CoD V.1.6.8- The Woes of a Bibliophile and Other Matters...
With D-Day coming up in just over 40 days, many people've been asking me whether it all seemed overly strange yet: whether my excitement levels were mounting up to frenzied heights, or whether my stomach felt like a lepidopteran conservation area (that's a butterfly park) yet (I think I made proper use of tenses in this sentence, but something's tingling at the back of my mind, so forgive me if I've done injustice to you, oh English Language).
Personally, my stoic heart had felt nothing new lately- I got excited in September when I was first accepted into fellowship with AIM (after a very long application process!). I got really excited in October, when I received confirmation of my assignment and finally knew where I'd be ministering for the next few years. Since then, I'd kinda been rolling along on a plateau of eager anticipation and diligent preparation- the excitement became like a background hum, the default state of my mind...
Most recently though, things have started getting strange: it all began with the fact that this is my last week at work. After Friday March 30th, I am no longer a productive and contributing member of society, but just another unproductive bum (ha, taken in a different context, this is a hilarious oxymoron!). At first I quite looked forward to having a month off for preparations and basically doing nothing else in; but alas, my preparations so far were too diligent, and now I basically have nothing at all to do (except pack and meet with people). I've noticed that one usually tends to look forward to staying at home on sick days, right up until one actually does stay home and comes to the realization that everyone else is at work and one has nothing to do all day (at least that's how it is with this one). A month of that should be interesting... so I want all of you to each take a day off, and come hang out with me! It's a small sacrifice to make...
Then there's the packing up of my room. I'm soon to start packing up all my stuff- clothes, books, general stuff, etc for storage. So the other night I was lying in bed and mentally planning the packing - my thoughts went thusly: 'K, so I'll put these books together in one box, those in another, and those over there in yet another- I'll keep them together.' etc. Then my thought stream took me to 'hmm, I wonder how I should label the boxes so that I know which ones are where when I need to unpack them again...'. Then I went: 'I wonder when I'll unpack those again... where would I put them?'. Next I thought: 'I'll probably never unpack them- where would I have to put them here? And I can't carry boxes of books with me to the bush of Africa. So why am I packing them in the first place?'. And then my mind rebelled... and I was reminded of another story-
"You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.
"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Mark 10:19-22, emphasis mine)
It's so easy (too easy!) for me hang on to stuff and base my identity on the stuff I have... and the things I'm attached to are so are weird too! I have no problem giving away my car or my bike, which are among the more expensive things I own, but giving up my books will be tough (giving up sushi is tough too!). Yet Christ hasn't called me to give up what's convenient or easy- either he is the greatest treasure I have, worth giving up all else for, or I have a fundamental theological problem on my hands. So please pray for me, that my love for Him will be so great, that I will consider all else (even sushi!) to be rubbish in comparison (not as difficult as it may seem- leave sushi out of the fridge for 2 days, and I have no problem calling it rubbish).
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. (Matt 13:44-46, emphasis mine)
In more joyful news, some of you have been praying for my teamleaders, the Tanners, and their adoption hearings for their son Caleb. After much delay by the machinations of bureaucracy, you can praise God with us- their court hearing today went well, and the adoption order has been granted.
Here's a picture of the Tanners' home in the rainy season- Caleb's sporting the diapers at the bottom left of the picture.
And here's what possibly might be my new home! This is one of the team-members' homes that the Tanners have been working on. So this is what our new homes will look like! Homey!
Personally, my stoic heart had felt nothing new lately- I got excited in September when I was first accepted into fellowship with AIM (after a very long application process!). I got really excited in October, when I received confirmation of my assignment and finally knew where I'd be ministering for the next few years. Since then, I'd kinda been rolling along on a plateau of eager anticipation and diligent preparation- the excitement became like a background hum, the default state of my mind...
Most recently though, things have started getting strange: it all began with the fact that this is my last week at work. After Friday March 30th, I am no longer a productive and contributing member of society, but just another unproductive bum (ha, taken in a different context, this is a hilarious oxymoron!). At first I quite looked forward to having a month off for preparations and basically doing nothing else in; but alas, my preparations so far were too diligent, and now I basically have nothing at all to do (except pack and meet with people). I've noticed that one usually tends to look forward to staying at home on sick days, right up until one actually does stay home and comes to the realization that everyone else is at work and one has nothing to do all day (at least that's how it is with this one). A month of that should be interesting... so I want all of you to each take a day off, and come hang out with me! It's a small sacrifice to make...
Then there's the packing up of my room. I'm soon to start packing up all my stuff- clothes, books, general stuff, etc for storage. So the other night I was lying in bed and mentally planning the packing - my thoughts went thusly: 'K, so I'll put these books together in one box, those in another, and those over there in yet another- I'll keep them together.' etc. Then my thought stream took me to 'hmm, I wonder how I should label the boxes so that I know which ones are where when I need to unpack them again...'. Then I went: 'I wonder when I'll unpack those again... where would I put them?'. Next I thought: 'I'll probably never unpack them- where would I have to put them here? And I can't carry boxes of books with me to the bush of Africa. So why am I packing them in the first place?'. And then my mind rebelled... and I was reminded of another story-
"You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.
"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Mark 10:19-22, emphasis mine)
It's so easy (too easy!) for me hang on to stuff and base my identity on the stuff I have... and the things I'm attached to are so are weird too! I have no problem giving away my car or my bike, which are among the more expensive things I own, but giving up my books will be tough (giving up sushi is tough too!). Yet Christ hasn't called me to give up what's convenient or easy- either he is the greatest treasure I have, worth giving up all else for, or I have a fundamental theological problem on my hands. So please pray for me, that my love for Him will be so great, that I will consider all else (even sushi!) to be rubbish in comparison (not as difficult as it may seem- leave sushi out of the fridge for 2 days, and I have no problem calling it rubbish).
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. (Matt 13:44-46, emphasis mine)
In more joyful news, some of you have been praying for my teamleaders, the Tanners, and their adoption hearings for their son Caleb. After much delay by the machinations of bureaucracy, you can praise God with us- their court hearing today went well, and the adoption order has been granted.
Here's a picture of the Tanners' home in the rainy season- Caleb's sporting the diapers at the bottom left of the picture.And here's what possibly might be my new home! This is one of the team-members' homes that the Tanners have been working on. So this is what our new homes will look like! Homey!
posted by dan at 3/27/2007 08:26:00 a.m.
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