So far...

Wow, they really weren't kidding when they advised us to "practice walking." It's not the walking that hurts, it's being on your feet from 8am until 6pm every day, and then again most nights. It's Sunday evening; since arriving on Friday night we have had walking "tours" of the Old City, all the gates, around all the walls, through the surrounding valleys, been in all four quarters (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Armenian), seen different things like the Via Dolorosa, St. Anne's Cathedral (the birthplace of Mary and where the pool from John 5 is located), the probable site of Golgatha (Church of the Holy Sepulchre), the City of David (not in the walled Old City of Jerusalem), Hezekiah's Tunnel, the Siloam Pool, and the Western Wall. Not to mention the lectures and different tour programs and models about Jerusalem through the centuries and how many times it has been conquered and changed hands.

Western Wall

The weather has been great; a little chilly but beautiful, blue skies & sunny. Last night we went to the Western Wall (aka the Wailing Wall) and took a tour of the wall underground (only a small fraction of it is showing; most of it is encompassed by the Muslim quarter, where the Arabs have built their houses into the wall. Beneath what is visible, the wall goes 40 feet down). The largest rock that Herod used was 40 feet long, 10 feet high, and 12 feet deep, weighing 600 tons, and no one knows how they were able to move it there...no equipment that we have in existence today would be able to move it. (Jamie I remember you telling me about this after your trip, it was fun to see it!) :) Tomorrow I think we are hitting the temple mount and some other things in the Jerusalem area before heading out to surrounding areas for day trips until we leave to go south on Saturday.

Kim & I around midnight at the western wall

Here are some pics around town: the Dome of the Rock (which we'll see better tomorrow); some houses in the City of David, which is now an Arab village; a model of the walled city during the 2nd Temple Period (Herod's temple mount; 539 BC - 70 AD); and some candles in St. Anne's Cathedral...

This afternoon we went into Hezekiah's Tunnel. I was expecting it to be a lot colder, but it was fine, and it was kinda fun in there! It was built to bring water into the city from a spring outside the wall. They started chiseling from separate ends, and it gets pretty windy and zigzaggy in the middle; it's a wonder the two crews ever found each other under the mountain! It's over 580 yards and takes about 30-40 minutes to get through. At some points it's shallow water, other times up to your thighs; it's pretty narrow through the whole thing, and you are stooping over in areas, and in other areas the ceiling is really high. Oh, and it's pitch black in there! This is one of the coolest thing we've done so far (in two days!).

Kim getting a little deeper

Some of the ladies in our group after emerging from the tunnel

Making friends...

...friends with guns. There are more...with different soldiers...maybe I will make a collage. :)

we made it...

Shrine at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

This will be short...I haven't slept since 6 hours on Wednesday night. We made it safe and sound this afternoon, and we're now at our hotel in Jerusalem (we're ten hours ahead of the west coast). They drove us through the West Bank on the way here; the highway was completely blocked off from Palestinian villages with tall walls and barbed-wire fences, so they really have no access to highways, Jerusalem, or anyplace in Israel in a timely manner. We learned how to tell the difference between the flat-roofed houses of Arab villages and the red slate rooves of the Jewish villages.

We glimpsed the Dome of the Rock as we drove to our hotel in Old City Jerusalem near sunset. We dropped off our bags at our hotel and walked through the windy alleys to change some money and ended up at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is thought to be built on Golgatha, where Jesus was crucified. Tomorrow we'll go more inside the walls and gates and temple and all that. I'm so tired! :)

procrastination station

I'm back in LA for less than 24 hours. Christmas was jolly, it even snowed. Here Lindy and I ran outside for about a minute. It didn't stick though. Now begins the fun adventure of repacking my suitcase, for farther destinations this time. Tomorrow at this time I'll be sitting on a plane waiting to take off on a direct flight from LAX to Tel Aviv! And I'll be sitting on that plane for the following 13 hours.

So I am blogging, emailing, and I'll go for a run...I HATE packing. I usually need someone in the room with me to just sit there and make sure I am staying on task. Almost everyone is out of town, so I shall forge ahead on my own this time. After I make a few phone calls...

28-year-old ornament

Merry Christmas

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

To be honest, it is easier for me to find meaning in Easter than Christmas. It's easier for me to look past the bunnies and chocolate to the resurrection of Christ, than it is for me to pay no attention to Christmas trees, carols, cookies and gifts (oh, the gifts).

Especially this Christmas as my family learns to adjust to new traditions amidst separations and changes, the reason we're all together is sometimes easy to overlook.

In light of looking more directly toward Grace, its meaning, its implications, and its Creator and Giver, Christmas is a reminder of the great lengths God went to, the great Grace he extended, to reconcile to himself those who were undeserving and frankly incapable of understanding his gift.

