LOVE DEFINED

It seems to me that when progressive American churches preach that congregations need to demonstrate "love" to the world, their definition of "love" is different from what I have in mind. 

It has thrown me for a loop sometimes.

But I now understand that when progressives say "love", they mean "acceptance" and little more.

They are definitely "see-no-evil" types. Much of what Scripture and traditional Christianity would call "sin", is overlooked, condoned, or even celebrated in many American churches today. 

With this brand of faith, the only true sin is the lack of "love". 

And if we see that acceptance is synonymous with "love", then it makes sense that these churches view intolerance as the opposite: "hatred". 

Intolerance, then, is the only true sin. 

(I am aware the conservative church's definition of "love" is also skewed. I will get to that. 😉) 

LOANING TO THE LORD

How have I missed this Scripture verse up to this point?

Proverbs 19:17 says:

Kindness to the poor is loaning to the Lord, and He will repay.

That is a really unusual metaphor and I can't quite wrap my head around it. 

It is one of those proverbs that stands in the midst of a cluster of independent verses - there is not further context in surrounding verses.

It is just dropped in the middle of chapter 19 as a universal truth.

Although 19:17 gives the impression that our finances ultimately belong to us, this surely isn't the point of the proverb. The rest of Scripture makes it clear that we are simply stewards of the resources God gives.

That would indicate the emphasis is on how we are blessed in equal measure by God when we remember the poor and provide for their needs. 

I think it is a verse that needs to go on our Mission Resource website!

PURSE SALESMAN

Apart from not having Melissa here with me, my time in Troy, Illinois today could not have gone better.

First, I got to spend time with one of my best friends, Tim Price.

Second, I got to enjoy a "Fall Rally" event that Tim put together for middle school and high school students. He is a pro. It was well-planned and executed from top to bottom.

Third, I got to lead a seminar on habit formation. For 45 minutes I had over a hundred students as my captive audience. I took the opportunity to encourage them to develop a habit of daily Scripture reading. Better yet, I gave them very practical advice to make the habit stick. 

But an equally satisfying part of the day was my job as purse salesman ...

Tim was kind enough to allow me to set up a display table for Mission Resource and even to sell some of the purses, handbags, and aprons created by Ernestina, one of our clients in Ghana. (Even though it risked cutting into his own sales of t-shirts. He's a good guy like that.) 

Ernestina took a loan from Mission Resource a few years ago to buy a sewing machine. Over time she has made enough money from selling her products (in the States) to expand her business and even take on a couple of apprentices. 

I had the pleasure to spend a couple of afternoons with her while I was in Ghana a few weeks ago. She is a sweetheart. 

And Ernestina does quality work. The youth in attendance today, as well as their adult leaders, recognized the beauty and quality of Ernestina's products and bought just about everything that I had with me. 

I was thrilled to send her a message at the end of the day to say I had sold over $250 worth of her products.

And she was even more thrilled to hear it!

I would like to continue my role as a purse salesman in the coming months, so I will post some pictures of her work soon. 

I want you to see for yourself.

(They would make great Christmas presents. Just sayin'.)

TONE

With 99% of the dialogue recorded in Scripture, the tone of voice of the speaker is not explicitly described. The reader is left to infer whether a sentence is said in anger or sadness. 

Quietly or loudly. 

With boldness or timidity.

Take for example this famous exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well: 

John 4:15  The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16  Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17  “I have no husband,” the woman replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are correct to say that you have no husband. 18  In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. You have spoken truthfully.”

What is the tone of the Son of God when He reveals that He knows she has been through multiple marriages and is now living with a sixth man?

I just can't picture Jesus aggressively wagging His finger in her face and raising His voice in judgment. I can't imagine He was trying to shame her. Can you?

Don't you think He said those words with great sadness? 

In our own day, when we see various sins being exercised against God's ways in the world around us, shouldn't our hearts be in alignment with Jesus' heart? 

Even if we never say the words out loud, shouldn't our tone be the same?

Is it?

ACADEMIC EXERCISES

Yesterday I met a fellow missionary here at the Grace College Missions Conference who completed his DMin six years ago. 

For the uninitiated, that is a Doctorate of Ministry, the same degree I am currently working toward.

A year from now I will have completed my classes and I will be starting work on my dissertation. It makes me nervous to think about it, but probably not for the reason you might expect.

