A Summary

The last year of high school is the time when everyone wants to know what your plans are. Often, however, the seniors know as little as the ones asking the question. This was the case for me. I had some ideas about what I wanted to do for a career, but they were about as firm as jell-o. I knew I wanted to go to college, but it just didn’t seem to be the next step. The future was one huge, hazy question mark.

During the summer after my graduation, I had the opportunity to help preach an evangelistic series. The night I preached my last sermon I received an email about a job opportunity in East Timor (a small, developing country in Southeast Asia). An SDA couple wanted to homeschool their son, but both parents worked. Would I be interested in coming to teach him this fall [only a couple of months away]?


After praying about it and receiving godly counsel, I took the plunge, traveling outside of my continent for the first time—ever. It’s been about four months now and I’ve had an incredible and--I'm not going to lie--often difficult experience that includes not only the privilege of educating one of God’s children, but also working with the church’s junior Sabbath school class and Adventurer club.


Although I’m the teacher in all these positions, I think I’m the one who’s learned the most. Through the experience of living on the other side of the world (and the difficulties that entails) and the challenges of teaching a nine-year-old boy, I’ve begun to understand truths I’ve known intellectually but never really believed in my heart. I’ve been able to learn many things that are not taught in college, things like trust in God, contentment, love, and patience (much patience), all of which have invaluably built my character and made me more ready to embrace life.

Being here has also shown me that I really don’t know where it is I need to be. I never would have guessed that this experience would be what I needed or would teach me what it has. Now, though I still don't know what I'm going to do with my life, I have more direction and purpose in my prayers.  I simply pray that God will show me where I need to be and make my heart willing to go to that place.


If you're future is unknown (a nice way of saying you have no idea what you're doing next) or you are in a similar situation as I was (and still am), I want you to know that you can trust God; He has a plan (Jeremiah 29:11). It could be that He is keeping you from in the dark so that you will be more ready and willing to go when He opens just the right door. I doubt that I would have been as willing to come to Timor if I had already planned my year out. My advice to you is to pray; pray that God will show you where you need to be and make you willing to go there. He will show you that place. 
            

Friendship

A couple of years ago my school’s orchestra and choir were asked to play at a Christian conference in Canada. As a byproduct, all of us students were able to attend the meetings.

One night, after the speaker had finished, I was feeling very dejected. Depression hung on me like a heavy blanket and my current struggle loomed before me like an enormous black cloud, blotting out the sunshine. As my fellow students chatted and small talk filled the speaking hall, I walked over to a close girlfriend of mine. The look on my face gave her a clue as to how I was feeling. I don’t remember the exact dialogue that took place between us, but one fragment of a sentence lodged in my mind. I mentioned to her something about how I was discouraged, and she replied by saying, “Well, my arms aren’t as strong as God’s, but…” And then she hugged me.

That one phrase stuck in my mind. “Well, my arms aren’t as strong as God’s, but…” It spoke to me, providing the spark of inspiration for a poem I began to write that night.

Later, as I tweaked and chipped away at the words, I thought of two people: my sister and, of course, my friend who had first spoken to me those quotable words. They both had seen me go through rough times, but had always (for lack of a better way of describing it; please forgive the cliché) tried to be there for me. Though they were never able to wave a magic wand and make my troubles vanish into a cloud of pink smoke and sparkles, they were Jesus’ hands to me by simply being there for me, praying for me, and giving me a hug. As I wrote into the night, I felt like that simple poem portrayed the kind of friends they had been to me, the kind of friend I wanted to be to others.

As I said before, the poem was written a couple of years ago, but I thought it might be a neat thing to share. Take it as a challenge. You can’t fix your friend’s problems, but you can strive to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ,” as Galatians 6:2 exhorts (NKJV). And as we follow this Biblical injunction, we will be the Father’s hands to others. 

I see you standing here tonight,

In your eyes a heart full of pain,

Trying so hard to win the fight,

But no ground appears to be gained

Sometimes I feel so helpless,

There’s so little I can do,

But on my knees and in my mind

I pray and I fight with you

My arms may not be as strong as God’s

And I can’t win this war for you,

But I will hold you anyways

And be the Father’s hands to you

You cannot see past all the pain

As through this fog you feel and grope

You must believe me when I say

In the Father, there is your hope

Sometimes I feel so helpless,

There’s so little I can do,

But on my knees and in my mind

I pray and I fight with you

My arms may not be as strong as God’s

And I can’t win this war for you,

But I will hold you anyways

And be the Father’s hands to you

What a little darling!

 I absolutely LOVE this picture! His eyes have such a cute expression and I love it in black and white!

They've started an Adventurer club here. Most of the children are Timorese. At this last Sunday's meeting, a mother brought her little boy. He was so darling, I just had to post these pictures of him!

