Andy and Leah

Listening

 Yesterday I went to lunch with one of my favorite people, Bob.  We sat and talked about how easy we have it in America and about all the places in the world that are oppressed by their governments and don't enjoy the liberty that we have.  He was telling me about the shortage of women in China and how there's a group of people who smuggle women out of North Korea and sell them to Chinese men.  Crazy. 

Bob is full of stories.  I could sit and listen to them for hours on end, for he surely has enough of them to talk for days.  He talked about how he used to live out west and worked in a logging camp.  One winter there wasn't much work so Bob decided he was going to drive bus for the school.  Well there was one kid on the bus who thought he was all that and was a bully of sorts.  He was misbehaving one day and Bob was so fed up that he threatened to throw the kid off the bus.  The kid didn't believe him and kept yakking his mouth so Bob pulled over the bus, walked to the back, picked up this kid and carried him to the front of the bus where he proceeded to open the door and throw him off.  In the dead of winter.  I think his last words to the boy were "make sure you stay out from under the wheels when I leave". 

Bob is one of the most gentle people I know, but he doesn't always play by the rules.  I think his philosophy is "rules are for people who can't make their own rules."  He almost got sued and they threatened to arrest him, but he simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "the kid wouldn't listen, what was I supposed to do?" Bob said the children were so well behaved from there on out.  He said he remembers the expression on the children's faces when he threw the kid off the bus and drove away. Wide-eyed and open mouthed.  I laughed.  He would be in A LOT of trouble if he did that these days.  But then again, it seems like discipline is pretty much labeled abuse in this day in age...

Anyways, I love to just listen. I love taking in stories and trying to imagine what it was like to be there as a story unfolded.   I didn't say much as he told me stories yesterday, for there wasn't much to say, but I did daydream. A lot. His stories are always so rich because they always seem to go against the grain of normality.  He's not afraid to do something that someone says you shouldn't do. He just does it.  And it makes for some entertaining storytelling.

Bob and his stories. Keep 'em coming, Bob.  I'm listening.

Laziness and Liberty

 In Bhutan, the church is underground. There is not liberty to worship out in the open or to have a church building where you can freely meet every Sunday. The fellowships meet in homes throughout the country, in the privacy of their homes. But God is doing crazy things in this nation and the believers have seen an increasing amount of freedom as some key leaders in the church have had an audience with the Prime Minister, and have been able to ask questions and speak on behalf of the christian population. For the first time in the history of Bhutan, the leadership has said that you are allowed to have the freedom of belief, although it is not widely known as fact throughout the country, which is why the believers still meet underground. It was amazing to see what the Lord is doing there!
 It was an honor to sit among believers that risked their lives to meet and worship the Lord. I didn't feel worthy to sit among them, and many times during worship, as we raised our voices in song, I couldn't help but let a few tears slip away from me. It was overwhelming. It was in this time that I felt so convicted of my laziness with my liberty. Oh the freedom that we have as Americans! I can dance, sing, and shout from a mountaintop what the lord has done for me, without fear of being persecuted, other then a sarcastic comment or a laugh. I'm talking about the physical type of persecution. Like getting beaten or dying for what you believe. Or having your house raided and all your belongings destroyed, because you lifted up the name of Jesus.
 I have so many resources to glean from and opportunity to learn! I can read my bible in the open, I have Barnes and Nobles at my fingertips, full of words to learn from. But I have been so lazy with this opportunity. I'd rather watch movies and do mindless activities then spend time delving deeper into the stories of history or learning about something pertinent to life.
 I have what other people long for. Freedom. Freedom to study what I want, freedom to say what I want, freedom to do what I want. Why am I so lazy with this opportunity? I guess when you enjoy something for so long you begin to lose sight of how precious a thing you really are holding. You take it for granted until its taken away from you, and then when its taken away, it feels like your eyes are suddenly opened, and you kick yourself for not seeing what you really had. I want my eyes to be opened before it is taken away. To be able to see opportunity that has been afforded me my whole life. To grasp it and run with it, for the sake of bringing it to others. Freedom. Many long for it. When its given, it's taken for granted. Oh that I may live with the opportunity that goes with my freedom!

