To This Unique Country - Philippines


Where do I start a description of the past 7 days. It is impossible to put into words the many new experiences that I have been a part of for the last week. The Philippines and the Filipinos are beautiful.

Dave and I are living in an upper-class house with the Bareng Family. The father is a mechanical engineer and the mother a doctor. They own a number of clinics, farms, and a popular restaurant. We drive a Toyota Innova (the SUV of the country). This car is smaller than most North American cars but is HUGE for the Filipinos.

Every morning, Dave and I wake up at about 5:30 and are down for breakfast at 6:20. Showering here is a neat experience. Filipinos save water by using a bucket in the shower and pouring the water over the body, as needed - this is unique to this country. We travel to school with our entire family: the son (Arvin) is dropped off at school and the wife (Emma Joy) goes to her clinic and then the father (Rudy), Dave and I travel to Northwestern University.

Classes have been a great way to learn about the entire history, culture, literature, economics and life of the Filipinos. We need to drink many litres of water while in class. The other students think that we are Mormons because of our dress code (white dress shirt and black pants. We joke about this with our family; daily, they laugh at us because we look like Mormons.

Last night was one of the most unique experiences in my life. Picture this...two white boys step out of a Toyota SUV into a Filipino evening. The large, open windowed cement building is lit by green lights, Filipinos turn stare and the air becomes vacuumed. The strangers approach the place where the Filipino delicasy was originated and then they sit on patio chairs. Their host (Rudy) pays for the new treat as the travelers become more anxious at the sight and smell of new adventures. Then, the host says, "No, you just suck the juice out". Out of what you ask? Yes, none other than a chicken egg with a FETUS in the middle. It is a Filipino favorite called Ba lout. The night is capped off with Enpanada's and Coke.

To - South East Asia

4 Weddings this summer - I think that number is not going to decrease as the summers go on. Growing up? Becoming. Seriousness? What does it all mean?

A Sailers Life for Me

A good summer of sailing has come to an end. I have a new appreciation for the elements, wind and water. There is nothing like feeling the force that 13knots of wind can do to 9000 pounds of boat.

gRavity
By John Terpstra

A tree is the perfect foil to gravity; gravity and its insidious ability
to make that sweet pull downward at the end of the day seem like
desire.
Fruit falls from the branch, as do leaves, so we know at least
that a tree too is subject to the law.
But with all its force and strength a tree goes unequivocally
in two directions at once. Poised at ground level, it finds the air
above free and unexplored and the earth liquid with possibility.
The greater the pressure gravity exerts upon it, the stronger and
more obstinate it grows. A tree refuses any single, overweening
influence.
While living in complete compliance.
As one who is called both to the centre of the earth and to the
sun.



I think we had a similar thought...but he put my words more eloquently.
Thanks John

Using Trees

The tree is used as a symbol or metaphor for a number of lessons. Artists at my school seem to enjoy the tree as an artistic means to express their confusion with life, God's Grandeur, and the heights or depths of their being. I have never seen so many diverse paintings of trees. Environmentalists hug trees in hopes of preserving land or sustaining the natural environments habitats. Writers like Annie Dillard use the tree as a tool for imagination: the trees are more powerful than humans because they know the underworld, middle earth, and the skies. I like all of these ideas and so I decided to add both prayer and ignorance to the web of tree technology.

The other day I received a letter from an extra-ordinary senior citizen named Dr. Ross Woodward. This man sends church newsletters out to all the university students from my homechurch. On every letter is written a bible verse, an encouraging word and the claim - "I am praying for you daily".

Normally, these words would plant themselves in my short-term memory and I would feel a sense of strength from this communion, through prayer. After reading these words again, I had a different experience than normal. What would it mean to have someone praying for you everyday? Routing, urging, encouraging, pleading, thanking, blessing. Like understanding a trees perspective, I cannot see beyond the trunk. I live on the east coast and I am unable to climb a tree and see the shield of prayer that is spread over my trunk.

Ignorance is hard for me to understand. There are days when I am angered by my own ignorance. I could never repay Dr. Woodward or my Grandma or Nana or my youth pastor or Bob and the list goes on. I am stuck in the middle of the tree. I could dig deep into the ground where I will never be found by prayer and never have to repay my debt. I could try to climb the trunk and find a lookout that would allow some perspective on the shield of prayer, the branches that cover my routes. Here, I could express my appreciation for these people who pray for me. Though, the abundance of prayers would tire my soul and I would have to retreat back to the trunk.

