Being Called...

In my post a few days ago titled "I wonder" a few students of mine took offense to my musings. This is great, they were wanting to defend the cause of their parents who are working in Papua as translators, a noble work. I would have wanted to defend as well, since my parents were missionaries. They made a comment about their parents being called to their work and that made me wonder again. What does that mean being called? My parents also were called, Pastors are called, my brother was called to France...are we all called? Are we called to saving faith and then called to a ministry? Can we be called to whatever vocation we choose or is any vocation we choose a calling. Does it matter? Is a calling a desire?
Paul talks that some of us are called to be pastors, teachers etc. so is calling using our gifts in the local body here and beyond? If that is true, then we are all called to use our gifts within the local body to the glory of God?
On a side...when I wonder, I really am wondering! When I wonder about what a missionary is, I really do wonder? It is my fundamental desire to use words to describe what is, rather then what we want it to be.
When Scotty W. asked us if we wanted to go to Fiji to be directors of their school ..was that a calling and we said no? Or...are we called here to Lynden because that is where we are?
All my life I was told not only by my parents but by the Christian community that being in ministry was the highest calling...If I did not go into full time ministry somehow whatever else I was doing was not going to be as good as being a missionary or whatever other full time ministry was out there.
In this kind of thinking we do a disservice to all who are following Jesus in whatever "calling" they have. Scott who works in a refinery every day in the cold and rain, rubbing shoulders with souls is called to this hard work so he does his best work. If we uphold the ordinary tasks ...doesn't the call to be the best make every job a full time ministry?
We have to stop placing work in categories of called work and not-called work. This makes everything we do that good work if it is translating in Papua or refinery work in Ferndale. Maybe being called is the attitude in which we do our work wherever or whatever it is.

Christmas 08

Hello everyone..I am hoping you are all having a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am going to be posting quite a bit during the Christmas season and I hope you come along for the ride. I have done this in the past ...thoughts about the season from the Christmas story. This is a great avenue for me to write to someone who wants to read...I hope you don't mind. I probably won't write every day but at least 3 or 4 times a week, much for me so that the season does not slip away into the meaningless. Thank you ...again and again for your patience with my ramblings and your interest.

Wouldn't that be lovely!

Dear all,
We are looking for someone who could come out for 4-6 months as Fixer. We are looking for a jack of all trades who is willing to train 2-3 Papuan guys as we go. Needs to have good Christian character and value the long term discipleship input for the guys being trained as much as the short term fixing that is going on. Bit of carpentry for some building rehab, bit of electrical, bit of mechanical, bit of plumbing. The Papuan guys I have speak English so this person doesn't have to have Indonesian language skills but that would be helpful. Being able to flex, improvise and do it all on the cheap in a setting like Papua takes a pretty special person.
This could work into a longer term deal with overseeing construction site in Napua, possibly helping with sawmill operation and a bunch of other "possibilities." First off we would like the person to come to Bok and help with leveling some buildings, helping with some electric and plumbing issues at the APCM and MAF complexes. From there the sky is the limit!
If you know someone who would be good at this please get them in touch with me. This could be a young single guy or retired couple or anything in between! God seems to send us interesting folks that don't fit the "box" so we are very open!
scotty ( That is Scotty Wisely in Bokodini...makes us think)

Why the new do....

You may ask what convinced me to change everything about my hair, well like everything else there is a story. It started 14 years ago after Mijo was born...my normal blond hair that I had so willingly worn since my birth changed to a weird color brown. I was not ready to relinquish my blond so over these years in some way or other I made sure that I was more blond then brunette. The other day as I looked in the mirror I realized that maybe after all these years I could just go for it and become what my hair has been trying to do naturally for 14 years. So instead of slowly changing over...I went to the hair studio and jumped all the way into being a brunette. It is rather strikingly different...strange to see that familiar face with new hair. It is almost like my face needed the change, I feel younger...Nick says I look 25 now rather then the 35 I did with my other hair color. Nice of that Nick...knows how to make his Mom's day. I see my Mom in my face now...I miss her, I wonder what she would think of all I have become.

Being OK with ok

I was sitting next to a teacher-friend of mine and he was asking me how I was doing. "I'm OK", I said. OK? just OK? I was thinking, Hey...better then bad, buddy.
I'm usually OK, not great but not bad either. Is that OK?
Funny, how when you say a word over and over again it seems to lose its meaning. We really don't want to be OK we want to be doing great. Who doesn't?
But I think there is something really wonderful about being OK. There is a settled but not a settling in...there is a contentment but not a passivity. There is a wrestling but not an agitation. There is a sense of yearning but nor the angst of longing. There is a patience for what may come but not the worry of what won't. There is an anticipation but not a wariness. There is a sadness but not a depression. There is so much in two little letters.
So, it's OK to be OK...

I wonder...

I was thinking the other day...I think I think too much, as one of my co-workers told me.
Who is a missionary? What has been defined as a missionary, someone who goes overseas to bring the gospel to those who do not know is not the case anymore. When we were in Papua, it seemed most of the 'missionaries' were there to help other missionaries who were there to help the local church. Not much gospeling going on. There are missionaries who live here on my street in Lynden. Obviously not overseas, maybe bringing the gospel but then would they not be witnesses? A friend of mine is a houseparent, is she a missionary?
Who is a missionary? If you ask someone to support you financially are you then a missionary? What if you can work in the place you have gone, should you still ask for money to be there? Is a missionary a role like Pastor, elder etc. A person sent out by the church to do whatever the church asks them too? But what if the Church isn't really sending you? What if you are telling the church where you are going and what you are doing and they just need to give you money to be there? Why are their mission boards rather then sending churches? Who keeps the missionary accountable in that field of choice? Who is Pastoring them? It seemed that in Papua, there was an expat community to help the expat community. Sort of like a oil company with all the perks but the business was being a missionary, whatever that means. I am wondering about how we do things today, in our postmodern virtual world. What we did then should we do now? Maybe times have changed enough to change the way things are done.
I am wondering...

Elections

I think the whole world will be paying attention tomorrow to whom we elect. I have opinions, I have questions and tomorrow FINALLY it will be done. What has bothered me most this time around is that I trust no one. I don't believe anyone on TV, or on the Internet, or on the radio and most definitely nothing in print. Yet, that is the only source to get any information about anything. They kind of have us in a bind...what we know about any of the issues comes from people who are not bound by telling the truth so inevitable we end up thinking what we think because it seems to be the best. So how do we really know? What we spout has been spouted by others who think the same as we do by those who spout what they think we should know about any given subject. ARGH...McCain or Obama...McBama...what can they do really? God Bless America? Maybe we should Bless God America for a change.