Yes, it will be a lot of work and I will have to set and abide by self-imposed deadlines. That will take discipline, but I think I can handle it.

My biggest fear is that I will pursue a project that becomes merely an academic exercise, with no real world use.

So I asked this guy about the topic of his own dissertation. 

(Probably a question he doesn't get asked a lot.) 

He explained that he had studied three big mission agencies and their training processes for new missionaries. He was looking for connections between inadequate training and failure on the field.

He found all three trainings to be severely lacking in substance and believed that many missionaries left their fields for preventable causes. 

I wanted to know so much more than our time together allowed him to explain. 

I have seen firsthand the sort of major troubles that can erode the effectiveness of missions. And I have often suspected that inadequate training (and screening) plays a significant role in the sort of conflicts we and so many other missionaries have experienced on mission fields around the world.

Unfortunately, whatever this brother discovered in his research has gone no further than a database in his school's library.

What a shame.

TALKING TO PEOPLE

I am a lifelong introvert. Over the years, I have come to accept that fact but every now and then I wish I were an extrovert.

This week I am on the campus of Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana. Months ago I had signed up to lead a couple of seminars and man a table for Mission Resource here. I didn’t know if it would be a good use of my time or not – it just felt like the Spirit’s leading.

But when I arrived on campus Monday, I began to question my discernment!

That's because there were 40 other missionaries and over a thousand students – all strangers – and I was supposed to talk to people. And my wife was not here to act as my safety net. 

But I am glad to report that God showed up in the midst of my anxieties.

So far I have talked to dozens of people, including:

• A guy who directs a ministry in the Central Plateau of Haiti. He is looking for help in combatting the extreme poverty he sees. Could this be a route to establish Mission Resource’s microfinance methods in Haiti?
• Five freshmen who showed up to my seminar to learn how to start habits of consistent prayer and Bible reading.
• A senior who plans to become a homeland missionary to young women on college campuses across Indiana. We talked for almost two hours about how she could go about raising the financial support she is going to need. 

I am not so great at small talk, but when the Lord is in the midst of a conversation, I couldn't be more engaged. 

DIVINE MATH

Beyond being one of the fruits of the Spirit, the Greek work egkrates (self-control) shows up in another important passage. 

Take a look at the divine math in 2 Peter 1:5b-9 - 

5b Make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities and continue to grow in them, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever lacks these traits is nearsighted to the point of blindness, having forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Here is the equation:

Faith 

     + Virtue 

          + Knowledge 

               + SELF-CONTROL 

                    + Perseverance

                         + Godliness 

                              + Brotherly Kindness 

                                   + Love

               = Effective and Productive in Christ

Notice that we start with Faith and end with Love. THAT seems appropriate. 

Remove any one of these variables and the procession comes to a halt - long before you have reached a place of Love.

So self-control plays a central and necessary role in this equation. 

And without self-control, there is no real possibility of being effective and productive in your faith.

I don't know about you, but I want to be effective and productive.

You and I need self-control. 

SELF-CONTROL

There's a Greek word that appears only a handful of times in the New Testament: egkrates. Its scarcity, though, is inversely proportionate to its importance.

Egkrates is often translated as "self-control", "self-discipline", or "self-mastery". 

To show self-control's importance, I need only point to its appearance in Galatians 5:23 where it is listed as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. There it keeps company with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness. 

That's the Big Leagues.

But we don't give self-control a lot of attention. In fact, most of the time if we do mention it, we are making a joke about how little we have.  

Like Oscar Wilde's famous crack: "I can resist anything but temptation." 

But here's the odd thing about self-control: While publicly we joke about our lack of self-control, inwardly we fret over it. 

A lack of self-control fosters feelings of guilt, shame, and failure.

We can't avoid this question: If self-control is, in fact, a fruit of the Spirit, what does it say about us when we don't have it?

THE WIDTH

Poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman once wrote,

"I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to live the width of it as well."

According to Wikipedia, Ackerman has packed a lot of adventures into her seven-plus decades of life: She has done field research in Patagonia, Japan, Brazil, Hawaii, the Amazon rainforest, and Antarctica. 

She can even claim the honor of having a particular molecule named after her - "dianeackerone" - a sex pheromone in crocodiles. 

