An Accompaniment

... time passes ...

...and... snatch! Like a fly in thin air, this very moment, steeping in coffee and the electric whir of CPU fans, this moment as you sink into the old office chair, this moment snaps into focus.

I've been thinking about doing a series for some time on Worship Music. I think a lot during church, music time not excluded. I think about what the words really mean that I'm saying, or mean to me. (Because it's not what's said that counts, but what's heard, as I'm often reminded of in interactions with my Wife).

To begin, a really catchy song by Fools Rush In -- Lay Me Down. I'm pretty sure it's hit the radio, it's got a little bluegrassy twang in the background that's kinda hip, and here's what I hear when we sang it this Sunday.

Rush of Fools -- With this heart open wide From the depths from the heights I will bring a sacrifice With these hands lifted high Hear my song, hear my cry I will bring a sacrifice I will bring a sacrifice [Chorus:] I lay me down I’m not my own I belong to you alone Lay me down, lay me down Hand on my heart this much is true There’s no life apart from you Lay me down, lay me down Lay me down, lay me down Letting go of my pride Giving up all my rights Take this life and let it shine Take this life and let it shine [Chorus:]  [Bridge:] It will be my joy to say Your will Your way It will be my joy to say Your will Your way It will be my joy to say Your will Your way always

Alexander Halaszyn -- With my mind and emotional receptiveness open and willing, from every part of my life bound to terrestrial analogy, I will give up those parts found most intrinsically meaningful, Oh God, be there be real, observe and act upon my distress, I'm here. I have what you demand. I've given up years of my life and so much more. Here it is. Let it be meaningful. My whole self, body and spirit.. and mind. I sacrifice my free will and agency, I am solely the property of You, subject only to Your will and our interpretation of Your will. I swear as I might before a national emblem or propaganda, that this is True. In the case I am unable to lay myself down sacrificially, take hold of me and do it Yourself.     Releasing myself of my own constructed self-worth and sense of accomplishment, as well as from that which could reasonably be considered belonging to me in act or property, take the wheel Jesus, and make accomplishment Yourself out of this. I will experience an existential sense of fulfillment and excitement by verbal acknowledgement and public admission (i.e. Social Contract) that Your desires and Your methodology shall take precedence over my own.

Forgive the formatting >.< Apparently I seriously need to brush up on my HTML knowledge base...

Wonderings of a Wanderer

I wonder what it'd be like to host the God of the Universe... would it be easy because of how incredibly compassionate and understanding He is? I'd feel such pressure...or perhaps to be so continually rocked by the brilliance of Truth contrasting the sinful, sooty reality of human life, it would wear you out.

I wonder what Christ's disciples missed most about having had a home, in those times of dirty, wearying travel. Home cooked meals? A favourite rug? Sitting alone in the refraction of that evening's glow after a carefully prepared meal?

I wonder if Christ was capable of sentimentality. Or is there something about that longing for what once was that is intrinsically unique to a 3-dimensional experience of the 4th dimension?

A Practice in Coming up with Fancy Names for Simple Concepts

Sorry folks, nothing particularly brow-raising or feather ruffling for this week's post (not that these have ever in any way been weekly publications, there's always been a nagging intention...).

Today I would like to share with you a practice of mine. A tool that helps me very much so in understanding how I really read scripture, what I get from it, and at the same time encourages my mind to chew, digest, and grow from what I am presented with.

Eeehh, I suppose this practice should have a name. A mental index card to add to... er... we'll call it autotranslation. Sounds academic enough to be real. Excellent.

Autotranslation is a process that begins with the reading of a passage. (I like to stick with the Psalms right now for this, because it feels slightly less heretical and a bit more poetic...let me know about your own expeeriences). Pray about it... read it out loud. Read it again. What words stick out to you? What meanings stick out?

Now, for the fun part:

Write it yourself.

Seriously. How is your mind processing those squiggles and blocks on the page? What other words come to mind or you feel should be there based on your own understanding of scripture? Is there a better way in your own language of saying something again based on your own understanding of yourself? If this passage was written by you for you, how would it go? What would it say just to you?...

Psalm 1: Alexander Translation

Worthy to be praised and of great respect

is the man who's life, guiding principles, and sources

of renewal are contrary to those who do not

know any better, yet blindly pressure you to act as

they: founded in sin and ignorance.

His Base motivation, his wellspring of life and

joy come from an understanding of God's Truth.

(His life is ordered by Godly wisdom)

And as a tree planted by the water, he and all

he does will be filled with vitality and

fruit which is plain to see. The prosperities of his

energy will be for all to recognize and enjoy

and will be unaffected by seasonal disruption.

Unlike those who seek out the heart of God,

the spiritually iggnorent will make no lasting contribution

to human society.

That being said, neither the truely evil nor the

fool will find acquittal before God when all

our actions are accounted for.

For only those whose primary disposition is

parallel with the will of Christ will abide with

Him, while the will of the foolish can find

no other end yet oblivion.

Why not know: Belief in Faith.

Faith is a beautiful thing.