When it is a question of a sinner He does not merely stand still, open his arms and say, "Come hither"; no, He stands there and waits, as the father of the lost son waited, rather He does not stand and wait, He goes forth to seek, as the shepherd sought the lost sheep, as thewoman sought the lost coin. He goes - yet no, He has gone, but infinitely farther than any shepherd or any woman, He went, in sooth, the infinitely long way from being God to becoming man, and that way He went in search of sinners. --Soren Kierkegaard

quote of the day

"I do all my glove and scarf shopping in England."
-Mom

go seahawks :)

listening to the rain

I'm home...Seattle home that is. It's pouring rain at the moment and I am inside in my pjs sipping cider with nothing to do today but wrap presents and see about getting some form of exercise at some point. :)

Mom and I went shopping last night for a lot of those last minute detail things for Israel. I leave on Thursday! It feels like I lost Christmas somewhere in between school and packing lists and international travel warnings (our professors are very good [err, obsessive] at updating us on any little detail that pertains to traveling, Israel, our trip, or anything that has to do with anyone who ever went anywhere). I'll have a day to pack when I get back to LA then we're off.

My sister and brother-in-law are staying here with my mom right now while they're in transition with some job stuff. It's fun having them around! They're gone for the weekend to Portland to see his family, so I will have some much-needed forced relaxation for a few days. I have friends to see, but once I get here and I don't have to do anything, it's so hard to want to make the calls and give up coveted do-nothing time! I'll get around to it, I guess. My supply of friends up here has dwindled over the years; it's hard to maintain lots of friendships when only in town for a few days at a time, and when usually I want to spend those days with family. But there are some left. :)

My sister has all her presents wrapped and under the tree...in skull paper. :) She made it herself (this pic is with my cell phone so not too clear). Silly girl.

the boss

A few months ago I switched over to the youth (jr. high, high school, college) departments at work. With that transition came a new boss...it's a good change I think. Keeps me on my toes.

It must be the end of the year.

Uh...ummm....letting off some steam at a Christmas party this weekend...

Losing My Mind, Vol. 2, Issue 17


So, that Monday night appt. that I have every week? The one where I locked my keys in my car twice last month. The same one I've had every single week, same time, same place, for the last 9 months. I missed that meeting tonight. Wasn't even a blip on my radar. Wouldn't have even known I'd missed it if not for the concerned message on my voicemail that came later on. Wow. No big deal, you say. Ah, but I don't miss things. I am (anally, some might say) aware of my schedule and what is going on around me. I am a responsible adult who follows through.

Unless it's at the end of a semester in the middle of Christmas season when I have a trip home looming and an international trip planned immediately afterward. (Last year around this time I forgot to turn in my Joshua curriculum to my independent study professor...that curriculum that my whole grade was based upon. Whoopsies! I remembered it on my flight to Seattle. Thankfully he took it over email and we all lived happily ever after...)

I'm just saying...lots on my mind + lack of sleep = decrease in effective brain function.

To change the subject a bit, the other day I was laying on my bedroom floor and found myself face to face with my carpet. You know the kind...old apartment carpet. The kind where other people's stains come back up about a month after you've moved in.

It got me thinking about how we see ourselves. Seems it's a constant struggle not to liken ourselves to that old carpet. No matter how much you clean it or what you do to it, it's still a dirty old carpet. Likewise, no matter how much "cleaning" or how many good things we do, eventually those old "stains" come out and still remain the things that we define ourselves by. To take the metaphor to utter ridiculousness, it's a challenge to really grasp the fact that we've been made "new carpet" ... ok I'm done with that one. But this seems to be a theme in my thinking lately: grace, sin, and taking them both seriously. More later maybe.

And for the record, our carpet is really not that bad...just one faint largish stain in the living room that looks like someone spilled juice a long time ago or something.

little lindy lauren

Little sister turns 26 today!

Lindy & Nate in the Safeco Field dugout in Seattle last spring

I am
done with school for the semester.
done with my Christmas shopping.
done with work. (Ok, I wish. 4 more days and then I'm off for a month!)
exhausted.

On a side note, I love being 28!

On another side note, I ran last night, an easy 3 miles, for the first time since The Fracture. All is well. I feel my rib, but it's not pain. Enough slacking off now! :)

Only in Southern California

.....do I see an ice cream truck. In December. In what some may even call cold(ish) weather. (I'm wearing a sweater anyway, because the AC in the office is cold.) And yes, it was playing Christmas music.

Luke's emphasis on social activism :)

At the Getty...yet another random picture to make blog seem more enticing

You're going to think I've gone totally off the social gospel deep end after reading this post. (Or not. I hope not. I haven't. I just keep learning things that are contributing to my conviction that we - evangelicals - do not pay enough attention to this area.)

So I just finished project #2, a "biblical theology on community and leadership in the local church." That was a mouthful. The project was even more complicated. Anyway, I just spent a lot of time in the "outreach" section in Luke and Acts, and our Dr. Luke seems to have had quite an emphasis on helping the poor! I've identified three values: Association, Advocacy, and Giving (can anyone think of an "A" word for "giving"???) ...

