The Education of a Yankee Texan

I read an article recently in the New York Times entitled "The Education of a President". It was a lengthy article written over the course of several visits with President Obama as he nears the middle point of his administrations first term in office.

Here's a quote:
“I make no apologies for having set high expectations for myself and for the country, because I think we can meet those expectations,” he said. “Now, the one thing that I will say — which I anticipated and can be tough — is the fact that in a big, messy democracy like this, everything takes time. And we’re not a culture that’s built on patience.”

I think we can all relate to impatience. In keeping with our American culture, I confess that I am not a woman of patience either. In some ways I am better than in others. But even as I sit here and contemplate my most recent interactions, I know that I could have spent more time listening than speaking. More time watching then speeding through.

This part of my nature has come out boldly in these past months. I am impatient for community, impatient for better projects at work, impatient for my time here in Galveston to be put to the best and most perfect use at every minute of every day. The Yankee part of me even wants my SLEEP to be productive!

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We've been reading through the book of Hebrews these past couple of months. If you want an exercise in patience read through the first 10 chapters of this book! There is some beautiful, irreplaceable wisdom in this book but WOW. It is super dense.

Chapters 11 and 12 are so timely for me as I really dig into the idea that God exists outside of time. We've all heard it. For the Creator, Yesterday might as well by 1,000 years from now:

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible...
By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country, he lived in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God...
By faith Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice...,
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future...,
By faith, Jacob when he was dying blessed each of his sons, and worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
By faith, Moses was hidden...,
By faith, Rahab...
By faith, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets and many women conquered kingdoms, administered justice, were tortured, were blessed, were strengthened, were beaten, wandered...

All were commended for their faith and none of them received what had been promised. For God had planned something better for us so that only together with US would THEY be made perfect,

so that we might inherit an

unshakable kingdom. 

Hebrews 11, 12:28 (my translation)

For all of my frustrations and impatience, it strikes me that God is infinitely patient. The writer of Hebrews in this chapter, effectively retraces all of biblical history and suggests that every single follower endured and followed as only a part of the whole picture. Perhaps my year of seeming "loose ends" is equivalent to Sarah's waiting for a son, and Moses' 40 years of wandering, and the Israelites years in captivity. I think about that alot...

40 years of wandering. I might have to invest in some better shoes.  

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I read Hebrews and I now know that as I take my place in this redemption story I will not likely inherit, in my time in this world, the glory and joy and peace of the eternal kingdom of God in full. Surely, I will see beautiful glimpses, but a holy humility comes over me as I recognize that I am just one of many characters in God's redemption story. As God is healing me after a painful year, I cling to this knowledge:

"The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other people. it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is GOD; he is a faithful God keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands." Deuteronomy 5: 7-9

I hope God doesn't mind a bit of a translation from a modern day reader, but in many ways I see this part of God's love letter to the world written especially to me:

Dear Courtney,

I did not set my affection on you and choose you because you are smarter or more beautiful or more talented than others. I chose you because I love you and I am keeping my promise to those who have stepped out in faith before you.  I have redeemed you through my Son who takes your years of missing the mark, your endless striving to be good, and nails it to a cross. The power that sin had over you is no more. I slammed the door on it. Know that I am the Lord your God and your Creator. I will always be with you regardless of whether the lamp I place before before you is quite bright or dimly lit. When it gets hard, and you feel like you can't see, know this: I have kept and will continue to keep, my holy promise of love for the thousands upon thousands of people who come to me, trust me, and follow the Way of my Son.

God isn't safe. But He is Good.
I will walk by faith.

An Afternoon in Taiwan

We had a wonderful opportunity a couple of weeks ago to head to Houston's very own China Town. In any other circumstance I suppose I would consider this your typical jaunt into another urban Asian center. China Town, New York? Been there. Great Beef and Broccoli! China Town, San Francisco? Been there too. They also have a tasty Beef and Broccoli.