Faith moves mountains, Faith inspires, Faith encourages humans all over the world to forgo that which is assured for that which will one day reap an even greater reward. As I heard when I was young, and as a defense for faith, we place our trust in the unseeable and unknowable every day, from when I open a can expecting soup to be inside, I have faith that the label is telling me the truth, right? Or when you turn your key, you have faith that the engine is going to roar with life.

These, I feel, are false analogies. Faith is always a conscious decision. Generally, I turn the key without thinking about if it might not run. I open my can and of course it's filled with my soup. There is a choice in faith. You can't have faith unless you're thinking about faith. (Perhaps I'll expound on this later)

There's something about our society today that just loves faith. it's so darn inspirational! Hallmark probably generates half their revenue from that single concept alone... Believing in the unseen. Trusting in the unknowable...

I'm wondering if we're wrong about faith. Or maybe we missed the point.

I'm reading a book for class full of words or phrases like "habitus," "milieu," and "small scale societies." Anthropology, it fascinates me. So far I've learned: trying to completely enter another person's experience of life is, well, basically impossibly complicated. Perception of reality and the meaning of things within one's community completely alter's your experience and others' expectations.

In this book, there's a brief story of one of these small scale societies in South-Asia that had an incredibly difficult time understanding what Faith was from the missionaries sent there. Their local traditions had no analogue, because for them, the spirits of their forefathers were simply a fact. The existence of several states of after-life existence were simply different states of life, and that they could hold a conversation through a shaman with their deceased uncle is for them as mundane as going to the dentist is for us.

This got me thinking: why don't they need faith? Goodness, they don't even have a concept of faith. For them, this is knowing. It's real. An inarguable fact. Something perhaps we've lost the concept in our post-modern perception of the world: inarguable facts. There must always be another side or a bias or relative point of view or hidden agenda thrown in there.

So now all we're left with is: Faith. When presented the Story of Our Redemption, we're told it's real, we believe it's real, than what keeps us from knowing?

--> I wonder if we're all afraid of being found out as fools? (Then what's keeps us from not being afraid?) Or perhaps we as Christians are still trying to reconcile the ponderous quantities of knowledge, pomp, and foolery brought on by Enlightenment and Capitalism with our understanding of Scripture.

Embalmnation

So the other day, I saw a real dead body. Really, for the first time.

My hand, in an attempt to photograph something seemingly relevant

Alright, not in person, but rather in an instructional video. A training video for the process of embalming.

Apparently they have trade schools for everything. They call it Mortuary Science. Creep-tastic. Context: I'm currently in an Anthropology class on Death, so we get to hear about stuff like this 2 hours a day.

This was different, though. This was a real video, and a real dead body. I kept thinking over and over thats just a body just like I have a body... but different. They poke and they prod and they sew the mouth shut, and as would be expected, there are no signs of resistance. There's nobody in there. It's empty of life.

Empty... vacant. It was unreal, there should have been someone in there! It looked like there should be... his spirit had truly left him.

It was a strangely spiritual realization. How could you not look at that kind of body and understand that our existence is so far beyond the physical? That this flesh is merely a tent, as scripture refers to it?

Back to our Ruts

It's been quite a while...sometimes, it's easier just to forget the past and move on. Sometimes, that's just what we need, to get moving again instead of bearing this immense weight of past and history waiting to be written before the present can ever ever be touched.

So here I am.

Sitting amongst the light of a candle powered by the timeless wonder of bacon grease. 

Bacon Candle

Lights out, orange globs dancing about my ceiling... this connects. This grounds the mind in something that stretches further back than recorded history. Of fishing and gathering, of laughter and love, of the labor of your hands belonging to the tribe and nobody else. There's something almost spiritually grounding in firelight, also. Perhaps this is why we haven't replaced the candles in candle-light ceremonies with LEDs yet. Fire is rich in symbolic value also, in purification and judgement and survival.

I thought about all this today as I sat in church, musing about one thing or the other instead of the sermon. That's my problem, my mind seems to understand church services as free license to think about just about everything accept the message, maybe there's some sort of subtle rebellion taking place there, rejecting simple absorption of information.

Have we lost anything in Protestantism? Has there been something profoundly lost in the rejection of tradition? Traditions arise for many reasons, and certainly can cloud true reasoning, but we've become so intellectual, so heaven-bent on understanding that sometimes I feel Christian ceremony has become less capable of connecting with that deep core that simply desires to dance recklessly around a fire and scream to the heavens praise and grief and joy

I made it. I'm finally home, and after 43 hours of traveling, have slept in my own bed. I thank God for your prayers and for His traveling graces! Ilhamdilila

The Sea of Death

Weirdest water experience of my life. Seriously.

The other day on Saturday, we had the opportunity as a group to go to the Dead Sea, not only the lowest point on earth but also one of the saltiest. There's actually a legend I was told that attempts to explain this saltiness, that it is the result of when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (It's actually due to all the run-off from the surrounding hills and from beneath where the lake now stands, from what I understand). This increased saltiness has some rather intriguing side effects. Buoyancy, is as you know, the action of stuff floating while submersed (at least partially) in the water. Or as Wikipedia puts it, "... is an upward acting force, caused by fluid pressure, that opposes an object's weight." In a way, it's very similar to Hot Air balloons floating through the air (but not "at the surface" of the air) because the hot air is less dense... there's more stuff in the air beneath the balloon than within or above the balloon.

