably saves an hour or more and we're at the airport in under 3 hours.

There's construction in a wing of the airport, with workers high above the pedestrian walkways.

You can't have a fear of heights for that job.

Otherwise, the flights are uneventful - the best kind. The food is good in the Taiwan lounge.

The second-last (late!) passenger comes to my row and takes the window seat. Sigh. I almost had a row to myself for the 10.5 hour flight from Taiwan. He doesn't speak English and falls asleep quickly. He climbs over me once, eats all the meals and snacks, and is otherwise quiet.

I pull a fleecy jacket on backwards, suspend my sign "PLEASE LET ME SLEEP" in the tray latch, and pull the hood over my face. I sit. And sit. In the dark under the hood. My watch tracks 1:50 of sleep. Better than nothing. Our flight swings up the West coast rather than coming across the top of Alaska.

I emerge from my hoodie for breakfast. We've cross the international dateline, so we land in Vancouver after 6PM (Saturday 9AM in Indonesia). My brother picks me up and takes me to Mom's. She's had no idea I'm coming so he wakes her and shoots a video to send to her caregivers ... she's surprised!

She chats for over almost 2 hours before I head upstairs at 10PM for a shower. I read a bit ... and am fast asleep within a half-hour.

And get a phone call at 11:45PM. It's Mom, downstairs. "Didn't you hear the bell? [Nope, fast asleep after being up most of 32 hours ...] My care person isn't here." She usually has a night person who makes sure she has meds.

We message the caregivers and my brother but they're sleeping as well. I search for Mom's night meds, then sit with her until she's finished the pills and food, gets up briefly, and is ready to sleep. I fall into bed again but it takes an hour before I'm back to sleep. zzzz

Read more:

*The Lord will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors. Deuteronomy 30:9

*Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his child David. Luke 1:68-69

*Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that 

we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:7-12

Moravian Prayer: Mighty God, you have provided for us throughout the years, knowing that goodness and mercy shall come. Help us to see your providing ways. We are never forgotten and never alone. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

"What, there's another one?" (How many trees are enough?)

Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Mid week. Already. We set two little trees near the sliding doors. One starts as a mess of tangled lights in crushed branches, with few ornaments and a missing stand. Save or toss?

I think we can save it. W rigs up a stand and wedges the base into it. I strip it and start to fluff out the needles.

When the bells, ornaments, and lights are replaced, it gets a final straightening and a length of batik over the base. Looks good. Once upon a time, it was an expensive tree.

A still smaller tree on the table gets wrapped with silver tinsel garland, a few birds, and two stems of white berries. Random leftovers, in other words. This was last year's discard - maybe a tree topper? - until W drilled a hole in a block of wood and shoved the wire stem into it.

Then I putter, thinking through Sunday's talk and fielding calls. We letter Christmas ornaments for the "We Care!" giveaway.

"There's another big box in storage upstairs," says IbuS. There's more? Of what?

PakG hauls it down and the two of them set up the old-fashioned, big-needled pine inside. It's like the trees we had as kids. It has holes in a central 6' wooden pole. The branches have twisted wire ends that fit into the holes. The tree stand has 3 screws to hold the trunk in place, plus a red cup held by 3 green feet. Remember those? Over the weekend, we find missing branches here and there, including in a box in a storage basement at the hall.

I have no idea where we got this tree. The trunk is bare and ugly and I'm out of garlands. I root through the boxes we've returned to storage for a few ornaments, which we hang on the branches. Simple tree. It doesn't look too awful at the Porch entry.

I'm worried it will blow over when the wind kicks up. "Should we tie it to the porch railing?" I ask W. He says no, that won't work.

ChaCha and I meet at Ethnic for lunch. She's a follower of Jesus, a dear young friend, and a hard-working entrepreneur.

Thursday

It rained most days this week although today is dry. The hiking group decides not to risk the wet and slippery trails. W and I do a long loop (a few miles) with the dogs and I finish a few dozen more give-away ornaments.

Before lunch while the helpers bake cookies and bread, we run errands in town. W is replacing the hose on the hot water tank and getting the weedwacker repaired and replaced. (The yardman can't mow the lawn without it. He tackles the flowerbeds while he waits for our return.)

While W checks repairs, I browse ACE for something to cover up the bare wood of the 2 meter/6' Porch tree. I find 4 sparkly green garlands for the price of one: 75% off? My kind of deal.

After lunch, I wind the garlands up the trunk and around the bottom branches. I'm back inside when a gust of wind topples the tree. W finds 3 mossy bricks in the garden and puts those on the feet. Looks good and they should keep the tree upright.

