Why is Facebook taunting me?

My word verification for a link I posted just now:

And I went to public school.

I’ve done lots of stupid things that involve a lack of foresight, or general absentmindedness. (See Black Crowes Tickets, Loss Of.)

But here’s one smart thing I did: When I moved out of my office at RTS, I boxed up my books so that they’d be ready for moving to Prague, and stored them in the attic. But I also labeled each box by category, according to how they were arranged on the shelf, so that if I needed a book in the interim, I’d only have to open one box.

I thought that was just me being anal about books, but I’ve probably gone to the attic for a book about a half-dozen times, and I’ve never had any trouble finding what I was looking for.

Facing Circumstantial and Spiritual Depression

If your circumstances are leading you to depression and hopelessness– as they often do– then your biggest problem isn’t circumstantial, it’s spiritual.

The circumstances might improve, but eventually they’ll get worse again. If your spiritual problem gets better, then you’ll be less dominated by your circumstances.

Sometimes, though, the spiritual state improves and then the circumstances improve. That’s the best case scenario. In those seasons, thank God for his kindness, and pray that the next time circumstances take a dip (as they surely will), your spiritual life will weather the storm.

Things you’ll very rarely say.

1. I wish I’d stayed up later last night.
2. I wish I’d eaten a little bit more.
3. I wish I hadn’t asked that hard question.
4. I wish we’d watched TV instead of talking.
5. I wish I hadn’t gone for that run.

“Everything’s awesome right now, and nobody’s happy.”

Somebody finally said it.

Extra points for the phrase “non-contributing zero,” which I plan on stealing repeatedly.

Things I’m a cheeseball over.

I’m a fairly levelheaded guy, but I have some soft spots. Things like this can get a tear out of me.

1. Kids, especially mine (Sam and anticipated future ones).
2. Things related to patriotism or the military.
3. Christmas.
4. People who have been married a long time. (For example, Melissa and I both cried at the end of the John Adams miniseries. I guess that would encompass #s 2 and 4.)

And you?

Dispatches From the Support-Raising Front

Not many people get a glimpse into what life is like as a missionary raising support. Melissa and I were talking about some of our funnier moments, so I thought I’d share some with you, gentle reader.

***

Non-Christians, understandably, do not know Christian lingo, and they come up with funny stuff in its place. (Sometimes theirs is better. Who in the world came up with the phrase “quiet time”?) Yesterday I was explaining our Prague plans to a guy I’d just met, and he said, “So, you’re planning to build a church for your religion in Prague.”

That will certainly get worked into 1) our standard support talk and 2) my Facebook status.

***

Once in a support meeting, a guy who’s known me my whole life asked, with no context or warning, “So what do you think about the Catholics?”

***

Another person was very disappointed to see a picture in some of our material of an event in Prague where a guy was drinking beer. Of course, the real story there would have been if there were an event in Prague where there was no beer. But it was really pretty stupid of me to waltz into the home of a conservative Christian in middle GA and not expect that to happen. The picture has since been scrubbed. (At a later appointment the same day, we had a glass of wine with the potential supporters. You just never know.)

***

I do not at all enjoy the formality of going through our presentation and then making an appeal. I would prefer to sit around, have Prague come up, answer questions, casually get everything said that needs to be said, and then have them say “Well, we’d love to support you guys.”

Once we had dinner with some friends for the purpose of talking about support. We’d had the talk, then we drifted to other things, had dessert, and when it was time to start putting kids to bed the guy and his wife exchanged glances and he said “Well, we’re ready for the ask when you guys are.”

I’ve since been much more deliberate and purpose-driven in support meetings.

***

We always get asked about ministry to internationals vs. ministry to Czechs– e.g. why is it an English-speaking church, will you try to meet Czechs, etc. In the most formal version of our talk, this comes under a section that Melissa handles. But for the first couple of months, she had a really tough time getting a handle on the summary answer, which is that there’s a “two-pronged approach.” Really, any answer that uses the phrase “two-pronged approach” would do. But early on, Melissa tended to stumble over that point and be less than clear. In one presentation at a church, she basically gave the impression that we could care less about the souls of Czechs and probably wouldn’t walk across the street to share the Gospel with them. She was temporarily relieved of her duties where that question was concerned.

***

More to come, I’m sure. Thank goodness it’s God moving through his people, not our mad social skills, that brings in the provision we need!

You don’t know what it’s like out here.

People. You have no idea. Charlotte is on the verge of freakin’ collapse. Wachovia got bought out. Wachovia. And I really like Wachovia. Citi I don’t know so much. There’s no gas. I went driving around looking for gas tonight. I found a station with a tanker truck (down by our old house), waited while he unloaded, waited 15 more minutes, then drove back home to get the other car, bring it back and fill it up. That’s pretty much how my evening was spent. Buying gas.

I went to get a beer with Tyler later on tonight, and the first place we tried to go was closed. Our house flooded two weeks ago. Today they were replacing the floors, and they didn’t finish. Half of our living room is a concrete slab, and I’m getting high smelling the glue or whatever.

Congress can’t get their *&^# together. (Actually, as you’ll note in a post from last week, I’m kind of happy about that.) Apparently the whole economy is gonna collapse unless we give Hank Paulson a trillion dollars and a bowl of green M&M’s. Either that or there will be a serious crunch for a while and things will eventually work themselves out. Who knows. Meantime, some of us are trying to raise support to go to the mission field, and it’s like stinkin’ I Am Legend up in here.

You know what’s good news, in all seriousness? Psalm 11:3 asks a question: “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” And verse 4 answers it: “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see.” Our economy may indeed collapse. People will almost certainly lose jobs– maybe even some of our friends. We might lose supporters, or take longer to get them. But not one dollar or job or supporter will be lost or gained apart from the will of my Father in heaven.

Usually somewhere in between.

Most things are neither as good nor as bad as you think they’re going to be. That is, if you think something’s going to be awful, it’s usually not quite as bad as you thought. And if you think something’s going to be awesome, it’s usually not quite as life-altering as you thought.

Example of the former: Moving to Charlotte in 2004. We thought the last month in Athens and first month in Charlotte would be miserable. Neither was true– the move was taxing, but we felt at home and happy pretty quickly.

Example of the latter: The Macbook I’m about to buy. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it, but after a couple of weeks I won’t wake up and think “I have a Macbook. What a wonderful life.”

There are notable exceptions, such as giving birth to a child (or helping in the process) and raising said child.

Summer Reading