2008: The Year of the Finished Book

I am a book fiend.

It’s true. I’ve always wanted to have a library like the football-field-sized one in Beauty and the Beast. And as much as I like public libraries, I like to keep my books. And they make you give theirs back. So if I know it’s going to be a good one, I just buy it. Who knows when I’ll want to read it again? Sometimes you have a hankering for a particular book at 11pm. The public library’s not open then. Anyway, all that to say, I collect books.

And not only do I collect them, but I really do read them, too! But, there’s so many good ones out there that quite frequently I’ll be in the middle of one really good one, only to find another one that promises to be just as good. As much as I tell myself to have patience and wait til I’m done with the one [twelve] I’m reading to start the new one, I just think, ‘maybe just a page or two. To see how it starts.’ Then, 57 pages later, I figure I’m already on chapter 3, I might as well keep reading it : )

And that brings me to where I am now: surrounded by excellent but half-read books. So, shortly after the new year, I decided this year would be dubbed 2008: The Year of the Finished Book. I even grabbed some scrap paper [I ♥ Jim The Office paper Ashley got me], taped it to my bookshelf with said title at the top, and promised myself I’d actually start finishing books, and record the proof with Jim.

I’m actually fairly surprised, but I’ve managed to finish 10 books since the beginning of the year!

An Ugly Gospel?

So, I’ve had this link up before, but in the last day or so I’ve watched this little video called ‘America’s Ugly Exported Gospel’  several times with a clip of John Piper talking about his hatred for the Prosperity Gospel, also known as the Health and Wealth Gospel – a kind of theology that says that God is good because He gives us good things, and He wants us to be happy. Sounds pretty good on the surface of it, eh? It’s one of those tricky things where God is good, and He does give us good things, but He is not good because He gives us good things. This is idolatry – saying God’s gifts are better than He Himself. And what happens when things in my life aren’t so good right now? Is God then no longer good? Has he forgotten me? Do you see? It’s a me-centered gospel. And that is no gospel at all. God is good because He is God. He just is. By His nature. Which gives us such freedom! Because then we are no longer lost when our lives are not good. Because God’s goodness is not dependant on our happiness! If we suffer and yet still say ‘My God is good. He will sustain me.’ How much more glorified does that make Him? He is so worthy that I will worship Him even in my suffering. Now that is a God that is worth worshipping.

And don’t think that just because I can sit here at my computer and write that, I have it all figured out. No siree. I feel a little scared even writing that, that I’ll have an opportunity to prove it soon. And I have to fight to believe that when I hurt.

Hiatus

I got distracted
and thus left the blogosphere.
But I have returned.

Oh wait, that’s a haiku. I meant hiatus:

hi·a·tus      /haɪˈeɪtəs/ Pronunciation Key – [hahy-ey-tuhs] –noun, plural -tus·es, -tus.

1.	a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc.

‘A break or interruption in the continuity of a work’ would definitely apply to my three month absence on my own blog. I could give reasons [excuses], but that wouldn’t really be interesting, so we’ll skip that. I thought I’d leave you with a few things I’ve read, heard recently or want to read or hear soon.

 Books I want to preorder [or already have]:

• Vintage Jesus - Timeless Answers to Timely Questions - Mark Driscoll
• The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism – Tim Keller
• The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment – Tim Challies

I generally enjoy reading or listening to Mark Driscoll, so I think this book will be interesting [based on his sermon series from last year of the same name]. It looks to be more geared toward those who aren’t Christians, or Christians who have questions about who Jesus is, but will probably be quite interesting nonetheless. Mark never makes anything boring.

 Probably even more, am I looking forward to Tim Keller’s book The Reason for God. He likens it to Lewis’ Mere Christianity, though he recognizes the foolishness of trying to duplicate such a work, and instead aims to have a similar goal – apologetics for common skepticisms of this generation and a comprehensible explanation of the gospel. Since today’s New Yorkers [whom he is spefically writing to] have quite different objections than in Lewis’ day, new answers are warranted. I’m especially interested in this book because I’ve been really challenged by Keller’s explanation of the necessity of new methods of evangelism in this postmodern world

Flunching it up

We just got back from a place called Flunch. We don’t really know what it means… For Lunch? Fast Lunch? France Lunch? or if it’s just silliness. My best guess is that it’s France Lunch. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. We go there cause we get to take a boat there, they don’t freak out about a group of 35 people [though we did have to snail mail them a letter telling them we were coming... 'Dear Flunch, .... ;)], and they have all you can eat buffet for sides! Well, it was an interesting adventure and a nice break from the baguette sandwhiches, yummy though they are.

I got to give a talk at our weekly meeting last night on the Hope of the Gospel. We’ve been studying 2 Timothy, and it was cool to see the hope that Paul gave Timothy in facing persecutions and false teachings. It was also translated from up front – that was the first time I’d ever been translated, and it was a really interesting experience. Quite a challenge. And I get to do it again on Sunday morning. We’ve been visiting various churches in the city that support the Agape ministry here and participating in their services, so I’ll be giving the talk again, and again translated, but this time to a group of people I don’t know! yikes. Pray for me, and that the Holy Spirit would work through the challenges of translation to communicate truth. Thanks!