For supper, we have "butter" avocados on IbuS's fresh-baked bread. The avocados from the corner fruit stand are finally ripe. W tries the new scoop/masher from the Dollar Store; woohoo, it works.

The windows rattle in the evening as the thunder rolls in. We hear the rain coming closer, hissing on the trees before it splashes onto the roof tiles. We're grateful to be inside and dry. So many are not so privileged in this city. Flash flooding is a hazard downhill as water from Bandung's mountains overflows catch basins and rivers.

Friday

Since I can't sleep, I pull out my computer and work on Sunday's talk. It's rare and frustrating when I have no clarity until the end of the week. But this is the second week of Advent so the topic is faith, which W defines as "trusting obedience." I have to trust that God will give us the message to communicate his love and care clearly. So I write in the middle of the night when that insight comes.

After about an hour's sleep, the sun's up and it's time to walk. W and I read and edit Sunday's talk together. Beside the gate, the vine clipped on a walk is blooming.

The neighborhood used to have modest 1-2 storey homes for elder scholars. The biggest shock is construction at the end of the small lane. Two houses on either side have already added rooms on top. Now this 4-storey apartment is rumored to become a rental for students from down the hill. That would change the neighborhood from residential to commercial. (With students come small food carts, loud motorcycles, and loud parties.)

Saturday

W's usual group is away today so we walk to Nara for breakfast. There's a company family Christmas party, complete with ear-splitting volume on voice and music. The kids play on the carpeted playground. In rainy season, that keeps the kids from getting splatted with mud.

See the managers in a team-building game (left)? Three people hold 3 balls. Two balls get wedged between the 3 people. One ball is held by the leader. The three run across the grass to their team members. Then the leader hand the ball he's holding to the first person in line. That person grabs the ball, drops to the back of the 3-person team with the ball on their stomach, snugging up to the middle person. They run across to do the same transfer on the other end. First group to get through every person in line wins. Too much proximity for me!

Dolly sent me an iris 2 years ago. Today it's blooming in the garden. 

The fish are happily swimming in the ponds. During sun breaks, the floating solar fountains circulate air back into the ponds. I grab handfuls of algae from the smallest pond and its pump kicks into gear.

The flowers from Monday's nursery run have been planted for a pop of color.

The green wall is regaining its plants after being accidentally stripped.

PakG brings down a patio table and chairs from the upper balcony = I have a desk overlooking the tidy garden if I am feeling extroverted. When I need focus, I sit the other way, with a laser-cut screen and plants on the wall. Both views are helpful. I rise to crush big ants carrying egg cases instead of setting an alarm to stand up. We don't need more ants!

My tasks are defining survey questions for my book; plus editing 2 more chapters of someone's dissertation toward their potential book. W heads down the hill to buy olive oil, get a long walk, and replace the light socket that burned out (perhaps during a lightning strike?) Electrical systems aren't grounded, though houses have a lightning rod on their roofs. Next week is our annual Christmas dinner-and-a-movie night so we're prepping that.

The worship team practices with me for two hours. My throat is raw and painful and I have a headache in the evening, usually the sign that I'm getting sick. I just got over the flu a few weeks ago. I pray for healing.

Sunday

It's the second Sunday of Advent.

Alice has spearheaded IES Bandung's fourth Art Sunday. People enjoy making bags and cards.

Some make ornaments. This one uses yarn I brought from my mom's stash in Chilliwack (Canada.)

After a meeting, some of the team eat lunch with us at Maxi's. My headache is worse so we rest in the afternoon.

Titik sends home this geometric arrangement - what art.

Monday

What! One more tree, found in a box. It's a crumpled mess.

Once unfolded and decorated, it's a lovely little thing that fits perfectly on the bookcases.

I take notes from the best books on Blinkest, sitting on the Porch at my new outdoor desk. W is getting his own headache, writing his book about women in ministry in another part of the house.

For supper, it's fresh bread and red pepper spread from a jar snagged last summer at Aldi in Missouri. Time to indulge. It's delicious on the hearty chia/flax seed slice.

Read more:

*Love truth and peace. Zechariah 8:19

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

Moravian Prayer: Understanding Savior, you are able to comprehend the message of our hearts, even when words fail us. We rejoice to be seen, heard, and known by you. Amen.

3 things about heart-friends

We only meet every few years because we have a hard time finding a date when we're both free. But when we meet, my soul feels like it has feasted.