Now that is something to put at the top of your resume!

I don't know if Ackerman is a believer or not, but I believe the pinnacle of what she is describing as "the width of life" is what Jesus would call "abundant life". (John 10:10)

It is tragic for a Christian to "get through" life when we could be seeking joy and fulfillment in those good works that God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

I wonder if there's a limit to how much God could cram into our days and weeks if we let Him. 

ALL THAT WE HAVE

Our daughter Sarah is hoping to go to Peru with a group from our church next summer to work at a missionary and minister in various ways in a small village halfway up the mountains. Melissa and I are in full support. 

We know short term mission trips can be meaningful for team members and useful for the Kingdom. After all, Melissa's mission trip to Haiti in 2010 is where the Lord first started prompting us toward fulltime missionary service.

And as a youth pastor, I even led a number of such trips over the years. And they were worthwhile and largely positive experiences. 

But one thing about short term trips has often bugged me:

Brothers and sisters in Christ will return from a short-term mission trip after spending a week or two among impoverished, needy people and then speak of how the experience stirred up "gratitude for all that we have here at home". 

Don't get me wrong - gratitude in and of itself is good, obviously. So I hope I don't come across too judgy in saying this ...

But gratitude in these cases can sound a little too close to "I'm glad I've got mine - I wouldn't want to live like that". 

Now, what if God was trying to show you that you don't need all of that stuff you're thankful for?

What if He was hoping your reaction would be to sell some of your possessions and give the money to the poor. (There IS precedent!)

Maybe He was hoping for more than gratitude upon your return home. 

Maybe He wanted a bit of "There but for the grace of God go I". 

THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE

"There but for the grace of God go I."

I don't remember the first time I heard this quote as a kid, but I do recall that it tied my brains in knots for years.

It impressed me as a sentence holding profound meaning (I was right!), but I couldn't tease it out. I guess my brain could not untangle the twisted syntax. 

That inversion of sentence order, though, was the very thing that made the sentence sticky. It came to mind often. 

I don't know how old I was when the light finally came on, but when I finally "got it", I not only understood the sentiment - the truth it revealed burrowed deep into my heart. 

This is why I can't walk away after meeting a woman like this ...

... And just forget about her. Or feel no responsibility to help her. 

She is a farmer and she is standing in her field. Can you feel how difficult her life is? I don't think you or I could guess the half of it.

Do I bear no obligation to her?

What if she were my mother?

My sister?

My wife?

Or what if I were her?

There but for the grace of God go I.

OUT OF THE BLUE

I was shaken today to hear of a childhood friend's death. We grew up going to the same church, same junior high, and same high school. And Jay's parents were friends with my parents. 

I don't know any details about his death, but I am guessing he had a heart attack. 

I feel for his wife and children. 

Jay and I ran with different crowds outside of church, so I can't say we were ever super close. And it's probably been at least a decade since I last saw him face to face. 

Still, there's something quite startling and unnerving about the death of someone your own age, especially when you have a shared history. 

It's impossible not to put yourself in his shoes. 

Tonight 54 feels both oldish and way too young. 

3 STATES

1 Cor 9:19-22 is a familiar passage:

19 Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), to win those under the law. 21 To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

When we read this passage, we tend to focus on Paul's dedication to sharing the Gospel. Which is appropriate because that IS the major thrust we are to imitate: becoming all things to all people so that by all possible means we might save some.

But with our focus on Paul's approach to evangelism, we might not notice an important encapsulation here of Paul's basic framework for viewing the various states of mankind. 

In essence, Paul sees all human beings being in one of three states:

1. Those without God's law.
2. Those under God's law.
3. Those under the law of Christ.

Those without God's law =  the Gentiles, those who grew up outside God's law. 

Those under God's law = the Jews, specifically those who were seeking to attain righteousness by observing God's given law.

And those under the law of Christ = the true Christian, those who were forgiven and now living by the Spirit. 

Not only is it important to understand the differences between these states in order to tailor our evangelism to people (as the passage above would indicate), understanding this framework is key to making sense of much of the New Testament, especially Paul's letter to the Romans. 

BOOKS

In the new Information Age, where we have all-day access to the ruminations of hundreds of people on social media and where an algorithm suggests various articles, videos, and podcasts on a myriad topics, I find I like and appreciate books more and more. 

