you have been preparing for this

you have been preparing for this
for hundreds of years.

you have been preparing for this

i have mentioned this many times, but the journey i have been on this year has not come about by accident. it really does feel like my entire life has been on a path towards this year. i have, for as long as i can remember (except for one sunday) loved going to church, being in communion with others - connecting to god and to each other. my faith has continuously informed my life and my journey.

through church i have also learned service. i have learned what it means that jesus, after washing his disciples' feet, said, "so if i, your lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet." i have learned love, acted out in service. i have served others through habitat for humanity, trips to juárez, méxico, service opportunities at rainbow trail lutheran camp, through church, and through school. i have learned service. in these service experiences, i also learned what it means to have my feet washed. when i was in new york, i served, yes. but my feet were washed by others more times than i could recount.

these have prepared me for a year of footwashing. a year of serving others in love. loving others as god first loved me as understood through jesus. it has also been a year of having my feet washed. my feet have been washed through fires kept going to heat the house, food made and served, homes and hearts opened to me.

for hundreds of years.

as christians, and as "people of the book," people of an abrahamic religious tradition, our heritage goes back to (of course) the abraham and his travels, following god and listening to god's call, joseph's difficult journey to egypt, moses and the israelites fleeing egypt, the israelites and their many journeys in and out of exile, jesus and his travels to egypt and throughout samaria, the saints and missionaries (for better and worse) as they traveled the world, sharing the good news, through to today. our journey, through good and bad, has led us to intercultural experiences. we are called to share the good news of god's love for all of god's children. god has been at work in the past and continues to work now and in the future.

you have been preparing for this
for hundreds of years.

and at times you will get weary

and at times you will get weary and turn on each other
from fear, fatigue and blind forgetfulness.

and at times you will get weary and turn on each other

ok, i don't know about you, but sometimes i know i'm tired, worn out (burned out), or even just hungry when i'm cranky. i don't have the same patience, things get to me more easily, i just don't last. that happens. it happens here. it happens in colorado. it happens all over in the bible (how many times did the isrealites want to turn back??).

more recently, however, i had an experience of being weary. our rodinky (family fellowship group) here (technically in bačkovík) went on a trip this weekend to the tatry. while we were there, we went hiking (of course). the weather actually ended up being pretty perfect, not too hot, not too cold, sprinkling, not sunny enough for me to have to worry about sunscreen, only raining when it didn't matter too much. it was quite the hike, though. imro, maťo, and i went up pretty high. though i go up quite well, thanks to some pretty strong legs, my knees don't hold up quite as well on the way down.

my knees started to complain after a bit of stepping down from rocks, but the amazing thing was that, though my body was getting tired, mentally that was not the case. the three of us stuck together (which really translated to them stopping and waiting for me every once in awhile). it was an amazing hike and what was, perhaps, more amazing was the support i felt as we came down. it wasn't about getting there first, it was making sure we stuck together and nobody fell too far behind.

from fear, fatigue and blind forgetfulness.

sometimes i do let my fear get the best of me. i get a bit defensive and i close in on myself. i have been lucky here, because even when that happens, i have had enough support from friends and family back home as well as from people here that i have been supported. it has been such that when i am afraid or tired or forget my purpose, others are strong. my weakness is covered by their strength and vice versa.

this happens a lot with lisa, where we will talk and i will be down or she will be down and we can pick each other up. we can reassure each other and remind each other of why we're here and what we're doing. so yes, fear happens, as do fatigue and forgetfulness. but that's what the letters from home, the calls, and the messages are for. they remind me. they bring me back to where i'm meant to be, which is here. right where i am.

and at times you will get weary and turn on each other
from fear, fatigue and blind forgetfulness.

outsiders will attack you

outsiders will attack you, and some follow you

outsiders will attack you

i would be lying if i said that this year was a walk in the park. i have definitely had my fair share of miscommunication, struggle, argument, disagreement, sadness, discouragement, and even feeling attacked. these things happen. not just in slovakia, but everywhere. it is finding the strength in the fire to keep going. to follow the heat through to the other side. knowing that god is with me here, before, behind, and within, the frustrations, though big at the time, melt away into other joys that i find. the strength that comes from conflicts helps me the next time there is a conflict and the wisdom that i get from difficult interactions influences how i act.

so, yes. outsiders attack. every day we are under attack. not simply by people, but also by a society that tells us we are not good enough. then we go back to the fire. we go to the cross. we go to our god, who tells us that we are not only enough, but that we are god's beloved children. how much better could it be than that?

