Home to Africa

Well, it's official.  I'm going to Africa over spring break!!   I'm so excited.  This has been a dream of mine for 15 years---a major item on my bucket list!!

In case you don't know, I grew up in Liberia, West Africa as a Missionary Kid (MK).  We lived on a compound with about 50 other expatriate families from all over the world.  Our main purpose was radio station ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa).   My dad had his own radio program "Talk with the Pastor" along with many other technical and administrative duties over the years.   We also had a hospital/clinic/medical ministry.  The ELWA compound was located right on the Atlantic ocean---the beach was my playground.  My family lived at ELWA 8 out of 12 years between 1962-1974.  (We also spent one year in Jos, Nigeria.)  The other missionaries at ELWA became my extended family:  Aunts and Uncles and Cousins who are still dear to me.

In the 80's and 90's Liberia experienced massive civil war.  The country was decimated politically, economically, socially and physically.  ELWA was home to thousands of refugees in the early years of the war.  ELWA missionaries had to leave with what they could carry.  The compound was bombed, trees cut down for fuel, homes looted, the radio voice used for political purposes and finally silenced.  It's been a long road, but Liberia and ELWA are coming back.  There is great hope for the country and community of my childhood!!   Liberia's new president is making great strides in rebuilding the country.  Utilities are being restored.  People who love Liberia are moving back and helping make positive change in this weary country.  Radio station ELWA is back on the air and ELWA hospital is offering limited services. 

I will be going to ELWA with 9 'cousins' and and an 'Aunt & Uncle'--- 12 of us going to participate in the ALL Liberia Festival with Franklin Graham & the BGEA March 25-27, 2011.  I have not been assigned a task yet---I'm willing to do anything and very excited to serve!!




I know ELWA is not the same place I left 36 years ago.  The house I lived in was one of the first destroyed by bombs.  The beautiful palm trees that lined the beach are gone.  Much has changed.  But I'm hopeful to see and touch some memories of my childhood.  The tennis court my dad helped put in behind my house.  The road we raced our bikes on.  The school I went to.  The hospital where my sister was born.  The grave sites of Aunt Betty and Uncle Elsworth.  And, of course, the beach and the lagoon.

My husband's nephew and family live near ELWA.  I'm so excited to see them see first-hand the ministry they have to the Liberian people.  Their ministry is Spirit Liberia.

My Itenerary:
     Friday morning, March 18 -- leave Colorado Springs
     Saturday noon, March 19 -- arrive in Monrovia, Liberia
     Festival:  Friday-Sunday  March 25-27
     Sunday noon, March 27 -- leave Monrovia, Liberia
           Lay-over in Accra to visit with another 'cousin'
     Monday afternoon, March 28 -- arrive in Colorado Springs

I have a lot to do to get ready---it's a little overwhelming as I have not traveled internationally for 36 years and never as an adult.  

I will not be asking for financial help for my travel expenses.  I will, however, make known specific projects that need funding.  I hope to go bearing financial gifts that will meet specific needs of ELWA, Spirit Liberia and the Festival.  Stay tuned.   

I turn 50 just before my trip.....if you have any inclination to help me celebrate, I challenge you to think of something 50-ish to contribute to Liberia!!   50 minutes of prayer, 50 scripture promises, 1 minute of spiritual warfare for 50 days, 50 cents, 50 dollars.  You pray.  You think about it.  And do what you feel led to do!!

One more thing before I close.....I work at a charter high school of about 500 students:  Colorado Springs Early Colleges.  In the four years we have existed, 4 students from Liberia have attended CSEC.  I had the privilege of seeing a presentation done by one of our current Liberian students last fall.  "S" shared about growing up in Liberia during the civil war.  He showed pictures of places that I remember----buildings that are now riddled with bullets, run down---crumbling.  "S" experienced horrible things during the war---there was silence in the classroom as he shared as the students tried to wrap their brains around his story.   As I said before, there is great HOPE for Liberia.  I can't wait to bring hopeful pictures back to "S" of his birth country.  I want "S" to know the Liberia I knew---what it can be again!

I'm just realizing that of the hundreds--maybe thousands---of missionary or mission trip letters I've read over the years....this is the first one I've ever written!!

.....just passing through....
Robin

What's true? What's not?

I'm not feeling terribly clever tonight, but I'm willing to take the risk of being boring to get some words "on paper."






It's getting harder and harder to know what's true -- what's real.

• Photos can be 'photo-shopped' -- people added or deleted; facial expressions changed, unwanted objects removed; cars, buildings, even mountains added to a landscape.
• People can be altered -- makeup, hair color, plastic surgery.
• Faux is popular -- leather, wall treatments, fur.
• Music can be digitally re-mastered, lip synched, over-dubbed, distorted on purpose
• Someone can look wealthy, but in reality be heavily in debt on the verge of bankruptcy.
• News can be spun, slanted and combined with more opinion than facts.
• Political dialog can combine half-truths into non-truths.

Now if you think I'm opposed to PhotoShop, faux finishes, hair color and opinions in media, you're missing my point.


I'm just asking the question:   How do I know what's true?


I think I'm a reasonably intelligent person.  Given a set of facts, I can draw my own conclusions.  However, I know I am susceptible to being swayed by other's opinions.  During election seasons and during weeks like the past week, when there is as much if not more opinion as facts flying around, I long for a list of facts---just facts---so I can form my own opinion.