Especially books on paper. 

I can sit with my book and my pen, underlining and commenting as much or as little as I like. 

And the beauty of these comments I write in the margins of my books? They are solely meant for my own betterment. Not to one-up complete strangers.

But here's what I am most appreciating about books these days: They quietly take their time to develop a small set of thoughts. The depth of a good book is something that can never fit inside a Twitter soundbite, a clickbait article, or a life update on Facebook. 

In comparison to books, the stuff I read online is so scattershot. And, in the long run, amounts to little more than mental noise.

And who needs extra mental noise these days?

(I hope that if my blogposts are noise, they are at least thoughtful, encouraging, and upward-focused noise!) 

HONEYMOON

If you asked a group of American Christians what exactly is the “good news” contained in the Gospel, I think most would say, “We can have eternal life in heaven”. 

But that falls ridiculously short, doesn't it? 

Isn't the good news really about being in a right relationship with the Holy and Perfect God of the cosmos for all eternity? 

To focus on heaven as the Gospel is like announcing your upcoming wedding by spotlighting your honeymoon plans: “Hey, guys. Guess what! I've got a weeklong trip to the Bahamas coming up in a few months – and it’s an all-inclusive resort. It’s going to be a blast.” 

Your friends would be justified in questioning your commitment to the marriage relationship itself, wouldn't they?

SPARED

I was driving my daughter Sarah to Dairy Queen about an hour ago to meet a couple of her friends. 

In the dark, in my peripheral vision, I saw a car rapidly approaching my street from the right. In a flash, a teenage girl pulled into the path of our Traverse as she made a left hand turn. 

She had not paused a second, much less come to a complete stop. She seemed to assume the street would be clear of oncoming traffic. 

I hit my brakes and punched my horn. 

My headlights briefly gave Sarah and me a clear look at this young lady's reaction as she zipped in front of us, narrowly avoiding getting t-boned.

She was laughing.

If I had not seen her bonehead move coming, that girl would be in the emergency room right now. No doubt about it. 

I wonder how often God spares us the immediate consequences of our own mistakes?  

There is no way for us to ever know in this life.

MINDSET

Psychologist Alia Crum tells a story from her early days as a competitive gymnast: an injury at a regional competition threatened to disqualify for nationals.

She had arrived several days early for the competition and proceeded to rehearse her routine. Unfortunately, in the course of practicing, she slipped up and her ankles knocked together hard. She was left in tears.

Although there was pain, she did not want to accept defeat and bow out, so she iced her ankles and spent several days mentally rehearsing her routine rather than physically rehearsing it. Her parents encouraged her to understand her injury as a minor setback which need not derail her hopes. 

Crum says that when her time before the judges arrived, she felt no pain. She was able to execute her routine flawlessly and was relieved and overjoyed to qualify for nationals. She went home victorious.

Perhaps you can guess the postscript to the story. 

A few days after the competition ended, Crum had her ankles x-rayed. 

One ankle was clearly broken. 

Her point in telling the story now is not shlock about pushing through pain or anything like that. She realizes that she could have done serious, permanent damage to her ankle if she had not eventually tended to the break. 

No, her point is simple and profound: your mindset exerts great influence over your life, even if it is not rooted in "reality".

The beliefs you hold about your current circumstances play a major role in shaping your performance and, thus, your experience.  

STRANGE DETOUR

One last look at Ephesians for now. Here's part of chapter 1:

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. 4For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love 5He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.

7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.

11In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory.

13And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.

Remember: Paul here is just beginning a major teaching on the "mystery" of God bringing believing Jews and Gentiles together into a single, unified Body. 

How is it possible that the Gentiles are being included? After all, they have not been following God's law!

But that's the beauty of God's grand plan. Paul explains here (and in Romans) that no human is brought into right relationship with God by following all the rules and working for God's approval. Instead, humans can enter into that relationship simply by placing their faith in Jesus Christ. (As in verse 13 - "having heard and believed the word of truth".)

And even a Gentile can do THAT.

So, wouldn't it be strange in the midst of this discussion if Paul decided to drop in a verse or two (as those highlighted in yellow above are often interpreted) to teach that God only picks certain individuals for salvation to the exclusion of all others? And those individuals were chosen "before the foundation of the world" for reasons known only to God? 