This was no ordinary adventure. We had a home grown, grade "A" for authentic tour guide. His name is Scott Huang, a school buddy of Andy's who has quickly become part of our Galveston family. Scott is from Taiwan and he has come to Texas to work with his mentor on viruses transmitted by mosquitoes. I have often suggested that instead of working on the viruses he should consider working on a magical potion that will wipe these nasty creatures from the face of the planet! He has the perfect testing ground here in Galveston! I have gladly offered our yard for his first efforts.

The man loves his mosquitoes however. He's got quite a collection of stuffed mosquitoes, wooden mosquitoes - all in tribute to the little bug that is going to win him the Nobel Prize for his work. I have learned more about mosquitoes than I ever thought I could know from many a Friday afternoon chat on our porch. He's a special guy, that Scott.

Now a year away from home, Scott is understandably missing his homeland. So he organized a trek on over to West Houston. The order of the day was a traditional Taiwanese meal for lunch and then grocery shopping for a Taiwanese dinner to be made back at home.

Lunch was incredible. I think the best part was how happy Scott was to have all of his homeland delicacies right at his fingertips. I think I stopped counting after the 15th sigh followed by "this is soooo good." We asked Scott to order what he would typically order back home so we could try some of the more unique foods. He got our waitress and other staff in on the game of "teach the Americans all about Taiwanese food" and by the end of the meal we were given free treats to take with us on the road.

Above is a picture of our meal. I was surprised by all of the variety! My favorite was a tofu dish that Andy and I called "Taiwanese Chili" for lack of a better description. Nice and spicy with the cooling taste of tofu in the middle. There was an oyster dish, drunken chicken and a lovely brothy soup to try among other things. It was all very unique. No beef and broccoli to be found, I might add.

Next we headed to an Asian market called Ranch 99. This place could easily compare to a Wegman's or HEB that specialized only in Asian fare. It was incredible! Who knew there were so many different kinds of soy sauce! Lots of fruits that I wasn't familiar with. And a few other cool sights...

Yes. Those are ducks.

The evening ended with a home cooked meal with all the ingredients we picked up at the store paired with Asian beer. Yum Yum! What a great time to spend with a wonderful friend.

I went to a concert last night in Houston with a friend of mine. This song, by Matt Maher, really struck me:

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave

O church, come stand in the light
Our God is not dead, He's alive, He's alive.

As I listened to these words I found myself thinking of those moments in movies when a character finds that someone he thought was dead is actually still breathing.

He's alive! - said with tears and emotion and joy. So raw and human.

How would we live differently if we really knew Christ is alive and at work in the world?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:He's Alive

Book Clubs and Dirty Feet

One activity that has recently made it to my calendar is a monthly book club with some girls from our church. I got an email towards the end of the summer from a friend who wanted to dig into the classics. Jane Austen, Hemingway, Steinbeck etc. We've plowed through two so far. This weekend we chatted about Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. INCREDIBLE book! I couldn't recommend it more. At its most basic level, the book is about what the world would look like if we no longer were able to or capable of exchanging ideas. It was brilliant.

I am excited to learn that classic novels are not lost on me. I always struggled with these in high school when classic books were required to make the grade. Now that we are reading for pleasure these great books take on a new form to me. I'll keep you updated on our progress. We're planning to read Moby Dick for the month of October.

I really want to digest something that came up in our discussions. You know how we girls can be. Start talking about a character in Jane Austen's Emma and suddenly you are discussing your Aunt's brother's wife and her strange allergy to chick peas. In that general pattern, we moved from the concept of book burning (a theme in Fahrenheit 451) to a friend's recent inability to discern what her response should be when she encounters the homeless in Galveston. I can't provide adequate statistics but there seems to be quite a large homeless population on the island. They often hang out on Broadway near the Salvation Army or by the local McDonald's hoping for someone with some extra change.