Skipping Stones

Sshhhh…Sshhh…Sshhh. The ocean waves washed over the shore as rhythmically as an old grandmother’s rocking chair creaks back and forth. My student, his father, and I had stopped by the beach to launch their new dragon kite. While they were having fun watching the long-tailed creature soar into the sky, I ambled down to the water’s edge to skip stones across the waves. As I tossed the rocks, I tried to think of an analogy I could pull from the sea. I didn’t receive any fire-from-heaven revelations right then, but slowly an object lesson washed up on the shore of my mind.

Sometimes life throws us about pretty hard. There is an entire cornucopia of obstacles and difficulties that threaten to drown human beings each day. Financial ruin, spiritual depravity, broken homes, and loneliness are just a few. When these things happen, it can feel as though we, like a stone flung into the sea, have been hurled into a murky, watery darkness with no way out. Many of us simply give up in despair and let the undertow of depression drag us down. We wallow in our bitterness while the sands of self-pity ingrain in us the idea that “My circumstances have made me this way and I can never change or be happy again.”

However, this is not the case. When a stone is thrown in exactly the right way, it can actually skip across the water, appearing to defy the laws of nature. The lesson, I’m sure, is obvious. Though life may hurl us into the water and we may be faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, we can by the grace of God be like a stone skipped across the sea and actually use the waves of hardship to make us better people. We don’t have to drown in our circumstances. We can choose whether or not we will be made bitter or better.

This is a popular topic. There is a plethora of quotes and clichés, speeches and songs that, in essence, tell us to make lemonade out of our cruddy produce. This advice can seem rather insensitive and difficult to swallow, especially if you’ve just been given a tough break. However, if you and I don’t make a deliberate choice to carry on, we will find ourselves in a watery prison of darkness and despair. But as we choose to bring our broken, shattered hearts and lives to Jesus, we will find true freedom and the ability to skip across the waves.

Now, for an agonizingly cliché appeal: what will you choose?

Dili, East Timor

Wow! I realize that I haven’t blogged for a long time and I apologize for that, but things have been rather busy here. I arrived here in East Timor September 13^th. That makes it about a month that I’ve been here. Time flies for sure. It’s been an amazing experience! It’s so fun to see so many new things and learn more about other cultures. I love the beaches here. It really confuses my brain though, seeing all the palm trees. I’m so used the cold waters in Canada or Alaska.

When I first arrived here they were having a bike race, called the Tour de Timor. It’s a mountain bike race and since there aren’t many social events here in Dili (the capital of East Timor), there were LOTS of people there to see all the racers finish. That’s what the first pictures are of. My student’s father was actually a contestant in the race. However, I didn’t manage to get a picture of him.

Teaching has been a good experience in a different way. I won’t lie. It’s been very challenging for me and my character is being refined a LOT. But I’m very glad I came! There are times when I think being in the US would be easier, and it would, but I wouldn’t grow near so much. I thank God for bringing me here.

I think that’s the issue with a lot of people. We think we’re good. We don’t seem to fail, but in reality we’re simply comfortable. We take the easiest path and are never challenged. We never really grow at all.

So, we shouldn’t be discouraged when things are hard or we fail because that means we’re trying. We’re growing. Proverbs 24:16 tells us that the righteous man falls seven times. It doesn’t say that the wicked fall at all! In some ways it may feel like he’s doing better than you, but really he’s just stagnant and complacent.

Anyway, enough preaching.

I’ve also learned how much I really depend on my friends and family. Due to the time difference, I can’t just talk to them whenever I want. It really helps me to appreciate them more.

Well, I’m going to end this for now. Hopefully I’ll be able to blog again sooner than later.

I'm in Korea!

I'm sitting in the Korean Airport. The mountains (or really bumpy hills) are quite pretty.

I have a lot of time to kill today. I may try to get on a tour. So far things have gone really smoothly on my journey. Praise God for that:D

Asiana Airlines is quite nice. They fed me two meals (they were actually pretty good for airplane food), gave me a steaming, hot towel for my gross, traveling face, and a pair of hideous slippers to walk around the plane in. Yes, they had very good service.

I'm getting hungry. I'm not too tired yet, but I know I will be soon.

I had written up a nice blog post while I was on the plane, but it didnt' really work now that I'm actually here in Korea and I didn't feel like taking the time to write up a new one that was just as nice. Maybe I will next time.

Well, that's all for now folks. If anything remarkably interesting happens to me, like some handsome asian guy proposes or I miss my flight to Singapore, I will try and get my act together and blog about it, for my grandmother's sake.

My adorable nephew

This is my nephew, Ethan. He's the cutest thing (and I'm not biased at all)! I posted some doubles because I liked both the black and white and the sepia. Oh, my! I can't believe how big this guy has gotten. I was there when he was born and he was so stinkin' little! This last one is probably my favorite, if I had to chose one.