What a strange and earth-shaking doctrine to touch on before he continues explaining how inclusively available God's saving grace is!

Such a strange detour to take - running in the opposite direction of his main message. 

Yet Calvinists would have us believe Paul that this is precisely what Paul is teaching.

THE MYSTERY WAS PREDESTINED

Take a close look at those first three chapters of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. The "mystery" that I pointed out in yesterday's post - the fact that God was combining both Jews and Gentiles to create one new humanity (2:15) reconciled to God through the cross - this "mystery" is the central thread. 

It is Paul's main point and the context for understanding every sub point Paul makes in the first half of the letter. 

This includes the talk of being "chosen" and "predestined" in 1:4,5 -

"He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will."

And 1:11,12 -

"In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory." 

If you look closely at the context of these verses, it is clear Paul is making a point in relation to the "mystery" of Gentile inclusion with the Jews: This was always part of God's plan.

Paul wants his audience to know that this newly revealed mystery is not some spur-of-the-moment whim on God's part. 

This was predestined. Trust Him. He knows what He is doing.

MYSTERY

"And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment - to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ." (Ephesians 1:9-10)

"This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 3:6)

It is nearly impossible to overstate what a shock it was to the Jews to discover that the Gentiles - the unclean heathen! - were to be included in God's plan for eternal life through faith in Jesus. 

Paul calls it a "mystery" that God had only recently revealed (although there were plenty of indications available throughout Scripture). 

This shocking twist played a huge role in the book of Acts and the controversies it inspired gave shape to much of Paul's writings, in particular.  

If we in modern times overlook the immensity of this revelation and its impact on the early believers, we are missing a key theme of the New Testament. 

This must not remain a mystery to us. 

MORE TO LEARN

I was reminded tonight during a Zoom class in which the professor spoke on God's nature as the Uncreated One: There's always something more to Christian faith. There's always deeper territory.

I feel I have - by God's grace and the leading of the Spirit - "figured out" some important aspects of the faith in the last couple of years, but I am well aware that there is plenty more to learn and experience. 

The Apostle Paul certainly comprehended that there was always more to discover about faith. I like how he prayed for the Ephesians that they may "know this love that surpasses knowledge". 

It sounds like whatever we come to learn about God, the greatness of His love is destined to be perpetually out in front of our minds' grasp. 

READING

Much of the material assigned for my classes has made for engaging reading. I find it very enjoyable.

And some ... well, some of the books are a slog. 

I used to assume that the books I had difficulty reading were simply over my head.

That is undoubtedly true for some, but now I recognize that some books are a slog for me primarily because they are poorly written.

I think scholars in particular can be some of the worst writers. They have incredible thoughts but struggle to communicate them in a way that non-academicians can grasp and appreciate. 

Take this sentence from today's reading:

"To bring home the severity of the impact of the replacement of first philosophy with scientism on the Western worldview and how we conceive of the purpose of philosophy, look at the following list of commonsense beliefs that philosopher Daniel Stoljar rightly claims to be inconsistent or in tension with a physicalist worldview funded by scientism:"

Good grief.

For one thing, that's 11 prepositional phrases in a single sentence. There has to be a simpler way to say it. 

And this is after the author's editor "went far, far over and above what is required of an editor" as he says in the acknowledgements. I can't imagine what it looked like before. 

This is on my mind because I am one year away from starting work on my dissertation. 

I will be greatly depressed if all I produce in the end is a bunch of unreadable gobbledygook.  

SOMETHING OTHER THAN GOD

"Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy." - C. S. Lewis

I have long maintained that every sin we commit starts as a search to satisfy some legitimate need or desire. 

For example:

• We want to be loved.
• We want to be valued.
• We want to have influence. 
• We want protection and security.
• We want relief from pain and fear.

But then our search to meet these legitimate goals takes us to all the wrong places.

So we gossip to influence others, we lie to protect ourselves, and we deaden our pain with endless entertainment or chemical substances.

If we truly recognize this in ourselves - that our sins are an attempt to fill valid needs - it makes it easier to change bad patterns of behavior. "What am I really after here?" can be a powerful question for redirecting our own behavior.

