A new beginning and a happy ending

I've taken a blog hiatus and I'm ready to start again. But, I'm going to blog differently now. (And I've replaced the Taipei skyline with one of my favorite pictures of my brothers. It's kinda random, but I think I'll just rotate in different family shots.) In the past I've posted pictures, updates on the adventures God has taken me on and an occasional devotional thought or lesson God has taught me. From now on I'm just going to post articles or devotionals I've written and my goal is to have a new one every week. I keep feeling like the Lord wants me to write more and I just don't take the time to sit down and do it. Maybe this will make me do it. I really want to encourage others, especially other women, on their spiritual journeys. I've been in the process of relearning the gospel for what it really is. God has opened my eyes to see lies that I have believed in the past and ways I have totally misconstrued the gospel. If God can use me to help make truth come alive for others, I am willing.
So, let's start with this....A Happy Ending...

I just finished listening to my pastor speak about tension, hardship and helplessness. And I feel encouraged. I feel encouraged because I just heard truth and it covered my soul like a soothing balm. On the contrary, a message of prosperity gospel brings on a wave of nauseous ness. I think most Christ followers would agree that at least on some level prosperity gospel is not the gospel truth at all. But, even those of us who have not fallen for a monetary prosperity gospel have, at times, fallen for some version of the gospel that says God wants us safe, happy and healthy and that he has a happy ending planned for us on this earth.

John the Baptist wanted a happy ending. After he obeyed God’s calling on his life by proclaiming the coming Messiah, he sat rotting in prison wondering when this Messiah was going to come through for him and deliver his happy ending. In Matthew 11 we see that John sent word to Jesus asking, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” In other words, “If you are Jesus, the Messiah, shouldn’t you be rescuing me from prison so I can take part in your ministry here on earth?” John was not rescued. Did he get a happy ending? Many of the disciples and early church missionaries were persecuted and died terrible deaths. Did they get happy endings? Yes, they did and so did John the Baptist. Just not on this earth. Not a typical happy ending. Not the kind we see in movies. Let’s be honest, not the kind we want. Hebrews 11 tells of their happy ending. Though they were “destitute, persecuted and mistreated” the writer tells us “these were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us that only together with us would they be made perfect.” They received their happy ending, but not while walking on this earth. And I think that’s what trips us up sometimes. We think all things have to come together under a happy ending at some point in this life on earth. We may not say it in so many words, but it comes out in our platitudes. We try to encourage our friends by telling them it will all work out. You’ll get back together. He won’t leave. You’ll get pregnant. You’ll have a healthy baby. It will all work out!

I love the movie The Breakup for many reasons including its realistic ending. I mentioned this to a couple of friends recently and they had the opposite feelings about the movie because the two main characters do not end up together in the end. They expressed that they do not watch movies for realism but for an escape from reality. While I understand this sentiment and certainly enjoy a good dose of escapism, I also appreciate a realistic ending with a glimmer of hope. The difference between our reality as Christians and the realistic picture that Hollywood paints is that our reality is in Christ. And in Christ we have hope. But, we have to understand where that hope lies. Eternity. Not in a perfect ending now, but in our journey with Christ that goes on for eternity. See, the gospel of Jesus Christ is one of reconciling all things to their original design. That’s our happy ending and it has begun, but it’s not complete. In the in between there is struggle, tension, hardship, and we should not run from these things. But, we have hope. Our happy ending is coming.

There is a line from one of my favorite songs that I cannot get out of my head. Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson sing, “I still believe in summer days. The seasons always change. And life will find a way.” As the days get shorter and the dark cold sets in, remember the summer. Remember life and remember our hope in Jesus Christ. Not a false hope that things will turn out right now, but a deep hope in our future with him, that has begun now, even on this short cold day.

Dive into a good book! (elementary teacher nerd:)

I have been back in the U.S. for about a month now and it really is great to be back home. I enjoyed time with my family and I've been busy. I'm really getting acclimated to this culture again. I have a new cell phone, a car and car insurance! The Lord provided a nice car in my price range and I'm glad to get some of those basic things taken care of.