and some follow you

kind of a give in. not everyone will always disagree with you. somebody's eventually bound to agree. people follow. more than people following me, the kids follow me. when travelling, i usually take a bus that the kids use to get to or from school. the kids not only follow my comings and goings, but also follow me when i walk home. asking me how it was, where i went, what i did. the kids follow me and in the same way, they follow my actions. they pick up so much about the way we act in this world. knowing i have kids around me, i try to be extra-intentional in my actions. everything from how we greet each other to what i tell them about god to how i speak. the kids follow it all.

i've also been joined on this journey by more people than i could number. people who i didn't know at all a year ago, have become close friends. exchanging hugs, "ahoj"s, and "how are you?"s (with the follow up question of why). people have joined me on a journey of love and discovery of myself, of slovakia, of slovak culture, and of stories. i have been invited into lives that have forever changed me. those who "follow" alter the course. they bring their stories to the table and together we find new paths, new ideas, new adventures, and we make new stories. life is good when i have people with me on this journey.

oustiders will attack you, and some follow you

the stories you tell one another

the stories you tell one another around the fires in the dark
will make you strong and wise.

well, i've got a few stories by now, that's for sure. one of the most recent stories, is actually something that happens on a semi-regular basis here. one of my friends is my slovak tutor. she and i, in addition to having slovak lessons, also have movie night. last week was her birthday and after our slovak lesson, she had some snacks and champagne so we could watch a movie (we had been trying to watch this movie for a few months now, but our schedules didn't sync up).

she asked me in slovak if i had to get going (it was after 8pm on a week night). i (forgetting that most questions are asked in the negative here) thought she was asking if i could hang out, so i said yes. her face immediately fell. i realized that there had been a miscommunication and once we clarified what i meant, told her a story from a week or two ago. the stories goes like so:

i was playing solitaire in the kitchen, and someone staying with us was passing through and asked if i was doing "vykladanie kariet" (card reading/interpretation). i thought she was asking if i was playing cards, so i said yes. of course, the aghast look on her face quickly let me know that she had not been asking if i was playing cards. so i stopped and clarified. when i figured out what she was asking, i explained that i was playing cards - solitaire to be exact - and that alieviated the situation (though she isn't the card playing type, so it was still at least a little tense). anyway, that gave my friend and i something to laugh together about.

these and other stories that i have shared around champagne and keksy (snacks), kava, and obed (coffee and lunch), and other such things, have indeed made me stronger and wiser. being able to laugh at myself gives me strength of character and learning from these stories (and the stories that i hear) makes me wiser. i still guess at what people say occasionally, but i'm at least a bit more hesitant about it now, or i respond with a full sentence answer (especially about what i'm doing) instead of just a yes or no.

the stories you tell one another around the fires in the dark
will make you strong and wise.

international children's day

today in slovakia is international children's day (medzinárodný deň detí), which is (ironically) celebrated on a different day of the year (not even always in the same month) depending on the country (and sometimes even the state or city). it's today in slovakia, and as i get ready for our party this afternoon, i decided to take some time to think about what this might mean. i looked it up on wikipedia and there wasn't a really clear explanation as to why or how the holiday started, but i did find that in the states i apparently was not the only one to get the "every day is children's day" response when i brought up the day as a child.

i was talking to fraňa about it and she mentioned that it's important to tell kids that you love them and it's important that they know how much you mean to them. as we talked i realized that it's true. a lot of kids don't hear that they are loved often enough. so then it got me thinking about all of the kids throughout the world and what kind of a world they might live in.

there are kids without running water, without shelter from the rain, kids who don't know where their next meal will come from. there are kids everywhere who will grow up in communities and countries where they will be told that they are less than others, that they are less than "human" by the simple fact of their birth, the language they speak, how their parents arrived in the town or country, the color of their skin.

there are kids who are so stuck in a culture of poverty that they can't see their way out. there are kids who are already being forced to grow up, to be the head of households. there are kids who are forced to join militias, kids who are abused, raped, assaulted over nothing, over everything, over religion, and over politics. there are kids who will grow up without parents because their parents died of aids. there are kids who die needlessly because the parents can't see any other option. there are children everywhere who need to know that you care about them.

so, what can we do?

do you have time? be a mentor, buddy, teacher, helper, foster parent, adoptive parent; be somebody that kids can trust and come to when they are in pain and need you. be reliable for them.

do you have money? donate it to boys and girls of america, to churches that are helping kids, to afterschool programs, to schools, to mentoring programs.

do you have connections? use them. connect people who can help with people who need help, connect volunteers with volunteer opportunities and programs.

no matter what there's something to do or give. connect those around you with this stuff. spread god's love to others. it doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to be heartfelt. maybe next year, or ten or twenty or fifty years from now, we will be able to see a brighter future for children. one filled with love and laughter.

happy children's day. love the children in your life.