A Few Small Glimpses

I’ve been trying to figure out what to write here about the last two weeks here in France and before that in Korea, but with limited access to the internet, and so many things I could mention, I didn’t know where to start, so I’ll leave you with a few little snippets that have been joyful or challenging… or both : )

- My best friend Christy and I got to see each other in our 8th country together in Korea. It brings a smile to my face that our friendship has spanned so many years and places.

- My sister changed her name on Facebook. I realize this is normal after getting married, but since I haven’t seen her or my brother-in-law since the wedding, it was a reminder of the reality I haven’t really experienced yet. Love you guys!

- my birthday was a little over a week ago and it was lunch time before I remembered what day it was : ) So much going on, it had completely slipped my mind til then, which kind of made me chuckle. But I got a lot of love, which made me happy : )

- my migraine medicine seems to be helping, praise Jesus.

- I’m teaching a few of my project friends Turkish just for the fun of it. That also makes my heart happy.

- French confuses me.

- God’s been gracious enough to use us to bring two French students to say they’ve wanted to start a relationship with Him. Pray God enables us to follow them up!

- I was looking through one of my old blogs and saw an entry that said: “p.s. – today is officially ‘remind hannah that she’ll never be enough on her own’ day.”  This week is one of those weeks. It’s coming to the point on project where we’re becoming familiar with each other’s sin and having to deal with it. I’m very thankful for the gospel in the last 24 hours, especially.

Vive le France!

Hey! I’m in France now… yeah! We’re living in a trailer park/campground… I’ll post pictures soon : ) We get to stay in this time zone for a whole month, woohoo!

Kahm Sah Ham Ni Dah – Thank You!

This is the phrase I probably said the most during this last week. The Korean students and staff worked so incredibly hard to make this conference happen, help us travel and offer us food. It was the absolute least we could do to thank them in their own language – and the surprise on their faces to hear their own language from foreigners made it well worth the learning.  The conference is now over, and we’re in our hotel waiting to catch our bus at 2am back to Seoul to make the next leg of our journey to Frankfurt and then to spend the night in Paris before we take the train out to Nantes.

The conference was huge and overwhelming and awesome and encouraging and eye-opening and a lot of other things. Last night we had our goodbye celebration and it was such huge blessing to see Koreans [and others from many other nations] waving goodbye to us and everyone so sad to leave when we didn’t even know each other. I think the best parts of the conference for me were getting to see some precious friends that live in different parts of the country and world that I haven’t seen in months and years [Christy and I found each other in our eighth different country together!], learning a new culture and language – the Koreans are so gracious and friendly! - and also getting to meet so many believers from different parts of the world, some who even risked their lives to come. Awesome.

Here’s a clip from the Korean Christian Television System news station about the conference – a few friends and I even made an appearance! Hilarious!

Now it’s off to learn a whole new culture and language and learn how to trust God in new and abundant ways…

AnnYong Ah Se Oh – Hello From Korea!

 Hey all! I’m at the Campus Mission 2007 conference in Busan, South Korea! They’ve got some wireless in the conference center, so I thought I’d post a few pictures. There will be 16,000 people from 127 different countries here this week! Already I’ve met students from Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sweden, Philippines, Columbia, Russia, Macedonia, the UK among others!

Here’s a view of Alaska from the plane:

 Our whole group at the convention center before the conference started:

Lunch yesterday [this included Octopus!]:

Flexibility is Your Friend…

The time has finally come! And I don’t quite believe it. I’ve had so much transition and adaptation in the last few days in the whirlwind of leaving Toledo, my sister’s wedding and preparing to leave for Korea and France that sometimes I’m not quite sure where I am. I keep thinking back to my summers in Macedonia where the mantra we recited was ‘Flexibility is your friend; Expectations are your enemy.’ And as we said in Turkey all the time: ‘Innovation in the kitchen leads to innovation in ministry.’ The same can definitely be said for flexibility.

I don’t really have a kitchen to be working with right now, but the thought that flexibility and creativity and innovation are my best friends right now keeps coming back – though all of that is second to the constant challenge of walking with the Holy Spirit guiding me – quite a challenge when I’m tired and have a migraine. Although, to be fair, I sometimes have much more trouble submitting to the Holy Spirit when I don’t feel bad – because then I believe I’m perfectly capable of taking care of things by myself. Which then leads me to not trust God at all. I really don’t like it when I do that, because it always ends badly for me.

I Want to Grow Old With You…

 

Wow. What a weekend! EJ’s wedding was beautiful and a blast. I totally lost it during the ceremony – my sister is so beautiful and all grown up and married! She was breathtaking – literally. I think Bobby hardly breathed while she was walking down the aisle : ) I loved how the ceremony honored God even above their love for each other - though that came across loud and clear, too. It was just what a wedding ought to be. 

Here’s one from the reception – they were nice with the cake! I had a blast at the party – so fun to see so many different people from so many different places celebrating my sister and new brother! I even managed to make it through the toast okay ;)

and my absolute favorite: my 95 year old Great Aunt teaching my Aussie Uncle how to Box Step…. to Usher’s ‘Yeah.’ Priceless. [it's a little dark, so you might have to make it big to see it... but it's so worth it!]