I just spent a week with my family in sunny South Vero Beach, FL. We had a nice time playing on the beach, relaxing and eating. I love my family for many reasons, but one thing that makes me swell up inside is how we love to read and get into deep conversations. I am always intellectually and spiritually stimulated after spending time with them, especially concentrated time on vacation. We discussed politics and religion and history and social issues and I always learn so much just from listening to them. Which leads me to my topic...

Summer Reading
So, what was I reading as I sat between my mother, reading Jane Austen, and my brother, reading Tolstoy? Um, yeah, Shopaholic Ties the Knot! Which is so not intellectually stimulating, but so entertaining. On spring holiday I read Shopaholic Takes Manhattan and actually laughed out loud at some bits, so I grabbed another installment of everyone's favorite shopaholic to read at the beach. I really enjoy a light read on vacation.

I'm also reading God is Closer Than You Think by John Ortberg. It was given to me years ago and I finally got to it recently. I'm finding it encouraging and challenging. I really enjoyed how the author discussed the story of Mary and Martha. I'm a bit of a Martha myself (always busy in the "kitchen") so I was encouraged as he explained that the story is not about changing activities or ceasing activity, although that may be needed at times. It's about being distracted. The author explains, "The 'one thing' Mary chose would not be taken from her. The one thing was not that she would spend the rest of her life sitting in contemplation letting Martha do all the work. The one thing was being with Jesus no matter what else was going on around her."
I'm only about half way through it, but it's basically about experiencing God's presence in our daily lives.

And my final book choice for the summer is The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Politcal Power is Destroying the Church by Gregory Boyd. After some thought-provoking political discussions with my brother, Michael, a recent college grad with a degree in History, I decided I wanted to read a poly-sci book this summer to learn a little more about what he was talking about. I picked this book up at Barnes and Noble and it is excellent! But, it's a tough read. Not because it's full of difficult words or sentences that are half a page long (thank you, Jane Austen), but because it challenges many of my preconceived notions on political activism as a Christian. It has caused me to rethink many things, which is something I think we need to do continually. I don't want to trivialize it by sharing a quote that may not make sense without reading the whole chapter, so I'll just encourage you to pick it up. I haven't finished it yet, so I'm not sure how he's going to wrap it up, but either way, whether I can go there with him or not, I appreciate the opportunity to think it through.

Next on my list, per recommendation by my brother, Robby, Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne. And a few more recommendations from me along this same vein:
1) Irresistable Revolution by Shane Claiborne, if you want to be challenged to live more simply, among other things, and
2) Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. I learned so much about 1st century Jewish culture from this book and it really enhanced my understanding of much of the New Testament. An EXCELLENT read!

I hope you'll pick up a book this summer! (I'm such a nerd...it makes me so happy to look down the row of chairs and towels at the beach and see everyone in my family with a book!)

Oh, and listen to some good music too! The song of the moment for me right now: The Story by Brandi Carlile.

Peggy's Big Adventure

I had been sitting there for about an hour when I was jerked from my reverie. I looked up from my seat in the waiting area at the airport to see my sweet little mother purposefully bang her cart into the glass in front of me to get my attention. I had watched everyone else from Malaysia Air flight 94 come out of the baggage claim area and finally decided to just sit and read and trust that she would eventually make it out and she did. "Hello, Mary Theresa!" She called. Wow. Someone was excited to start her big adventure! And she didn't wait long to start - she had already been lost in the airport by the time she found me. As we bought bus tickets and got settled for the ride back to the city she told me that besides getting confused trying to find baggage claim, she was also stopped at the temperature check point. Apparently, it showed up that she had a fever, but they let her through when she disclosed that she was, in fact, just having a hot flash. Whew.
We had 10 incredible days of delicious food from all over the world. She tried and loved everything...
She enjoyed meeting all my wonderful friends...
And it was just so much fun to be with my mom during my last 10 days in Taiwan...
It was such a blessing to be able to show her a little glimpse into my life there before I came back. Besides that, she has never traveled farther than Guatemala and I was so excited for her to be able to take a big trip like this. She was a huge help to me as I finished up at school and packed up my apartment.