In the Dead Sea, there is much much more in the water beneath you than you'd ever expect there to be in water: all that salt! As you're walking out into the water, past the rocks and that pricelessly cosmetic mud-slime beneath your feet, it becomes surprisingly difficult to walk, because you find that your legs no longer want to go down. Just as this realization and it's implications begin to hit, there's no longer anything beneath you, legs and body floating while completely upright. A subtle and nearly imperceptible muscle movement later, knees shoot up in front of you, back goes flat, floating on the surface. Buoyant beyond all reason. Inconceivable.

The mud was also pretty sweet, I guess it's the thing to do: cover one's self ridiculously with the nasty stuff and bake in the 107 degrees of sun for a while, rinse, and enjoy baby's-bottom-smooth skin. (I have to say, my Inner Child was quite pleased with this experience!) Upon the writing of this blog entry, my skin still feels like a good thing to be covering my body, more so than usual that is. Don't take me wrong, I'm generally pretty happy to have skin. But these days, when you're only showering once every 4 or so days... it can be nice to throw off the old man in a manor of speaking. ;)

Looking forward to daily showers when I get home... and church. I'll post more on that later, suffice it to say, I finally had the chance to go this morning. The Church of the Nativity. Pretty sweet.

Also, I would have pics from this adventure yesterday, but my camera is being all wonky, doesn't want to charge anymore. So much for pawn-shop treasures.

For now, Mas Salaama! See you all soon! (Such a very strange fact...)

Final Escape

I'm close.

I'm terribly close to being through with this entire adventure, and I'm left feeling all sorts of different things in the pit of my chest, the epicenter of some crazy hurricane. There was a Hurricane Alex a month or so ago, right? Wouldn't be suprised if it had been influanced by events here someplace between my lungs and heart.

Tough, in a word, is how life is now.

Politically speaking, things could hardly get worse here in the West Bank. I had the opportunity to spend this last weekend in Palestine's two largest cities: Ramalla and Nablis, traveling with my HLT group and visiting several NGOs and similar organizations along the way. At each, we heard a similar story of general decay of economic viability, the increasing possibility of the West Bank being split in several places by Settler-Only roads, The Wall, and et cetera, and that essentially the only thing for me to do that is helpful as a so-called International is to spread the word. Refugee camps bursting at the seems after 60 years, an ineffective and compliant government that doesn't get anything done... I don't have enough heart for all that's happening here. For all that's happening in my life in general.

And here, in the midst of all this confusion, I've been getting more and more struck by a particular theological question (It's been a while since I've posted on one of these!). It occurred to me actually in jest after we had visited Hebron last week, after I was reminded once more by someone how all that the Jews are doing is being done in the name of God. All politics aside, I respond that I surely wouldn't want to be serving a God that condoned the purposeful and systematic oppression, killing, and disrespect of an entire ethnic group...and then I had to pause. And...oh wait.

Deuteronomy 2:31-36 (NIV)

 ³¹ The LORD said to me, "See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land."
 ³² When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz, ³³ the LORD our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army. ³⁴ At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed ^[c] them—men, women and children. We left no survivors. ³⁵ But the livestock and the plunder from the towns we had captured we carried off for ourselves. ³⁶ From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them

This is merely a single example. From what I recollect of my readings through this part of the Bible, there were many such instances as Israel was establishing itself in the Promised Land.

I've heard repeatedly over and over, God is a God of justice[Leviticus 19:15 , John 5:30 , Acts 3:14]. He wants us to care for the downtrodden, the poor in spirit, those who are overlooked[Luke 4:16-21]. God is Love [1st John 4:8]. Neither the Jews nor the Gentiles are above one another [Romans 3:9-19].

How does this go together exactly? Here, I seem to be confronted with the fact that, if the Jews only are referring to the Torah and most of the OT (or is it all of it? I can't recall all that they considered Holy Writ), then they would seem to have ample support for what they seem to be doing today. (Granted, many Israelis are not acting explicitly or with the mentality that they are doing anything for God, but some are) And yet, there is plenty of support for God not wanting to advocate the wan-ton killing of entire peoples. (Not that this is exactly what's going on here either, but still.)  

I find myself conflicted....

... and that I'm leaving for home in 8 days.

Totally weird.

Eventually I'll have more pictures up, it's just an entirely laborious process overhere...

Salaam.

Rockupation

Hey all,

Sorry for the lapse in communication. This week has been more difficult because my volunteer placement actually decided to use me, significantly chewing into my time to blog! How dare they! As I've mentioned before, the folks back in my home stay are essentially addicted to Facebook online poker; a point of endless frustration. They're actually leaving to visit family in Honduras and America in less than a week (August 2nd), which will mean me and Trey will have the house to ourselves! Block party! Hahaha... it'll actually be pretty sweet. We're definitely going to miss our host father, but not our host mama! Terrible, I know, but that's life in the West Bank.