If we truly recognize this in others - that their sins are attempts to fill their own valid needs - I believe it makes us more sympathetic. Less judgmental. Perhaps we can even be instrumental in helping them find legitimate fulfillment!

HARD WORK

Author Jerome K. Jerome once wrote, “I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”

My first trip to Ghana was fascinating in every respect. Unlike Jerome, though, it bothered me a bit that I was constantly surrounded by people working so much harder than I was!

It wasn’t because I was being lazy. It is that survival is a powerful motivator.

And I – the relative slacker - even went so far as to interrupt their work, asking questions and taking pictures.

I interrupted fishermen, pepper farmers, traders, cooks, and hardware store owners. I asked them about their jobs and how early they started each morning and when their workday ended. I asked about their families. Sometimes I asked them what would happen if they didn’t have access to Mission Resource loans. The typical response to that question was a shake of the head and the words, “Big problem!”

Lack of access to affordable capital was the one thing that could slow or stop their hard work. 

And these folks could not afford to slow down or stop.

OUGHT TO

Technology issues tonight with my laptop are reminding me that I never regret taking a few minutes in the morning to write a rough draft of the day's blogpost. 

I often regret waiting until the end of the day. 

I was able today to slip back into several routines without much thought. I ran the dogs and I made the bed, for instance. 

But getting some writing done early in the day has not reached the point of automaticity. It is not yet a habit. It remains an "ought to". 

And without a firm decision to make early writing a part of my routine, it will remain sporadic.

And it will produce regret whenever I fail to do what I ought. 

There is a big gulf between habit and "ought". 

HOME AGAIN

Yesterday, because we weren't sure how bad the traffic might get later in the day, I arrived at the airport 6 hours early for my flight out of Accra, Ghana. 

At 10 pm we left for New York. That flight was 11 hours and I got very little sleep.

That put us at JFK at just after 4 am Eastern time. And because of delays, I had a full 10 hours to wander that airport. 

I walked off the plane in Indianapolis at about 4 pm. 

Now it is almost 11 pm - which feels like 3 am to me - and that will explain why this is all I am writing tonight. 😜

BLACK PANTHER EFFECT?

As I packed my suitcases this morning, I was reflecting on a video segment from Good Morning America that was posted a couple of days ago on YouTube. 

In the video, entitled "The 'Black Panther' Effect in Ghana", host Robin Roberts explains how the Marvel movie has brought positive attention to the African continent and how Ghana in particular embodies the spirit of the fictional kingdom of Wakanda. 

Roberts gushes that ever since it gained independence from colonial rule 65 years ago, Ghana has been "leading the charge in innovation and development". 

It's the definition of a "puff piece", featuring, among others, an actress from the upcoming sequel who visited Ghana to host an international conference and a Black American podcaster now living in Ghana who describes the energy she feels here as being like "living in the middle of a Renaissance". 

I am all for cheerleading and positivity, but rose-colored glasses in this case obscure some of the very real challenges everyday Ghanaians currently face: poor roads, corruption, and skyrocketing prices. 

Imagine what good could be accomplished for Ghana's rural poor if Mission Resource had finances equivalent to a Hollywood movie's visual effects budget! 

You can watch the clip for yourself HERE. 

THE LAST NIGHT

This is my last night in Ghana and I am feeling a jumble of emotions.

I woke up this morning quite ready to get home to Melissa and the kids in Indiana. And even ready to jump into fundraising for the future of Mission Resource.

I had missed family time at a friend's wedding over the weekend and now I was 6,000 miles away for Samuel's 19th birthday. 

Plus, we didn't have much on the agenda for today - just hitting a tourist market in Accra for some souvenirs and then out to a property Mission Resource purchased a few years ago. With traffic and poor roads, it took us 2 and a half hours to reach the market. 

By then, I was ready to just head over to the airport.

But a few hours later we drove onto the Mission Resource property on the edge of a village called Ningo (which happens to sit directly on the Atlantic coastline), and I was ready to camp out there for a few days.

I just need to fly back to Indiana, grab Melissa and Sarah, a coffeemaker, and some coffee. Maybe a couple of sleeping bags. 

I want to wake up here with Melissa and sip coffee on the balcony, enjoying the ocean breeze as the sun rises. 

And then spend the rest of the day picking up garbage.

Maybe some day. 