This week, at work, I'm interviewing prospective employees -- a task I don't particularly enjoy.   This person is putting up her best front, under pressure to make a good impression, maybe desperate enough to adjust the truth?   How do I know what's true?


I don't know that I have the answer.....but I do know what I can do to try to get to the truth.

1. Do the work, the research, the fact-finding for myself.
2. Look past the surface.  Probe a little deeper.
3. Be aware that what I see/hear might not be true without being suspicious or paranoid.
4. Avoid judging or jumping to conclusions too quickly.
5. Don't fall into the trap of comparing myself, my life or my possessions to pictures, people or movies that are most likely NOT real!
6. Ask God for discernment.  

So tomorrow, I will interview three more potential assistants.  Then I will need to choose who I am going to hire.  This person will work closely with me five days a week hopefully for years to come!  She will have the power to make my life miserable.  She will either be an asset or liability to the school.   Lord help me!  Show me what's true--what's real--what's important.


That's all for tonight....


.....just passing through....
Robin

I DELIGHT in weakness.....WHAT?

OK, so I decided to join the ranks of bloggers.  It's not a New Years resolution.  But it is purposeful in certain ways that I might or might not share as I go.  Right now I'm practicing the skill of NOT organizing the life out of something, NOT having a detailed plan and NOT being the perfectionist I tend to be.  I'm just going to dive in and see where it takes me.....


(I do have a tiny bit of a plan to share what my title "Peculiar Passages" is about....maybe next time.)


Several years ago, a friend gave me a little plaque that has this verse on it:

That is why, for Christ's sake, 

I DELIGHT 

in weaknesses, in insults, 

in hardships, in persecutions,

in difficulties. For when I am weak, 

then I am STRONG.

2 Corinthians 12:10

This verse was a huge encouragement to me in a rough patch of life and I have always had it near and visible where I do my daily quiet time.


This year, when I unpacked it to put it back out after Christmas decorations came down, I decided to put it on my kitchen window sill---front and center.   As I placed it there, the "I DELIGHT" jumped out at me.  I read the verse several times, then continued working in another room but the "I DELIGHT" kept replaying in the always whirling concoction of thoughts that is my brain.  I even walked back into the kitchen purposefully to look at it again.  Yup, it really does say "I DELIGHT"---on its own line, in all caps.


I DELIGHT in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, difficulties.....


Now, I've been a Christian for as long as I can remember.  And after a lifetime of Bible study and memorization, this verse certainly is not unfamiliar to me.   I just absolutely love that about God and the Bible.  It never gets old!  It's always fresh.  The old becomes new and the new becomes precious.


I DELIGHT....

So I'm taking to my Bible study resources and here's what I'm finding.....


Other words used in other versions:
       I take pleasure.....  (NKJ & ASV)
       I am well content, or quite content....  (NAS & New Living)
       I am happy....  (New Century)
       With good cheer....  (Message)


Greek definition:  (complete Strongs entry at the end, if you're interested....)
       What jumped out to me in the definition was:
                 decide to do willingly
                 be ready to
                 choose rather to be well pleased with


The definition of a related word contains an aspect of prospering.


I think I've always read this verse more like this:   "I'm willing to endure weaknesses, insults, hardships, etc. because somehow those weaknesses make me strong."   And I believed it with all my heart!  I think I was missing the whole aspect of choosing, being willing, deciding, DELIGHTING!


This week, there was a strange situation at work that caused a lot of extra work for me and increased stress along with it.  Looking back, I can see that on Monday, I was just stunned, Tuesday I was grumpy and resentful and had a horrible attitude, Wednesday I apologized to someone I had been disrespectful to on Tuesday and decided that being wronged, suffering because of someone else's actions, and being stressed did NOT give me permission to be grumpy or negative.  When I made that decision---that choice---it was like a burden lifted from me.   I felt lighter.   I could laugh and genuinely enjoy my work.  The situation did not go away, but I was overcoming!  I'm still hopelessly behind, but I am not in despair!  (now, that's another verse for another day!!)   


I am not foolish enough to think I have mastered this principle, (--and that's another verse for another day, too!)  but it has moved from a question to a conviction and a goal.   And seeing my weakness overcome with God's truth has made me STRONG!!   I can't explain it, but I experienced it!!


Okay---so I guess that's my first blog!


----just passing through.....
Robin
















Here is 2 Corinthians 12:6-11 from the Message if you want to read it for some context....
If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I'd still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I'll spare you. I don't want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you'd encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk. Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size - abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become. Well, now I've done it! I've made a complete fool of myself by going on like this.










The KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon

Strong's Number:   2106    Original Word Word Origin eujdokevw from (2095) and (1380) Transliterated Word TDNT Entry Eudokeo 2:738,273 Phonetic Spelling Parts of Speech yoo-dok-eh'-o     Verb  Definition it seems good to one, is one's good pleasure think it good, choose, determine, decide to do willingly, to be ready to, to prefer, choose rather to be well pleased with, take pleasure in, to be favourably inclined towards one    King James Word Usage - Total: 21 be well pleased 7, please 5, have pleasure 4, be willing 2, be (one's) good pleasure 1, take pleasure 1, think good 1