In many respects, it's actually been a pretty difficult week, and I thank God for getting me through it. I found out last week that I didn't get into my intended major at the UW: Human Centered Design and Engineering. Huge letdown. I suppose this topic is outside the context of this blog, but it matters, it has impacted me. Last year I found out right I had been rejected by engineering literally a day before leaving to help with a camp for children and their families who have cancer (Camp Side-by-Side)... I don't know if this is any better save for my maturity in Christ and my long-term-understanding.

Don't get me wrong, I was distraught. If it hadn't been for the mercies of His People around me, several e-mails and a phone conversation, it would have been much more difficult than it was. I'm already considering a couple other directions for my life, but honestly, it's all in His hands regardless. He keeps closing some very specific doors on purpose which leads me to imagine there's something headed my way I simply can't anticipate...

Partly in response to the above, I've really dedicated myself to making the most of the time I have left here. These final 15 days...and interpreting for myself what that means. Part of what that's looking like right now is to really be not only reading scripture for personal assurance and growth, but to study it. Spending some decent time following a collection of lessons compiled by a professor at Union College in 1894 that really directs an array of important concepts...and provides ooodles of passage references. If anyone is interested, I could send you one of the lessons. Maybe I'll include one on here eventually...

Essentially, I can no longer ignore the significance of ignorance. Biblical ignorance. This conflict swirling about me is essentially based on assertions of Biblical authority, or at least, from the Torah. For goodness sake, settlers are attacking children in the name of honoring God! How can this result from anything but profound ignorance, when combined with the evil naturally present in all our hearts? How can this be tolerated except by a people ignorant of Christ's passion for the downtrodden?

Anywho, enough ranting for today. Hopefully all is well wherever it may be that you are reading this. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Impressions of Egypt

Positives:

(+) Incredibly cheap food. The average full course meal (including complementary lemonade, dessert, at very special price!) ran me about 6 bucks.
(+) Incredibly cheap accommodations. 4 bucks a night, yeah baby!
(+) Generally beautiful vistas. Particularly due to the ocean.
(+) Fabulous environment, however touristy it really was (Think: something out of Disney Land but real)
(+) Totally killer bonding time
(+) The Ocean. / The Red Sea (same difference if Saudi Arabia wasn't in the way! Most the time you couldn't see it through the dusty haze, so it's a moot point)
(+) Frequency of showers concerning me increasing about 7-fold
(+) Getting to be shirtless for basically 5 days straight
(+) Being completely removed from the conflict in Israel








Negatives:

(-) Constantly being harassed by the hordes of shop and restaurant owners hanging in the street, which at any given time just about outnumbered everyone else there.
(-) Non-potable tap water
(-) Bathrooms without toilet paper...that is to say, every single bathroom in the Sinai.
(-) Having sweat pouring down my face...while I'm doing nothing but standing. The heat was cuh-RA-zy. (And A/C was quite noticeably absent from the entirety of Dahab)
(-) "ugly days"
(-) What amounted to a bureaucratic nightmare on the part of the Egyptian Government...or lack thereof.

It's good to be back, though. =)

Travel Plans and Etc

Half way done.

Yikes!!! Where does time go? Is there a big ole hole somewhere it all gets sucked into? Gosh dang...

This is a quick one for lack of sleep time.

I'll be traveling to the Siani Penensula for about 4 nights starting tomorrow... it's going to be awesome. We've just hit some major free time since we're between sessions of the Holy Land Trust (which also means there's a bunch of folks leaving which is totally sad!). There's 7 of us trekking out into the wilderness, should be awesome. I'll be sure to take plenty of good pics. ;) Might be outta blog-contact for a while, just as a heads up.

God's Peace be with all of you!

Happy Day-After American Diplomatic Immunity Day

[As written 7/5/2010 11:55am (+2 GMT)]

[Note: Anyone interested in seeing better quality photos or to comment on them, visit my Picasa album]

 

Wow.

An incredible weekend.

I mean, seriously. If you could measure a time by the quantity of pictures one takes, well… I think I took about 200 pics. I feel tempted to overuse the word "breathtaking" to the point that I'd basically be admitting to suffocation.

Our group from Holy Land Trust had for us a weekend-long adventure through the northern bits of Israel and Palestine, giving us our first opportunity this whole trip to really be “tourists.”

Here’s what our weekend’s itinerary looked like:

 Bethlehem --> Jordan “River” --> Sea of Galilee (Including a boat-ride! Complete with Titanic soundtrack) --> Capernaum à Mount of the Beattitudes -->  The Golan Heights --> Haifa --> Mt. Carmel --> Caesarea (Beach on the Mediterranean) --> McDonalds --> Bethlehem

Now that I’ve just written that out, aswell as cross-check with my map, the prospect of describing all these places seems like an overwhelming task! How about bullet-points and pictures? Ya’ll good with that?