The personal touch

I'm sure I'm not the first or only person to say this. Furthermore, I'm probably not the only person to say this TODAY. In fact, I've probably heard someone else say this and now I think it's my own original thought. So many people are talking about how we are communcating these days. I just want to get in on the conversation a little.

As a foreigner in a land far away from many loved ones, I am enamored with all the brilliant ways to stay in contact with friends. I squeal with delight at my computer screen when I see that someone has written on my facebook wall and in contrast I pout and declare that no one likes me if I have no new email in a whole day. Okay, so I'm a bit of a drama queen at times, but I'm sure many of you share similar emotions. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and chat are all at our finger tips. These forms of communication are fast and fun and useful for communicating to masses. (I still think it's funny that we have a way to update "everyone" on our every move via twitter. Do we really need to know when our friends are at the grocery store? But, I'll save that for another post.) Old fashion email has taken a back seat to these fast and efficient means. It's almost a thing of the past. (That's why I do a lot of pouting when I open my email. Or maybe I'm just a friendless loser. Totally kidding. I'm wicked popular. Just for you, Mary:) Just a few years ago I was listening to people my parents age complaining that hand-written letters were becoming obsolete. Now no one sends emails anymore.

All these things are meant to connect us, but I would argue that they can be used to separate us. We don't need to talk on the phone anymore. We don't need to meet in person. And now we don't even need to send individual emails. We twitter and blog and facebook and are left with the illusion that we are staying connected but the personal touch is lost. When I post on this blog or upload pictures on facebook and write captions to go with the pictures and tell my story, I feel like I've communicated with all of my friends. But, do you feel like I've communicated with you? Most likely not.

I'm not one to try to go backwards. I understand that our world is changing and I'm ready to move forward with it. (Does that mean I have to twitter though? I have no idea how to do that.) But, I don't want to live with the illusion of connectedness instead of the real thing. I'd still take face to face over facebook any day.

Now, time to check status updates.

Final Countdown

I can't believe I only have 5 weeks left here in Taiwan to enjoy so many wonderful things that I have come to love in the last 3 years....

The river park by my apartment where I have spent countless hours walking and talking with Amanda...

The view from the roof of our apartment where we have lounge chairs set up for sunny days...

The steps of the CKS memorial which are are the perfect place to exercise...

Cheap, good lattes from eCoffee, which is only a short walk from work...

My fun, adorable students who make work a joy...

And my beautiful friends who make me laugh and are my loyal companions...

Five more weeks. That's it.

As much as I'm going to mourn the absence of these people and places in my life, there are just as many amazing friends, beautiful places and good lattes waiting for me on the other side.

And I look forward with a happy heart.

A weekend with the folks

I'm a little late posting this, but 2 weekends ago Amanda and I took the high speed train down to a city in the southern part of the island to see some friends, Carl and Kathy Collins. I met Carl and Kathy in the airport in Buffalo, NY in July '06. There were a bunch of us waiting to get picked up at the airport to go to our pre-field orientation before heading to Taiwan. I was so excited to find out that they were going to be in Taiwan also because we clicked right away and I could tell I was going to like them! They have become my "Taiwan parents" and I have enjoyed countless visits to their home over the years.
On our recent visit, we spent time shopping for souvenirs, visiting a cultural village, eating, talking, and sight seeing. My favorite spot was the Lotus Pond which is where all these pictures where taken. Everything was so beautifully manicured and so Asian! These pictures don't do it justice.

Get back in your cage!

I like the angle Carl got with this shot!

Peace! (We are so Asian)

Amanda and I with Kathy

Carl and Kathy are planning a trip to Taipei in April for some fun on this end of the island. We are looking forward to it!

Happy Monday

For all of you who are still fuming and suicidal from the last article I linked to this blog, I thought I would draw your attention to another article about singleness from the same website that is MUCH better.