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Locked In

Well, we’ve had a locked-out experience with Cassie before, when she dropped the keys down the elevator shaft. But we had a locked-in situation this week. It always happens so innocently though. She just wanted to change clothes without having anyone watch her, of course its ok for her to go in the bathroom. I really didn’t know that she knew how to close the little latch. (You know the ones, they are always on bathroom stalls in public washrooms, just a little metal stick that you push into the doorframe.)

So when she tried to open the door and it didn’t budge, I had no idea how it got locked. It didn’t take long for the fear to rise up within her… So after a few failed attempts we told her it would be ok. Of course, we were hoping “ok” didn’t mean breaking down the door. Our little bathroom has no windows, just brick walls, we can’t screw or detach the hinges in any way. So if she can’t open the lock, the door is coming down!

It’s one of those times as a parent, I just don’t know what to do. I know she can unlock it, after all, she did lock it herself. But she is in too much of a mess at the moment. Better yet, I realize there has got to be a learning opportunity for us here, turns out, it was a really good reminder me. After a few minutes, I said, “Cassie, we should pray.” So we prayed to Jesus, asking him for wisdom, strength and confidence and reminding both him and us that we trust him. A moment later, Ang suggests getting the stool by the tub, which gives Cassie the height and leverage needed to open the lock. And you know what, this time we remembered to immediately thank Jesus for answering our prayer.

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Central Europe or Bust!

One of our teams headed to central Europe, to Hungary for the first month and then on to Latvia. They had some really cool opportunities, from teaching Revelation to entering a post-soviet prison teaching inmates how to read and study their Bible. Listen to Silvi share about some of her experience:

When I looked at their sincere eyes, smiles, and eagerness to participate I forgot that we were in a high security prison, sitting among murderers, rapists and thieves. We had been checked with a metal detector, our bags had been searched, the soda we brought smelled for alcohol, and our Bible’s leafed through for money. Even though the heavy doors were closed with a startling clang and if I ever wanted to go to the washroom I need to be escorted there by a guard – yet as we began to teach it was as if the window no longer had bars. The door was no longer locked. We were one family captured in the world of ‘Bible Overview’ or the story of Jonah.

When you ask people in your home groups to read the book of Acts maybe one or two will last it out past chapter five. We asked these guys to read the book of Acts in two days time and it was done and they had their list of questions for us! These young men of whom most had flunked out of their high school, and some of them very poor readers, were our most attentive audience!

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Forbes 100 Wealthiest Billionaires

I read the list from Forbes and noticed that there were a lot of Russian’s on it. So I copied the list into excel and found that most (36) of the top 100 billionaires came from the United States (not surprising) but that 12 of 100 (2nd most) came from Russia.

Russia is not a poor country. Russia is incredibly wealthy in terms of natural resources, similar to Canada. But there is one glaring difference. In Canada, wealth is spread throughout the country (only 1 Canadian is in the richest 100). In Russia there are 12. Even taking into account population figures, 34 million in Canada to 140 million in Russia, about 4 Russians for 1 Canadian – the figure is startling. It is not a “fair” ballgame for Russians. Where did those Russian’s make their money – always in natural resources, either metals or fossil fuels.

What does it matter? What can I do? Pray. Pray that wealthy, important figures would meet Jesus. It has happened before that when unsavoury greedy people meet Jesus it transforms how they live and give (insert your favourite followers of Jesus, like Matthew the evangelist or Zacchaeus the wee little man). Pray that Russia would understand the gospel, brand new life without earning, without penance. Pray that peoples basic needs would be met, simple but adequate housing and warmth, hygiene (you take for granted your toilet, I know it because I do too), opportunities for work and pleasure. Not only lifestyle needs but inner needs too, mutually loving and beneficial relationships and joy-filled homes of peace. And if you’re like me, pray now because you’ll forget to later.

*One more side note, Ukraine also has 1 of the top 100 wealthiest men. The list below by country.

36 United States
12 Russia
7 Germany
4 Brazil
4 France
4 Hong Kong
4 India
4 Mexico
3 Chile
3 Sweden
2 Colombia
2 Italy
2 Malaysia
2 Saudi Arabia
1 Australia
1 Canada
1 China
1 Cyprus
1 Ireland
1 Japan
1 Nigeria
1 Spain
1 Switzerland
1 Ukraine
1 United Kingdom

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Quiet

A quote by the trends manager at youtube. He told his young audience,

“We all want to be stars, celebrities, singers, comedians.” Not “most of us”, or “some of us”, but “we all.”

Of course, to be overly stereotypical, its true. To some degree we all want to be the object of someone else’s attention. I for one, however, am very thankful that I don’t need to be the extrovert ideal! Anyway, I just really wanted to copy the quote at the bottom from “Middlemarch”, because I really like it – even if I think its much more than just “partly” and “half”. If it weren’t for the countless unhistoric acts and those who live faithful hidden lives, where would this world be?

Below is part of an interesting article stemming from the youtube guy’s quote.

It’s refreshing, after this, to read an extract in yesterday’s Guardian from Susan Cain’s “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking”. Cain writes that we live with a value system she calls “the Extrovert Ideal—the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha and comfortable in the spotlight.” For Cain, this is “an oppressive standard to which most of us feel we must conform”.

The article finishes with this line.

As George Eliot wrote, 140 years ago, at the very end of “Middlemarch”:

for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

The article was found on moreintelligentlife.com, a division of the economist.
* Just to be clear, the picture has no real connection to the article, just couldn’t find anything that really fit the content.

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Whew!

That is the sigh that came out of my mouth when I thought about the past few months :) We started a new ministry team, got busy teaching in local churches around Kiev, and now we are on a teaching/recruiting tour of the SBS’s in Europe. Two weeks ago Angela went to Sweden to teach Leviticus in the SBS there. Looks like 2 students will be coming to do Titus this fall with us from there. After that we got home and a day later we all drove to Germany. This is where we will run Titus Project this fall, so we came to build relationships and teach in the SBS here. Ben taught ‘How to Preach’ and our friend Josh taught 1 &2 Samuel. Unfortunately, we have been having some visa problems so now we will stay here in Germany until the end of the month, and hopefully get everything all worked out. Please pray for us. Our kids are sick too, so pray for the kids…and the parents- cleaning up after they get sick is never fun.

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32 Weeks

Bingo our son, you are only a few months away from blessing us all with your presence. We pray for a peaceful and safe next two months as you grow and get all ready for this world. We also pray that God will lead us to the right name for you and that your brother and sister will be all ready to welcome you into the world! We love you already!

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Favourite

“It’s my favorite!” Considering everything is his favourite, he doesn’t quite get the concept, but it sure is cute how he emphasizes the word favourite like nothing else will ever compare, until he finds the next toy, or type of food!

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Sick

One of the hardest things as a parent is to see your kids sick. We landed in Ukraine from Sweden on Friday and we left Saturday morning for Germany by car. On day two of the road trip Jay started throwing up. Just when we thought he was over it, Cassie got it. Yuck! Thankfully Cassie is at the age when she can understand what is happening and can understand why she is eating crackers and not sweets- but she sure does like sweets! :)