Jordan “River”

• Pathetically small, ever since the Israelies have been pumping out more and more water from the Galilee and creating dams and such, there really isn’t all that much to this water-way anymore. BUT, there’s this “Baptismal Location” you can visit (as we did… felt like they were – dare I say it – marketing baptism. It was  honestly disgusting… get your photo while being baptized! Get your bottle of “Holy River Water!” Get your samples of holy dirt, holy oil, holy smokes! Felt like overturning some tables…) There was a place you could stick your feet in the water, and these fish would eat off your dead skin. Totally exfoliating.

Sea of Galilee

From Deputation

• Small wonder they called it a Sea! Seriously, the most vast body of fresh water I’ve ever seen. You couldn’t even see the farthest end of it! We took a boat to the otherside, ate some horrifically overpriced fish (“Jesus Fish”… the “same fish” that Jesus ate. So I gained like, 200 Spirit Points).

Capernaum

• Now, a Tourist Trap. It was pretty alright, had some sweet reconstructed ruins. A massive Aloe-Vera plant thing that seriously looked alien. Someone made a comment about it being a giant venus fly-trap. Ironic, visit the West Bank, get killed by a plant.

From Deputation

Mount of the Beattitudes.

• Traditionally believed to be the location where Jesus preached His sermon on the mount [Mathew 5-7]. I actually was just reading through that passage, so to be able to put a place to the words: ridiculous. The view of the Sea from there is breathtaking. The church there is also pretty alright, lotsa nuns. More gift shops.

The Golan Heights

[multiple pictures, coming soon]

• !!!!!!!!!!!
• Stunning.
• We spent the night here in a hostel, in this small town up by the border with Syria… I’ve never seen anything like it. The Mountains literally all around, a view down into Israel like nothing else… ending up playing soccer with some kids and Trey and Eric (another HLT participant)… sunset like nothing ever…
• Me and Trey both firmly belive we’d come back to this place… it was also the only place I’d say we got to more than simply “taste” for half an hour, like most the other places listed here.

Hafia

• Most industrialized city in Israel.
• Nuclear Power Plants --> totally sweet [photo coming soon]
• Ba’hi Gardens  O_O
• Mount Carmel

Mount Carmel

From Deputation

From Deputation

• Neither sticky nor sweet, yet had a killer view
• Place where Elija did some awesome stuff
• Spetacular view of the Meditterean and the Ba’ai Gardens
• Ice Cream Truck

Caesarea
 

From Deputation

• Beach on the Meditteren
• Were only there for 30 minutes… =(
• Ancient Roman aquaduct right there on the water! Poor choice building on the Sand, silly Romans. Should have visited the Mount of the Beatitudes first…
• Got my jeans pretty soaked, Trey and several others decided to strip down and jump in (Skivvies only…or, as Jenny our Brittish friend would say: Pants only)
• Never getting time at the beach = a piece of my heart never getting satisfied. Right next to the part of my heart that never get peanut butter or bacon or mashed potatoes or tacos or milk or OJ or cerial…..

McDonalds

• Our single act of patriotism. Supporting Cooperate American Supremacy. I opted for for the chicken sandwich from the 10-Sheckle Menu. Total Rip-off. Trey got a Big Mac ™ . Paid for it later.

Oh geez….  *takes big breath*

That’s a lot of stuff, there.

Infused amongst it all, and almost more importantly… I had ample time to reflect while on the bus when I wasn’t socializing.

Praying a ton, reading… and really feeling God working in me about patience and judging others… to unpack this statement completely would take more than what I’ve already said… suffice it to say, there’s some interesting characters on this trip. And my heart, being full, in some respects cannot wait to get home, or to someplace where I don’t have to be on edge. And being patient to let this time do it’s work is key… but I’m starting to miss home. The green forests. The deep blue bodies of water where-ever I turn in Seattle. The Music, oh… the music. The Friends. The Lady… it’s rough.  And honestly, there are times where if I could, I’d teleport right over there from here. And then I have to tell myself:

no. This is where I need to be. If I keep looking forward, I’ll miss the significance of the right-now.

And keep telling myself.

And get to my host-home, and feel so completely the opposite of “at home”… almost the exact antithesis. To be tired regardless of how much I sleep.

It is trying to my soul, but I know it must be true: that I’ll be better for this. I’ll be stronger. I’ll have a better understanding of myself, and how stinky I can get. Of who I want to be, and who He wants me to be. Of me. For me. Through me.

Honestly, politics aside, people just need to be loved. That’s all I see here, when it comes down to it…. Everywhere. And we’re all just so stubborn and reluctant to do so…

Christ, preserve me. Uplift my spirit, encourage me and Trey. May Your peace soak us in this thoroughly dusty land…

Shotgun- Update

I've made my frist visit to an Internet Cafe here... got super tired of trying to cut in edgewise with my host parent's addiction to Internet Poker (On Facebook no less, thank you Zynga). So I'll keep this farily quick, some highlights.