My friend expressed her frustration regarding a recent exchange with an area homeless man and wondered aloud to us how we would have responded, or really, how we are called to respond. Our scriptures mention the poor, the lost, the widows hundreds upon hundreds of times. If we were to tear through this book and cut out all the passages that relate to the world's "have nots" we would have a bible torn to shreds; clearly something very important would be missing.

While I know this intuitively, I must say that even as I discussed this with my friend I found myself completely understanding and emotionally tied into her story. She only had a few bucks in her pocket and this gentleman was asking her to supersize the meal that she was offering to purchase for him.

I've had a heart for the have-nots ever since I started my junior year of college. You ever heard of doctors in the ER who have a patient dying of heart failure? In a last ditch effort after all other efforts have failed, the doctor raises his arm and pounds his fist into the patients chest in an effort to shock that dying person back to life. At least I think this happens - if nothing else it makes for a wonderfully dramatic and heart wrenching addition to my favorite medical shows. Rest assured, I am on the edge of my couch shouting... LET HIM LIVE! as the doctor pounds away.

Regardless, as I think about my junior year in college I can only really think of this image. God shocked me back to life as I emerged out of painful experience and realized that I was not alone. Out of that shock came a release of all the things I ever thought were important and a movement into a warmth that was so different than I had ever experienced. Life suddenly became so much more pungent. Just remembering that time again makes me feel warm inside.

From this beautiful place came a response. Not only was I developing a deeper sense of gratitude but I was recognizing my former self in others lives. I emerged as a person who wanted to help heal the wounds that I saw in the world around me because in a very profound way, I felt healed. I quickly became interested in social justice as a means to respond. I soon found myself volunteering with the elderly, low income women, and eventually, working full time at Habitat for Humanity.

While this is lovely to think about and I have had some incredible experiences, there is always one place that is difficult for me to go. The homeless. I've walked into various shelters and handed out my share of sandwiches on city park benches. And it is always. really. hard. Its so hard to not want to give the sandwich and go. Its hard to not want to look beyond this dirty person with disheveled clothes and unpleasant smell and just get it over with. Its hard to listen to his or her ramblings and perceptions of the world and not want them to just take a shower, eat a hot meal and start fresh again tomorrow.

So as my friend spoke, I could identify in many ways with her concerns. And it frustrated me to know that our God calls us to love these people when I so often just don't want to. Yet we read that this is so critical to our understanding of the heart of God that he goes so far as to say that if I don't feed the hungry, clothe the naked or give a drink to the thirsty in my midst that I indeed do not know HIM. That very same God who threw his fist on my life and said

"WAKE UP!

I am here,

and I am glorious."

I came across this picture as I dug around the internet looking for some examples of those who serve the poorest of the poor. It was from an article covering a group of believers in Savannah GA who meet every week under a bridge and wash the feet of the local homeless. New socks, hair cuts, foot massages, once a week.

At first, I couldn't imagine it. Washing this foot? Can't I just stand far off and spray it down with a hose? This is not the image we get of Christ. He puts my foot right on his knee and washes all the grime off. He touches my calloused heels, he surely doesn't stand at a distance. I think with just a glimpse of this very picture I am understanding in a more profound way what sin truly looks like to our God. It is so humbling. And yet Christ takes our feet, dirty and smelly with sin, and washes us clean. He even gets under my toe nails where I thought I had things successfully concealed. This conversation and further thought kind of highlighted that again for me in a new and important way.

In addition to the reality of sin, I get this image of God full of joy when he finally removes the layers of dirt and grime and sees a beautiful newly manicured foot. All my efforts in the world will never remove injustice completely, nor should they. The injustices of the world are a God sized task. If I am focused on Christ however, my life in the world will be filled with compassion even for those with dirty feet, a smelly odor, or a perceived rude response to my offer of a hamburger. Whats more, I find that if I stop looking for a way out and actually speak authentically with the homeless that I meet I sometimes get a glimpse of God in them too. Not every time. But sometimes. And when it happens its usually quite profound. The faith of those with so little to their name is often a faith that can move mountains. I just have to be in their presence long enough to get a glimpse of it.