Love

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

 

~C.S. Lewis~

Hope

It's another day and I'm here at one of my favorite spots, sipping on my java and warming my insides and heart. It's chilly outside, with a sprinkle of rain teasing the earth. There's two construction-esque fellows sitting across from me, and the one fellow is telling the other about that guy in California who was apparently in his prius when it sped up to 94mph and he had to call 911. The guy hearing the story for the first time thinks it's hilarious and is forcing out a wheezy laugh while rearing his head back and shutting his eyes. One of those hearty kinds of laughs. It made me laugh. I guess he was laughing at the fact that he called 911, but it's hard to say.

Anyway hope is on my mind. I've been wondering where to find some? It has been somewhat elusive lately, or I should I say I fear that I've been duped. Duped into anchoring myself in a mere wish instead of true hope. I have been catching on to the lies. Disappointment has left me doubting hope. Doubting that it really carries, empowers, or even gives life.I kinda feel like hope didn't come through for me. But as I take time to look at my heart, I can see the fault lines which I crossed unknowingly. A wish that I had mistaken for hope. Wishing for things in life to look a certain way, for God to do this or that. Maybe that even falls under the definition of hope, I don't know. All I know is that this type of hope is not alive. It's not living. I am after the type of hope that is alive and well, empowering me to face the day. Hope that does not disappoint.  Because that is what is promised to me.  I have realized, as I've wrestled through the disappointment of the seasons, that my hope was placed in shakeable things.  In things that are movable and not steadfast.  And at the end of the day, disappointment has reared its head and made its home in my heart.  An unwelcomed guest you could say.  But what do you do when you place hope in something, thinking that its true and noble, only to find that it crumbles like a castle in sand?  Wasted time and energy, poured into it, only to come up empty handed.  But maybe not completely empty handed.  Live and learn right?  Wisdom has built her house.  She calls out to all those who pass by, "Let all who are simple come in here!"  I guess I should heed her call and stop in for a visit.  The problem is that folly calls out the same thing. Whose house have I been in?  When I look at the disappointment in my heart, I fear that I have heard the call of folly and tasted some of her stolen water.  But she told me it was sweet?

Oh matty, enough of the excuses.  Put your hope in things above, and not the things of this world that are fading away...

Ban Nam Jai

I miss these faces so much. Many times in life we set out to make a difference in somebodies life, only to look back on those experiences and realize that we were the ones impacted.  My time at a children's home in Thailand was one such experience. There is so much hope in this place!
                                                                          

I. like. this. song. And I have been hearing it everywhere these last few days...

I've been roaming around
Always looking down at all I see
Painted faces, fill the places I cant reach

You know that I could use somebody
You know that I could use somebody

Someone like you, And all you know, And how you speak
Countless lovers under cover of the street

You know that I could use somebody
You know that I could use somebody
Someone like you

Off in the night, while you live it up, I'm off to sleep
Waging wars to shape the poet and the beat
I hope it's gonna make you notice
I hope it's gonna make you notice

Someone like me
Someone like me
Someone like me, somebody

~Kings of Leon

Aunt Nettie's

The weekend was full of fall color, mountian air, friends, and of course some laughter. I'm pretty sure all the laughter added years onto my life. At one point in the weekend, I laughed the heartiest laugh that I've had in years. The tears were flowing. ALWAYS a good time with this crew!

Nebraska, 2002

Back in 2002, I was going to a little bible school nestled in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Our class consisted of people from all over and I grew to be good friends with a guy named Coote Mulloy. Coote was from a 10,000 acre cattle ranch on the flatlands of Nebraska and during one of our breaks, I think it was in the spring, I was invited to the ranch to help the family with branding the cattle. I think it is done yearly, during the spring, and the family all comes together to help with the process. Here are some pictures that I stumbled upon the other day. I would love to go back and capture this again in more detail someday! It was one of those epic experiences that I will never forget.





It seems that every state has a tourist attraction, and in Nebraska, it is a re-creation of the infamous Stonehenge, out of cars. And other random metal structures. Oh Nebraska.


It takes 2 people to bring these things down, and they don't go peacefully. One person grabs the back legs, while the other person simultaneously grabs the front, and you hold it down together. Sometimes the calf would get away from one person, leaving the other one holding on for dear life, because it's near impossible to hold it down by yourself. And if this happened, it was hilarious. More then once I saw Coote go for a ride, and I laughed until I cried. Oh man. What wasn't funny though, was when someone got kicked in the you know whats.