Interesting Wildlife:
-- Horse at/in the ATM
-- JUMPING spider!! O_O (In my bedroom!!)
-- Goats in the street

Interesting Places
-- East Jerusalem, turns out this place is actually technically one of the Israeli settlements. Comprises several settlements, in fact. Where the Israeli appartment complexes end and the Palistinian neighborhoods begin, no more sidewalks, nice streets, fountains, publicly servicable dumpsters, or watered lawns, or decent busses or schools. These particuar folks have Israeli citezenship and pay taxes just like the rest of the Israelis....
-- The "Bethlehem Meusem." $2 USD to see 8 rooms from 18th century homes. Totally a tourist trap, but sweet. According to Trey, we lost major street cred.
-- The Wall Lounge. A Restraunt here in Bethlehem with a projector screen attached directly to The Wall... interesting way of protest (?) or attempting to make light of the situation(?), great place to watch USA lose in the World Cup  >.<

Interesting Happenings
-- Someone in the group has started a Bible Study on Wednesday afternoons to compensate for our total inability to go to church because we're always traveling on Sunday. Should be awesome, there seems to be about 8 of us interested. =)  Finally get some serious spiritual time in! It's been so difficult always sneaking it in the cracks in my schedule... in the morning... when I have a moment during Volunteer time, et cetera... That's honestly been one of the most difficult things for me is really staying connected with Christ. Be praying for me in this regard... my heart is full. My spirit grows tired...

Mas Salaame, sadiiqi (Go with Peace, my friend) -- I don't know how to make this plural yet! Maybe I'll ask in Arabic class today...

Little trouble in Big Bethlehem

There’s been a recent grumbling amongst certain unnamable followers of this blog that some of you may be wondering what my daily schedule is.



Consider yourself lucky, that I have a moment while “on the job” ;)

Typically, each morning begins at about 7:30am with me literally peeling myself out from amongst my sweaty bed-sheets (I know, mega-gross. The nights are rather toasty here…) Shortly following, after I’ve already “put myself together” I usually have to remind Trey that breakfast will be soon (Promptly at 8am) and as we both know at this point, to miss a meal seems to be quite the offense to our host family. (Their generosity and overbearing hospitality does have it’s dark side…)

Breakfast has consistently consisted of pita with a wide selection of “dips” including amazingly fresh hummus, homemade marmalade, olive-oil, thyme mixed with sesame seeds, fried (or hard-boiled) eggs, and this white chunky stuff the two of us generally avoid. And always, as with every meal, it’s served with sweet tea with fresh mint.

Yeah. Elaborate. But awesome.

From there, I walk or bus into Bethlehem where my volunteer job is. (Doing all sorts of different things, actually… I stuffed envelopes the other day. Fixed a computer. Typed a bunch of stuff into better English, etc etc... Cool people though when they're around. There's also a few pianos there, and I'm definitely taking time out of my day to practice music. =)). Sometimes I even might get lost and wander around downtown for a hot-hour (Christie, that’s for you! ;) ) struggling in the heat and hills until about 5 taxi drivers converge and “help” me find where the place is...but it’s not like that really happens, I mean, it could. Probably. ;) Volunteering officially is from 9am to 2pm.

Between 2pm and 3pm, I have time to travel to the Bethlehem Bible College, maybe chill a bit, who knows. Arabic lessons at the college from 3 – 5, and then after that, the schedule is different for each day. Yesterday, for example, we learned some of a traditional Palestinian folk dance called Dabkeh. (Pretty awesome, I might say). Tomorrow we have some “football” and BBQ going on with the team.

That’s the typical day. ;)   All kinds of adventures, mishaps, and thinking about my girl back home (^_^) are typically thrown in-between for variety, I can assure you. Like trying to get a “burger” at 9pm two nights ago when me and Trey were starving. 40 minutes later… ughhh…. We finally got our "food". I don’t even really feel like talking about it. And how when we got back to our host family, they were upset with us because they’d saved us dinner food in an obscure metal dish hidden among all the other pans… SO frustrating! >.<

Anywho, I suppose I should get back to work!

Take care, all of you. Your thoughts and prayers on constantly appreciated! Shokran! (Thank You!) It makes it a little easier to be so far and away from everything I know, regardless of how exciting it is to be over here… a faint amount of home-sickness started to settle in my heart this morning… you guys really are helpful in that respect.

Hope you’re holding things together back home ;)

Mas salaama!

"I Have Business to Attend to in Remallah..."

If it wasn't for your constant prayers, and the near-constant supply of falaffel and rice with lentils and schwarma and pita...I'd be dead. Exhausted. Helps with the sleep, I must admit (which has been fab-u-lous by the way). The heat does to, but our past few days have been packed.

I fully anticipate that eventually the frequency of these posts will subside, but it's all fresh and new still!

Finally, after nearly a week, my mind and heart have become set in this place. After walking the city, "talking" with the people, hearing Arabic conversationally and musically all day long... I'm here. I'm in Bethlehem and I'll be here for two months. Well, closer to 7 weeks at this point, but still.

