When the Saints...

These are the lyrics to a great song I just discovered...please read, and then re-read! Here (for a full version, go here) is a link to listen to a clip of the song, "When the Saints" by Sara Groves. It's beautiful! I can't listen to it without feeling compelled to pray for people I don't know. Especially men, women, and children all over the world that are suffering and struggling alone.


Lord I have a heavy burden of all I've seen and know
it's more than I can handle
but Your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and I can’t let it go

and when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars

and when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

Lord it's all that I can't carry and cannot leave behind
it all can overwhelm me
but when I think of all who've gone before and lived a faithful life
their courage compels me

and when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
I see the shepherd Moses in the pharaohs court
I hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord

and when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
and when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

I see the long quiet walk along the underground railroad
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul
I see the young missionary and the angry spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear
I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sister standing by the dying man’s side
I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come kicking down that door

I see the Man of Sorrow and his long troubled road
I see the world on His shoulders and my easy load

and when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
and when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

"Behold, the Lord's arm is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear." Isaiah 59:1

Culture Shock or Culture Stress?

Recently, in class we have been talking about acculturation. This is the process of willfully or intentionally adopting another cultures way of life. When we intentionally adapt ourselves to another culture, or a culture other than our own, acculturation is taking place.

Within acculturation, people tend to experience a phenomenon generally known as "culture shock". However, through discussions in class, perhaps the better term is "culture stress". A shock generally refers to something short-lived. We touch a hot cup of tea, and jerk our hand back. Same with testing the water in a pool, an electric fence, etc. "Shock" tends to be short-lived. 

Another word for culture stress can be disorientation. Think of it like this, we generally use maps to orient ourselves. We follow the directions that maps layout, our culture is a map. And our culture orients us to a way of life. A way of life is how we go to school, how we eat, how we shop, how we travel to work, etc.

If I am in North Dallas and I want to go to South Dallas, I would use a map to see which direction to go and which roads to turn on. However; if all I have is a map of Manhattan and I'm in Dallas, I can't navigate Dallas using a map of Manhattan. Given, some things look the same (buildings, streets, etc.) but it's really not going to help me. Stress/anxiety happens when we cannot determine or predict what is happening to us at the experiential level.

Cultural incidents that leave us thinking, "What just happend to me?" can cause anxiety. An example of this might be when I walk into a poultry store in Poland to buy a chicken and I come out much poorer with a block of white cheese.

Again, the thought comes to mind that cultural stress is disorienting. A reaction that I might have is to just, “…let somebody else do it, that's more efficient.” However, if someone else does it for me, my anxiety is never alleviated and I never go back into the shop that gave me cheese when I wanted a chicken. It seems that living beside the culture as opposed to living in the culture is probably not the best idea.

Over time I hope I can develop an idea of what’s going on around me and thereby reduce interpretive uncertainty. Over time, I also hope to learn how to predict behaviors and cultural norms, (i.e. what’s going to happen next) and thereby reduce predictive uncertainty as well. It seems that most missionaries encounter cultural incidents, maybe even on a daily basis, that leave them disoriented. This seems to be stress, not shock, due to the fact that it happens over time ; )  What do you think? 

30 Days?

30 days from today, I might be boarding a plane to move to Spain for the next 12 months. 31 days from today, I might be landing in Madrid. This whole idea is becoming more and more real to me. In the meantime, I am still praying for Support and a Visa!

I should know by May 1st if I am leaving Saturday, the 17th, or at another later date.

The Missionary Problem is a Personal One

These are two small excerpts from a book by Andrew Murray (1828-1917), a dutch reformed church missionary who was sent from Scotland to South Africa. The book is titled "Key to the Missionary Problem". I just wanted to share two quotes that were insightful and powerful to me. 

"The missionary problem is a personal one. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Author and Leader of Mission. Whoever stands right with Him, and abides in Him, will be ready to know and do His will. It is simply a matter of being near enough to Him to hear His voice, and so devoted to Him and His love as to be ready to do all His will. Christ's whole relation to each of us is an intensely personal one. He loved me, and gave Himself for me. My relation to Him is an entirely personal one. He gave Himself a ransom for me, and I am His, to live for Him and His glory. He has breathed His love into my heart, and I love Him. He tells me that, as a member of His body, He needs me for His service, and in love, I gladly yield myself to Him. He wants nothing more than that I should tell this to others, prove to them how He loves, how He enables us to love, and how blessed is a life in His love."

The other excerpt is an illustration...

"We are often at a loss to understand the need of much continued communion with God. And yet it is the same as with the things of earth. Take the gold put into the furnace. Exposed to insufficient heat, it gets heated but not melted. Exposed to an intense heat for only a short time and then taken out again, it is not melted. It needs an intense and continuous heat, before the precious but hard metal is prepared for the goldsmith's work. So it is with the fire of God's love. They who would know it in its power, and in power to proclaim and convey it to others, must keep in contact with the love of Christ. They must know it in its intensity and what it is to continue in it till their whole being realized that that love can reach all, and melt all."

In light of reading words such as these, Romans 5:8 comes to my mind, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 

Oh geez!

My monthly support is on the rise! I am amazed at this! I guess I shouldn't be in a way, this is what I have prayed for, for months. You should see my tear stained pillow ; ) Should I be so surprised when He is faithful? Anytime God does something only He can do, it amazes me and increases my faith!

Support Specifics:

• I am at around 50% of my monthly support costs. Currently, I am in need of $1,020 per month to live while I am in Spain.
• If support is in by May 1st, then I will be able to leave Saturday, May 17th (Visa pending). 
• Please praise God (literally, just say a quick thank you if all you have is a moment) for His provision. 
• Please pray with me for 10-20 more supporters that would partner with us in this ministry. 

I really can't even imagine what the Lord is going to orchestrate over this next month.