Association: spending time with sinners and the needy. Jesus did it. The disciples did it. From eating with Zaccheus, to spending time and healing the sick and demoralized, to showing concern for needy widows, Jesus made this a priority. (Really if you've spent any time studying the life of Christ you've recognized this.) Peter and John healed a crippled beggar; Philip talked with the Ethiopian eunuch; Peter interacted with a paralytic, a widow, a tanner (who was by definition ceremonially unclean), and Gentiles. (I don't feel like typing out references, but I can give them to you if you want.) Point: Jesus and his disciples spent a large amount of time associating with sinners, poor, marginalized. Do we? We can't love them or tell them anything (the gospel!) if we don't, and words are better received from those who have established themselves in relationship and service to those they wish to reach.

Advocacy: defending and upholding the cause of the poor. God is concerned for the poor: see the Sermon on the Mount (Luke's version, especially 6:20-21); the poor are the focus of God's banquet (14:15-24); the Messiah was identified by his concern for the poor (7:18-23); God focuses on ministry to the poor (16:19-31). We cannot highlight this emphasis in Scripture enough, and this is only from Luke! We must advocate for the poor and marginalized who are unable to do so for themselves. This includes working to change laws and social structures that foster disparity and raising awareness on social justice issues.

Giving: sharing with the poor and needy. John the Baptist exhorted his listeners to share with the needy (Luke 3:7-14); the Pharisees were exhorted to share with the poor (Luke 11:39-41); Jesus recommended giving to the poor (Luke 12:33); the poor as the focus of ministry without expectation for repayment (Luke 14:12-14); the rich young ruler is exhorted to give all to the poor (Luke 18:22); Paul reminds us of Jesus’ concern for the poor (Acts 20:32-35). After meeting the needs within the body, we are also called to help the poor and needy financially.

Biblically I believe we are to care for the needs of other believers first, but we can't lay aside the clear call to care for the poor in general. Again, our emphasis on evangelism and salvation is key. But evangelicals are a long way off from a proper balance of evangelism and social justice concerns. Including myself. This all just represents recent personal convictions in this area and my attempt at a biblical, balanced perspective. :)

briefly...

1. It is the return of my ADD. It seems to only present itself when I have great amounts of work to be done. Take today, for example. I am going to sit here in front of my computer all day working on three projects that are due Wednesday. Same plan for tomorrow, and Monday night, etc. etc. Yet I am happy to get up to do anything else possible; things that I would ordinarily frown upon. Deep cleaning the bathroom. Cleaning out my closet. Cleaning out the fridge. (Why do these all involve cleaning?!)

2. I am abnormally sore today. I am trying not to do much these days because I actually did fracture my rib Thanksgiving week (well, Nick did it) and broken rib bones don't take kindly to running, twisting, laying down, breathing... I am off the pain meds but feeling sore today and I've come to the realization that last night's Indian Leg Wrestling Match with my roommate (it was more like a demonstration) involved nearly all of those frowned upon activities.

All right, it's back to my Apologetics outlines, please stop distracting me.

This is my "why."

At a great trafficking seminar on Saturday I heard a wonderful illustration: A man held up a $10 bill to the group he was addressing and asked, "How much is this worth?" The answer, of course, is $10. Then he crumpled up the bill, stomped on it, and put a small tear in it. "Now how much is it worth?" he asked. The answer is still $10.

People are the same. No matter what we do, or what is done to us, we don't lose our value as people made in the image of God.

That is really where my heart is in any kind of ministry...that people (particularly women & girls in my case) understand and realize their value and worth. More often than not it takes a great work of redemption and restoration on God's part, and it's that part that I long for in people's lives. I've seen it in my own, and I want it for others. From the high school girls in my church to the women and kids who are rescued from the very worst circumstances imaginable in a brothel or the street...all are inherently valuable because of who they are and who made them; no one ever decreases in worth. A realization and understanding of this truth empowers and restores. God is indeed in the business of redemption.

This is why I do what I do. :)

surprise in my cereal bowl

This is after the senseless drowning.

freeing the oppressed

A few weeks ago I was explaining the trafficking issues to an older, missionary gentleman and he looked at me blankly and said, "Must be a generational thing." Huh.

This isn't generational. It's a 9 billion dollar annual industry (in the U.S. alone). Modern-day slavery involves 20 to 30 million people worldwide. It's not a generational thing.

Here's what I think: Catholics have the social justice thing down. Evangelicals have the evangelism thing down. But when Jesus quoted Isaiah 61 he didn't stop at "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." He continued, "He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD."

So, yes, trafficking victims need to hear the gospel, and I believe that Jesus is the only one who can ultimately set them free and heal them. But the message will not have much of an impact if we do not address their oppression, their basic needs, their distress.

This is not a generational thing. It's a misunderstanding of a proper balance between evangelism and social justice. You can't have one without the other. It's like a plane with two wings; it can't fly with just one of them. This applies to ministry in general, I believe. A mother will not pay much attention to your words if she doesn't know how she's going to feed her child its next meal. Jesus met physical and spiritual needs. We need to do both as well.