It's Tuesday morning...

As little children...

It's Tuesday, and I think I have missed a couple of days.  I finally am beginning to feel like I am winning the battle - gosh, wouldn't it be nice to say winning the battle against evil, or winning the battle against cancer?  No, my battle is a simple one - the common cold.  Isn't it true that you complain most about those things that are the least important?

OK, I am still battling against things somatic, though.  For the very first time, last night I took a pain pill here in Albania.  I am praying that my neck/head/shoulder pain will remit this morning.  I must admit that it makes me excited that the Enemy finds my activities here so important that he would be so persistent in trying to deter me.  Isn't that the truth?  So, please pray for my worn out neck - and that the Evil One would be defeated!

Do I have to speak Albanian to work here?

It is an absolutely beautiful morning today.  I looked out the window to blue skies and sunshine.  The temperature has been in the 70s, I'm sure (although I have never been good at guessing ambient temperature), but rises midday along with the humidity... and the wind dies down.  Yesterday was a glorious day... I spent it with a special friend from Bathore.  We met at Taiwan - no, we didn't take another international flight, there is a building called Taiwan close to the Qendra Stefan.  We "had a coffee" (a national pastime) there, and caught up with each other.  I am finding that as I return, the relationships become deeper - people are beginning to share deeper things.  It is gratifying, and allows me the opportunity to know them better, pray for them, and, perhaps by the grace of God, say something that is a balm for them. 

Setting up - transport to R, 'counter' behind him

Remember when you first came to church and everyone seemed to be happy and "have it together"?  Then you got ot know a few people, and you realized that at least those few had a problems that approximated yours?   The more people you got to know, the more they seemed just like those outside the church - in terms of problems - and the thing that distinguished them is their Savior, their position in Christ.  And, the closer they were to Christ, the more distinct they were from the world?  Well, it is like that here.  His people face the same problems that everyone in the world faces.  Unfortunately, sin and tragedy are indiscriminate.   One of the blessings that God gives us is each other, right?  We bear each others' burdens.  In that simple sharing, there is comfort.  Why?  I don't know.  It doesn't solve the problem; it doesn't keep the Evil One at bay; it doesn't confront any earthly perpetrator.  How like God!  Is it the same when we pray?  Is the simple process of sharing with our Creator like a balm?  Let me know what you think!

See the new broom... twigs peaking out above

Today, I meet with the pastor of IPA.  He summarized his sermons in this way:  the Spirit led him, when he first came, to spend two years on preaching love God, then some years later a two year series on loving one another, and now after some time a series is to begin on loving the world.  It struck me - TWO YEARS???  Is it so hard to love God?  Or one another?  Or the world?  Perhaps it takes that long to break through that shell that forms around us as we "take care" of all those things placed in front of us by our physical lives - you know, family members, maintaining a roof and food, clothing ourselves - then there are those other things - a spa trip, that vacation to Disneyland, or a new car.  We get focused on ourselves, don't we - me first! - and forget about those things which we cannot touch, or see, or smell.  We get trapped in our physical.  We can opine about the metaphysical, imagine heavenly battles, envision the Throne - but at the end, we are jostled back into the physical.   Perhaps it does take two years of sermons to explore loving God - perhaps even a lifetime.

Ok, I'm a bit preachy today.  I'm off!  It seems this trip will be a more quiet and subtle endeavor than before... partly necessitated, so far at least, by my physical embodiment.  But, I can't help but think that the long conversations so far are Divine Appointments, that could have been missed had I been feeling better, with more energy and focus on "getting things done."  How Western I am!

More later...  Pafshim