1. Friends have history. I had lunch today with a heart-friend of almost 40 years. Bonnie roomed with me in college for two years, rescuing me from almost certain extinction due to a previous roommate, who smothered me by shadowing me everywhere. B knew what she did/n't want and didn't need to define herself by our friendship. She was happy to be herself, funny, and pragmatic as we students were wrestling with who we would become. Those schoolmates have disappeared and we're older women who see the tracery of God's plan across the landscape of our lives. (However, funny stories remain forever, like our midnight raid on the guys' dorms during finals week ... which we confessed to dear Doc Holdcroft - our college president - after 25 years.)

2. Friends stay connected over time. After we graduated, we stayed in touch, occasionally meeting or writing letters. My letter about expecting our first son crossed the mail with her own announcement to me. (Our sons were born a month apart.) Then we had a daughter each. Our kids grew up, moved out, got jobs, and gave us a few grandkids.

We tried to say hi or schedule a visit on Boxing Day annually. Through the years, there were more misses than hits in connecting. Whenever we met, we remembered what we were like as young women and caught up on the people we knew in college. And we shared what God was doing around us in our husbands, kids, work, and church.

3. Friends keep Jesus at the center. We've exchanged our challenges and prayer requests as the years skipped by from decade to decade. I could depend on Bonnie to hear from God and share that with me.

We've marveled that life gets simpler, even when it doesn't get easier. Our focus intensifies as the main thing really takes hold of us (= our relationship with God). And the periphery - the stuff of life - though stressful and heartbreaking at times, draws us in closer, where we trust and love God more.

We don't know if we'll meet in person again. She's moving to a small Canadian community I've never visited, while we're off to Asia.

As we talked today about how God has aligned our gifts with our calling, we were both amazed. She loves to sing, worship, and serve people with special needs. I like studying, writing, and speaking.

We're so different. But we're similar because at our center is Jesus and his Kingdom. When we paused to pray after lunch, our hearts entwined again. She promised to support us in prayer and I did the same.

She asked of God: "May your Kingdom come on earth [in each of us] as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10)

"Ah yes please, Lord Jesus," my heart answered. "Walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. (Isaiah 26:8)

What a gift Bonnie is! Between times, we assume the other is growing in grace. We've prayed for each other since we were young. And we continue to do so. Each time we meet, I'm astonished at how I can trust her with my life.

God, today I want to thank you for this dear friend. Bless her, her family, and her calling. Let your face shine on B and other friends so dear.

These special heart-friendships are your gifts of grace, your compassion and favor on us. We could not conjure them up nor solicit such depth of feeling.

On this pilgrimage, you display your care by sending us fellow travelers who experience life's purpose and meaning from many vantage points. Through their faithfulness, we learn more about you and your Spirit among us.

We are so grateful. Help us to be a blessing to them as they are to us. Amen.

Who are your heart-friends?

Lent Day 11: Best friends

This repost reminds me of one of my core values: trustworthy friends. Is that important to you as well? How do you make and keep friends?
---

What a happy day! Brides post their wedding pictures on FB after celebrating a princess day. Guys are usually slower to admit they had a great day; their friends also don't tag as many pictures. But you can see the expectation on the couple's faces. They have married their best friend and hope every day is as happy as their first together as wife and husband.

I have single friends who live with their good friends. When one or more of the gals (or guys) finds a mate or moves away, the person/s reconfigure their lives and living space. It's a mobile and shifting world out there for singles. But some remain best friends with former roommates, colleagues, and childhood acquaintances, through thick and thin.

Pastor Don Ross (Creekside Church, Shoreline) talked this weekend about the traits of good friends. (Well worth a listen: click here in a few days.) He said these three things - when reciprocated between friends - were good indicators of the quality of friendship:

1. Friends are consistent and dependable. 
2. They're honest and trustworthy.
3. They are willing to tell the whole truth, even if that may hurt their friendship ... because they care enough to tell the "last 10%" of difficult truth toward the maturity and wholeness of their friend.

I thought about the people I value most as friends. Even if I shock them with ideas or plans, they give me good feedback. They like me enough to be unwilling for me to move ahead without thinking things through. They bolster me because they know my gifts. They walk alongside to question me and cheer me on. I do the same for them, though it's not always easy.

The most challenging friendship-relationship may be with those closest to you. How about your spouse, the person who never leaves? S/he moves into your bedroom and becomes a neat freak so you have to clean up ... or is a total clutter-bug who messes up your space. You share the bathroom, the kitchen, and the living space with his or her expectations, hauled into your home from their past. Even after decades, s/he surprises you with good and awful truths about her/himself and you.