Oh, and another fact of life that reminds me I'm in a very far away land:

From Deputation

I've seen several of these around at this point. Makes me wonder if they're actually doing anything useful in these parts...


The other day, Me and Trey and the rest of our team spent the entire day traveling, building relationships, and getting baked by the sun...but it was awesome. Really got to know some of the folks on the team owing something to the hours of bus riding and bus-breaking-down-ing (see Image below).

From Deputation

On a more serious note, however, the point of the trip was to expose us to some of the tragedy happening here in Palestine. Besides the ever present wall one experiences where-ever one travels around this land, the first thing we saw as we traveled North was one of the so-called Illegal Israeli Settlements . Honestly, it was rather disgusting. Surrounded by the poverty of Palestinians and the water-starved landscape there this settlement stood among the desert like a green gem, perched on a hill (like every other city around this part of the world). Locals of the West Bank are not permitted to enter the settlements or use some of the surrounding roads. As I've heard, the idea is to cut the West Bank in half with these towns, tearing apart the Palestinians even more. (I have photos, they don't seem inclined to upload themselves. >.< ). As one of the more... opinionated... team members stated, Israel's goal is to kill all the Palestinians and that Israel is a terrorist state that will be wiped from the planet. Needless to say, I don't exactly share these views. Don't worry. But it was weird to encounter such a blatant perspective

We continued on, through the various sectors until we reached Sector A, which is completely under the legislative and military control of Palestine, toward one of the Refugee "Camps." (Built in '48, they're just as permanent as anything else around). As we were being shown the bullet holes Israeli soldiers left in 2002, I couldn't help but notice the children playing in the street...

From Deputation

such a confusing contrast...

We also visited a Woman's center, and a Media Center which had a really great mission. They aim at educating children in visual arts to allow them to express the horrors that they've experienced in the society and through the wars... to start a cultural revolution that will eventually repel the Western and Israeli cultural influences and re-establish an identity of their own. In the middle of a refugee camp. In a place where they are constantly confronted with pain and hurt established by generations of violence.

We saw the houses that were bulldozed to build another section of wall:

From Deputation

Or the houses that were torn in half, just as many families of this town were similarly cut in half... for the life of me, I can't remember his name, but we also had the chance to hear from a renown ex-Freedom-Fighter that now strongly advocates non-violence. Very wise were many of his words and answers.... heavily confident in the next generation, although I fear the next generation may have already have been tainted by the scars of their fathers...


After that day, all I wanted to do was process. To sit... and figure out what I'd just seen. I suppose I had plenty of that time on the bus, but that wasn't all that alone, all that focused of a mental space. (Taylor Swift's You Belong with Me may or may not have been sung on the bus-mike by me... ;)

The only thing I could seem to grasp after the end of the day, was that the world is a place that is full of suffering. The evil contained within the human heart is not something that knows geographical boundaries...it is ever present. It is in America, it is in Great Brittan, it is in the Sudan, it is everywhere. And regardless of how many "good people" a society may contain, that somehow doesn't seem to make all that much of a difference. People need something more in addition to social service and volunteerism.

They need Christ.

And so, I push on, explaining myself and attempting to articulate this love I've been given to others as the time arises... and also as I do computer tech-support and web-development for a small music academy in Bethlehem! (My official task!) I may also be visiting Remallah where the family of one of the team members lives, along with Trey. Should be pretty stellar. 8)   <--- *Stunna Shades*

Sorry if the post seems... abrupt in many subjects. So much has happened... maybe I should start focusing on individual events, yes? I feel it'd seem less disjointed. Hmm... but the whole time has seemed strangely disjointed for myself aswell. Pray for my brain and heart!

God's Peace to each of you! Your thoughts, prayers, and Google Voicemails have been hugely appreciated!!! =D

Mas Salaam!

Some Photos!!

From Deputation

Me and Trey in Beit Sehoor (House of Waking) just south of Bethlehem where we're staying. We're on top of one of the more significant buildings in the area, because it's owned by a related member of our household (as is just about everyone on the block! Things are like that around here...huge families that cluster together.

From Deputation

Looking north toward Bethlehem

From Deputation

Me and the other Beit Sehoor-ers outside The Shepherds Field (Like, where the shepherds saw the angels! Or at least the traditionally believed location. Probably close enough )

From Deputation

The "Peace Wall." An ever-present reminder of the crazy prejudice going on here... from inside looking toward Israel, you'll see all the graffiti. Some it it is pretty powerful stuff...more to come. Not to sound like the political agenda is sinking in, it's just that the local politics are ever present and the grim reality of the situation inescapable.






I've got more pics from the other day too I'll be getting up here. We got Trey's bag from Jerusalem (Thank the Lord!) and spent some time exploring with one of our friends along with more of Bethlehem. Today we're doing some traveling also, I'll keep ya'll posted. ;)

Mas Salaam!

Day 1.5 -- The Journey Ends, the Adventure Begins

Note: Interested in leaving me a voicemail while I'm unable to use my cellphone? Use the GoogleVoice button at the bottom of any BoundlessChrist page and follow the instructions. I'll be able to check them from my email. =) (But not respond). Your warm wishes from home are much appreciated!