The building will someday house visiting teams and the Mission Resource office. And it has tons of potential to function in various other ways that only God knows at the moment. It will someday be a blessing to Ningo and all of Ghana. 

But for now it is half-finished and waiting for further funds to be raised. 

That was a few hours ago and now I am back at Enoch's house, ready to hit the sack. My flight leaves Accra at 10 pm and I am still looking forward to it. 

But now ... well, I am not surprised to find that Ghana has gotten into my blood a bit.

I look forward to returning in the near future. 

GRASSCUTTERS

Here's a business opportunity you may be interested in investing in through Mission Resource: raising grasscutters. 

When you think of African wildlife, you tend to picture lions, giraffes, hippos and monkeys. If you're like me, you are not so familiar with the grasscutter.

The scientific name of the animal is Thryonomys swinderianus. Also known as a cane rat.

They can reach 2 feet in length and 11 pounds in weight. 

So why raise giant rats? 

For food, of course.

Grasscutter meat is considered a delicacy. And when it comes to nutrition, it is a healthier alternative to other meats: low in cholesterol and high in protein, calcium, iron, and phosphorous. 

Our director in Ghana, Emmanuel, tells me that a full grown adult grasscutter can fetch 300 Ghana cidis (currently equal to $30 US). And even a 2 month-old grasscutter can be sold for 150 cidis. That's excellent money for something that breeds easily in captivity and doesn't require any special feed - just grass.

Emmanuel is currently experimenting with raising grasscutters and will be looking for an enterprising businessman or woman to take on some of the offspring his current group is producing. 

DANCE

One of the most valuable aspects of travel is the opportunity to get a perspective from outside your own cultural bubble. 

From day to day, you tend to assume there is only one right way to do something. 

And you have already found it. 

So when you see how other people do commonplace activities in ways far different from what you are accustomed to ...

It can be humbling. And eye-opening.

Going to church this morning in Gbetsile, Ghana was like that for me.

American Christians could learn a few things from the Ghanaian church: 

• Worship can - and probably should - last longer than 60 minutes. Our service this morning ran 2 hours 45 minutes. And even though I didn't understand most of what was being said, it didn't drag. Now, maybe I didn't need 3 hours, but I did find having more than an hour very useful for some reflection. 

• The time of offering can be a celebration. Most of the people in church this morning earn a fraction of what American Christians live on. And yet, each person gladly carried a tithe to the front of the church and relished dropping it into the box. These were joyful givers.

• There should be dancing. When I first walked in this morning, I was wondering why all the chairs were in the back two-thirds of the sanctuary. I thought, "Well, I guess since nobody ever sits in the front few rows, it makes sense to not bother putting them out." But no! That front third was reserved as the dance floor! And what a celebration broke out about midway through the service. 

Do we in the U.S. really need to be so staid, formal, and formulaic in our approach to God each Sunday morning? Isn't our rather fastidious approach bound to limit the Spirit's movement? 

Is it possible to break free? 

Can we dance?

RAINY DAY

We had some relatively lowkey plans for the day, but Emmanuel called this morning to say he needed some extra rest. He has been fighting a suspected bout of malaria. (He says he gets malaria about twice a year.) 

He first started feeling poorly a few days ago but I think he soldiered through and held the disease at bay by sheer willpower while he drove me all over the country. 

So when he got back to his family yesterday after being gone since Sunday morning, he finally gave himself permission to feel sick. 

Emmanuel's illness and a gray blanket of clouds with steady rain all day meant some Saturday down time for me. 

I didn't know how much I needed it. 

The combination of endless novel experiences, cultural awkwardness, spiritual highs, anticipation of the future, and some homesickness have taken their toll. 

My host (who is a member of Mission Resource Ghana's Board) was out of the house along with other members of the family, so I had a lot of alone time. 

You know how little of substance you get accomplished on a Friday evening after a long week of work? 

That was my whole day.

I did get started editing my photos and experimenting with ways to match up clients with their names from my notebook. It's going to take a while, but here's the start:

(You'll notice that, like Haitians, Ghanaians are not enthusiastic about smiling for photos!)

Also, I found a fun app to play around with - it removes the background from photos. Here's Emmanuel (on the right) giving his buddy (and Mission Resource group leader), Pastor Francis, a hard time for putting on some weight since the last time they were together!