2010: What a Year!

A Year of Blessings and more to come....

As I look back on this year, there is no way to give thanks for all the blessings I have seen. If you have a moment, travel with me through some of my favorite blessings from this year:

Harpenden and The School of Reconciliation and Justice  How does one sum up what incredible blessings flow when we learn how to build a community that seeks to work together with a heart for moving out to train others to solve community problems.

For part of the group, we went to Belfast to work in area of the city where YWAM NI has been working in the midst of various other organizations that are helping to make a difference in this war-torn area. There are still walls that separate Protestants and Catholics, but often those walls are in the minds and attitudes of people that live in the inner city. But gradually the Church and agencies are making a difference. The team started a sports club and worked with neighborhood kids. Sports and reconciliation issues go hand in hand. As the youth of that neighborhood gathered together, we learned a lot about the issues that need to be changed in the lives of this youth. In an area where each family is defined as Catholic or Protestant, we found most of these young people had no concepts about who God is.  

One draws a crowd with the team is from Rwanda, Nigeria and India...and they have lots to share about how to live together peacefully. More than football was being learned. As we sat together and started talking about life, hopefully hearts were also learning new values that will bring change.

Another blessing of this year: Our Journey of Understanding group that went to Israel/Palestine in July. A mix of Americans, Irish and Brits makes for a lively trip of learning about each other's views on the world at the same time tackling learning about the people of Israel and Palestine. The trip is designed for each participant to meet people who live in the midst of this conflict and to ask more questions about how can we pray and how can we help to see transformation happening. Always challenging to one's own journey of forgiveness and concepts of what this conflict is all about. Lots to learn from the people of the Middle East. If you have time, come with us on one of these trips.

The posts below have also been a part of the blessings as I so enjoyed seeing Yan Yan lead her first School of Intercultural Studies. You can see more on that story in the last post.

The Fall saw me heading home and the blessings of the fall have been the friends and family who have seen me through this crazy career. Living with so many different cultures this year, it was also a blessing to go home to Texas and to soak up a bit of my "Texas" flavor. It was a blessing to see my Father and to have time with him after many years as well as to meet my first "great niece". I could keep going on this blessing list.

So finally I ended 2010 with two wonderful Christmas celebrations. One ranged from a party for Chinese students in Luton to celebrating with my friends here at the Oval and watching Facebook for new pictures and events at home.

celebrate, celebrate, celebrate



So a new year is coming and new friends will join us for the next School of Reconciliation and Justice very soon. As I have worked this year in areas of conflict both here and with my friends from around the world, there have been days when I have seen more of the sorrow of living with the challenges of this life, but there has always been a way forward with God's mercy and grace leading the way. And so I've also experienced so much more joy seeing what our God can accomplish through us. So be encouraged in these days, God is able to teach us how to live with hope.

I wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for you love and concern through the years. I am so grateful for you as well. May your days be filled with new revelations of God's love for you and for this incredible world we have been given. Keep praying!

And to all a peaceful new year

Life at the Oval in Pictures

 
Documentary Filmmaking School

Noel and Olivier finished the School of Reconciliation and Justice last January. Coming from Rwanda and living through the genocide, they have stories in their hearts to tell in order to facilitate healing in their nation. Noel is already known in Rwanda for two documentaries he produced, and so he staffed the school under the leadership of Janice Entee from Ghana who started the school here. Media is such a powerful tool in our media driven world, and we hope to see many stories being filmed by the students of this school.


Noel, Nanzip, Olivier filming Fidel knocking at my house



Noel instructing Fidel

                                        


Filming in my house....a star for the day!

 From London to the Classroom to a "Happy Birthday



Dreaming



too much studying





All for One and One for All



A Quiet Moment

Life here has many rainy days but also lots of days filled with joy as we learn together. There are lots of personal dreams being pursued in these pictures. Each one of these dear friends is looking to God's dreams in their lives to be realized as they study, work and play here far from their homes.

Learning to Live with Others...in love!

Do you sometimes wonder why don’t those people see the world the same as I do? If you have ever lived or worked cross-culturally, you will probably have lots of funny stories about not quite understanding what was happening in various conversations. I do and often I just didn’t get what was happening and just smiled! Globalization is everywhere and living and understanding one another is a challenge.

For the last few months, I have been staffing the School of Foundations of Inter-cultural Studies , a University of the Nations course designed to train international students to be able to work effectively in multi-ethnic / cross-cultural teams. One of the members of my Reconciliation Walk team, YanYan has a passion for this course and so during this season, she led her first FIS here at the Oval. YanYan is from Hong Kong and brilliant and very funny. With her leading the school, I served as a member of the school staff. The school was small but also because everyone has been working together in other schools this year; we were able to talk about some of the thorny issues that confront us living in international communities and to search for the biblical values that guide us living together as followers of Christ.

What is so beautiful and so challenging is by living and talking together, one realizes that my own “ethnocentrism” needs to give way to listening to others and seeking to understand the way they do things. …not that one way is better, but often it is just different. When Jesus prayed that we would be one, he knew that this world of diversity and living in harmony was going to need “godly love” binding us together. No wonder the world has conflict because truly we don’t all see the world the same. Challenging but good!

If you want to read an excellent book on this subject, I recommend Dr. Duane Elmer’s book, Cross-Cultural Servanthood. Dr. Elmer starts with the premise that every marriage is a cross-cultural adventure so the book is very helpful in teaching good communication skills especially for moving from one culture to another to work. We are living in a very pluralistic world and learning how to engage with others is vital if we are going to be a part of God’s redeeming work. Enjoy the journey!

Looking at Coins

“Has God’s face ever been on a coin? We are the coin that bears the living image of God. Giving of ourselves with whatever that might include, is the only legal currency of the kingdom of heaven.” --Gordon and Gladis DePree

Over the last two weeks, I 've absorbed a wonderful rest finding my feet for the next half of 2010 which seems to be running at a fast pace. Friends loaned me their home in the country while they went away on retreat themselves. It has been rather a resting/work time that has enriched my soul and quieted my heart because the beauty of God’s creation surrounds me here and that always revives me.

The last time I used this blog was in 2007 aboard the Next Wave on an adventure of a lifetime, and then as these things go, I fell away, but I want to return to it in this season. My birthday this year reminded me that I am getting older(the number is a bit scary), but I hope the fruitfulness of being an image bearer of God is getting clearer year by year as I continue working with training others and learning from all I meet.

This next week, I’m teaching in our Foundations of Inter-Cultural Studies School on Cross-Cultural Servanthood. Walking through the fields, musing over what examples to share, I have been reminded of so many friends at home in the US, here in England or in the nations who have taught me to see life from another’s person’s shoes. It has been a privilege to meet so many unsung friends who in their lives are coin bearers who bear that living image of God. Some of the clearest examples have come from friends who live in the midst of conflict and yet bring hope to the hopeless. What I know more than anything is that I need more of God’s love, mercy, and diligence in my heart daily to be able to live the kingdom of God in a way that honors those around me, wherever I am. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail, but I know ultimately God’s grace does abound when I spend time reminding myself that He is alive and “the heavens declare His glory.”