Someone once said, to live would be an awfully big adventure.

I can certainly say that we have lived life in a big way these past few days.

Getting here amounted to what was probably the most stressful 24 hours of either me or Trey's life. Getting everything gathered and packed the night before leaving (with time for zero sleep) only compounded the problems later in the day: in Dallas, about an hour before our plane was scheduled to leave, Trey discovered that his bag had been misdirected to be dropped of in Texas. He had to run down, grab his bag, take it back through security... etc... terrible. In all, about an hour long process, all the while, I had no idea what was going on (no cell phones. O_o ). Got back in time to find out that he got booted from the flight, and had to make it on another, leaving us with no time to coordinate what we were doing once we were in London.

All I knew was I'd get there two hours before he did, and that he was now flying American Airlines, not Brittish. Along the way, I ended up sitting next to two Mormon gals who were heading out for their year-and-a-half long missions trip and were very interesting to talk with. Spent quite a long time talking about God and what we believe "Oh, I just love learning about what other people's beliefs are!" I think were "Sister Alexander"'s words. Mm... they were pretty cool though, left me with a couple things to think about. One of them was talking about how after she had prayed, God had given her a verse and how it was exactly what she needed to hear and how great having relationship with God is and etc. How this book has really changed her life... made me wonder what was really going on. When we departed ways at the airport, they gave me their only extra copy of the Book of Mormon (I tried to refuse... *sigh*... I have no idea what to do with it! At least it's not going to someone else, I suppose).



In London, I and Trey were met with another nightmare. Essentially, we spent the entire 14 hour layover not having a clue where the other person was and trying to wait in various places hoping against hope of finding the other. Trey did venture into the city, whereas I chickened out at the last second. Thought it'd be lame to visit all by myself, and from the sounds of what Trey said, it was pretty lame. Crazy stressful.

I figured that if all else fails, we were to meet at a terminal for our flight out at 1030pm. I woke up from a nap at 9:40, headed over there, and I'm telling you, there are few other faces that could make me feel so suddenly good as Trey's as we ran into eachother in the bathroom....

The flight to Tel Aviv was wonderfully uneventful. I will say that the food on these flights was absolutely incredible. I mean, I haven't had anything besides peanuts or pretzels to eat on a plane in goodness knows how long. Curried Chicken, rolls, salad, dessert, drinks, milk... so good! =D

Tel Aviv: turns out Trey's luggage didn't make it from London. -_-  HOWEVER, we made it in the country without a hitch, which was such a blessing! We made it! Met at the exit by a man (not to be confused with this who took us to Bethlehem from the airport...where we met our host family (who are going to be pretty sweet, especially the food!!!! and the couple of kids that are totally awesome! I was playing with one of the kids and his mom told him that I don't actually speak Arabic... the kid disagreed, a fact I found quite amusing).

Trey is still trying to track down his Luggage and may have to visit the airport to get it all figured out... something that's just killing him. I don't blame him =/  . Be praying for his situation! That he get's his stuff! Otherwise, we're alive and well, thinking of home much... it's just starting to set in how far and away both in space and time we really are from Seattle...

[IMAGES TO COME SOON]

[Also, If you're inters

Almost Gone

Almost gone!
My last several hours in america, being spent here in Dallas, TX. So surreal. So glad to have my teammate Trey with me... I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that...I'm not coming back any time soon. What I packed is what I have, and considering I finshed packed at 330am, I hope to God I didn't forget anything!

T-Minus 4 Days: Is This Really Happening?

As another quarter comes to a close, as friends leave and graduate, as yet again I find all my belongings making their way into boxes and Trader Joes bags, I'm left in a very confused state.

This is really happening. -- I keep telling myself. Over and over... In four days, I'll be in Bethlehem!   It's like my brain just doesn't have the never centers to process that. Like a computer without a floppy drive, I cannot read this type of data...this "magnetic tape" of experience yet. I have to be there before I can know what to expect...

My mother called me the other day, feeling that God was speaking to me about the upcoming trip and cited Acts chapter 13 (excerpt below)

²While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate now for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

³Then after fasting and praying, they put their hands on them and sent them away.

⁴So then, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from [that port] they sailed away to Cyprus.

The whole chapter in general has to do with the journeys of Paul (Saul) and Barnabas, but it's this intro part that really concerns itself with the setting out of the trip. What an awesome example of community! Supporting, commissioning, and praying over these men...but beyond that, and most significantly, was the work of the Holy Spirit in orchestrating the whole venture. Everything else was merely a result of His prompting, of His action within at directly to the people.

Have I felt this prompting? Maybe. I know beyond anything else that this is something I need to do, regardless of dangers both physical and...erm... financial. Maybe that's the Spirit's prompting, those strong feelings.

And now, I have packing to attend to....and cleaning.... the stuff of life is so clingy! Just like an ecosystem, every possible niche and perceived "need" becomes occupied and rooted with memory and sentiment until the days come when you must transplant it all elseplace... messy messy messy!