Sometimes we struggle emotionally when dealing with elderly friends or parents who need our care. Medication and aging may redefine their personalities and bring out the best (or the worst) in them. Are we still loving and kind? Good friends? 

How do we negotiate the variety of friendships we encounter? 

Our best friend - Jesus - is consistent, honest, and has our best interests at heart. That security helps us accept friendship, given, received, and shared.

Jesus' inner circle included those who knew who he was. And it included the man who betrayed him to his enemies. Jesus' extended circle of male and female friends benefited from his wisdom and insight. These people cried at his awful death. Rejoiced at his supernatural resurrection. He was a true friend to them all, offering grace, second chances, and his loving kindness without reservation.

I'd love to be that kind of person to my friends. Many of them are that to me. Thank you, friends!

Read more:
*The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Psalm 27:1 ESV

*And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35:8-10 NIV

*He guarded his people as the apple of his eye. Deuteronomy 32:10 ESV

*Christ says, "You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit.” John 15:16 ESV

Moravian Prayer: Why did you choose us, O Lord? What can we possibly do for you? Show us the place you have for us in your church, so we can together bear much good fruit to your glory. Amen.

Lent Day 3: Who are you with?

Who are you with? And who is with you?

Last morning, I met with credentialed women (including a pastor, therapist, and missionaries), cup of tea in hand.

I had lunch and shared our new calling to Indonesia with 15 women. They've met for decades to pray for missionaries and each other. Most are in their 70s-90s. The food was home-cooked, the company warm and inviting, and the prayers sincere.

Finally, W and I relaxed with six dear friends in a nearby suburb. The candles were lit, the cheesecake looked delicious (can't have any = Lent, but it looked good!), and the conversation and prayers were uplifting.

We don't often get so many hugs and affirmations in a day. When we do, we tuck them away to treasure as memories later.

Jesus likewise drew a small circle around him. He had many followers surrounding him with their curiosity, interest in the things of God, and their needs.

His transparency - the laughter, the jokes, the crying, the preaching, the teaching - amazes me. There was no coverup or pretense. No hiding behind social conventions. He asked his closest friends, "Are you with me? Who do you think I am?"

And he felt abandoned and lonely when they fell asleep and left him to pray on his own. "Couldn't you hang out just for an hour?" he asked them. He needed their support and companionship for the final walk to crucifixion.

I wonder, would you and I have stayed awake? Would we have stayed close if our Friend was threatened and on the road to the cross? Probably not.

Would you and I have understood the enormity of Jesus' accomplishments in life and death? Could we have grasped the power of the resurrection? That's doubtful, too.

Yet Jesus invites us to live in His presence - today, tomorrow, and every day. Knowing how imperfect, how faithless, and how fickle we are, He says, "Come. Drink of the water of life. Come close. Find abundant life with Me and in Me."

Today I say, "I'm with you, Jesus. I'm in!" Then, when I dash away, distracted or look away, ashamed by my sleepiness or sin, I'm coming back.

You also? Who are you with today?

Read more:
*David found strength in the Lord his God. 1 Samuel 30:6 NIV

*O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. Isaiah 25:1 ESV

*For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 ESV

Moravian Prayer: God, lift us. Hold us. Support us. Empower us. Grant us the courage to throw off the shackles of sin. We long to stand before this world worthy to be called the people of God. Strengthen us, O Lord! Amen.

What good friends do

 Sitting in Maltby Cafe this morning with my friends, I realize that good friends:

1. Share their hearts, in good times and bad.
2. Listen to each other, taking in non-verbal communication as well as what is said.
3. Love each other, regardless of how sweet or mean their friend feels.
4. Pay attention to each other, noticing what's important to the friend today.
5. Hold each other accountable for good actions and attitudes. Stinkin' thinkin' gets rooted out by good friends.
6. Pray for each other regularly, knowing that God is at work in their friend.

I'm so grateful for my friends.

Do you have people who walk through life with you in these ways?

Read more:
*Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation; for a teaching will go out from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples. Isaiah 51:4 NLT

*Paul said, “I stand here, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: that the Messiah must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.” Acts 26:22-23 NLT

*I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! Galatians 2:20-21 NIV

Moravian Prayer: Lord Jesus, as poor sinners, we love darkness rather than the light. Help us to walk in your light and to witness to its power. You commissioned us to tell all people the good news of God’s love. Give us strength to fulfill that charge! Amen.