So I stand at the trunk. I stand at the foot of the cross, unable to put myself in the place of my savior and unwilling to become like the dirt or roots. The sacrifice of him and them is incomprehensible. The branches are not useful for the house I build and I will use other materials to build a foundation. I use the trunk. The middle ground. I am not humble enough to go any deeper and not powerful enough to sustain myself at the level of the crossing branches. PRAISE AND GLORY FOR THIS COMFORT AND BLESSING.

Flashes and Magic – Tensions and Resolutions

Blog Entry

There are two types of flashes that have sparked fear in my life. The first happened when I was a very young boy. Summers in my town felt like eternity. My friends and I used to have more fun than I do now in 2 years. Our ‘favorite’ activity was to build forts or play road hockey in the court or make the sandbox our mud pit or play hide and seek in the whole neighbourhood: ok, so maybe there was more than one favorite. The flash hit.

Often times, I would catch myself in the middle of a fearful daydream about the future. The thoughts and images sped through my head: could this childhood feeling of eternity last?

<.SPACE.> FLASH <.SPACE.> FLASH <.SPACE.> FLASH <.SPACE.>

This childhood flash was later transposed into a new and evidently prayerful expression. The flash hits when I pray. I feel as though I am in an abyss, there is no way to describe this feeling.[1] The ground is nowhere to be found and the sky could be anywhere around me. What is God trying to do? What is the adversary trying to do? Is this full or is this empty?

Magic shows also filled my childhood. ‘Mr. Don’ performed a number of magic shows for my birthday. One time he made water come right out of my head. I trusted him and I trusted the magic. My friends were excited by his chemicals and knives. Mr. Don always put on a good show and never told his secrets: mystery tugs on a boy’s heart.

As time went on, I saw the magic elsewhere. I was that inevitable teenager boy who just longed to sleep for 3 more hours after 10:00am. These were the moments when time was meaningless and growing was motionless. Those in my household were jealous of my sleeping experiences and I did not share those mysteries with them. I was never envious of the time that they were awake because I was always on the brink of some revelation: I was lost in dreamland.

The magic is now revealed to me in people, nature and God. I talked to a best friend last night and ‘catching up’ sent me into the magic. I walked to the river last week and the dancing lights reminded me of Mr. Don’s mysterious ways. I rocked to the music of Switchfoot and was reminded of the God of the universe. God spoke to me.

This couplet is my journey home: I am learning to see beyond the flashes and magic and to know that living in the space between is really the reward. The aloneness, abyss and inconsistency of the flashes lead me to community, a place to be comforted in the midst of incessant flashes. The knowledge, expectancy, and continuity of the magic lead me to resolution, an ever hoping stance. The challenge is not in the flashes or the magic because they always lead to something good. The challenge is to find home between the tensions and resolutions of life.

---

[1] It is not an Aleph.

Invitation to the Best Reading Ever!

The Message from A Loving Father

A healthy relationship with a father contains tension. I can think of numerous points of tension and tense moments between my father and I. There are very few sons who are always at a content stage with their fathers. We anger our fathers by staying up to late, making unwise choices with our lives, or sometimes we are just an object of "stress-relief".

I live away from home and still, there is a healthy tension between my father and I; whether or not he realizes it, I feel this tension. Being the oldest, there is a need to please, gain the respect of and impress my father. Even at my age, I love to tell my dad about my 'accomplishments'. Yet, he never quite gives me the reply I would like. He loves to watch and wait, without directing me, when I want his wisdom or directing me when I do not want his knowledge. I have never truly understood what he is trying to do, and so the tension has not felt healthy to me.

The other day, after being pretty worked up, frustrated and confused about my 'future', my dad sent me one of the most meaningful emails I have ever recieved. First he told me that he was thinking of me. Then he encouraged me to chase and seek the desires that God has placed on my heart. His words comforted me and at the same time, they did not tell me the answer. He was telling me that the force was with me.

I love you Father.

Mae: Inspirational People




Speaking of Jesus, one of the Bandmembers in MAE said, "He’d get a huge group of people together and tell a story and explain things in metaphors, and basically that’s our job, nowadays. It’s to be the story tellers, the moment makers that allow for this place where people can experience a moment of time that is special, it’s sacred. There is a spiritual element to music that we’re all drawn to".