OFF TO ACCRA

It is 4:30 pm and I am typing this post on my phone as I sit on a giant Delta airplane ready to depart JFK for Accra, Ghana. 

The flight is just over 9 hours. God willing, we will arrive by 7 am local time - which will be 2 am in Indiana. So I am anticipating losing a night of sleep! 

I am traveling with 2 other guys and that will make this a very different experience from my first trip 2 years ago. I am looking forward to getting to know them better. 

It's impossible to know what this trip will hold, of course, but I have an anticipation of great things. Only God knows. 

I would appreciate your prayers for Melissa and Sarah and especially for Grandma Trudy while I am away! 

GHANA ITINERARY

Not much time tonight for writing. I leave for a 10-day trip to Ghana two days from now and I have been running around like a head with my chicken cut off (as my friend Tim likes to say).

So I am posting the trip itinerary that was created by our Ghanaian director for Mission Resource, Emmanuel.

He will be the one picking us up from the airport and getting us everywhere we need to be.

I post the itinerary here hoping that maybe your curiosity would be piqued and cause YOU to picture yourself coming along next time. 😉

Itinerary for November 2024 Trip to Ghana

Friday the 15th

• Arrival
• Travel to Aburi to donate the SmartBoxes to Samuel Yeboah at Beacon School
• Dinner with Emma family
• Stay at Gbetsile

Saturday the 16th

• Visit businesses under Ernest
• Stay at Akplale

Sunday the 17th

• Church at Akplale
• Stay at Segakope

Monday the 18th

• Visit the Mission Center at Old Ningo
• Dinner with Ernestina
• Stay at Gbetsile

Tuesday the 19th

• Visit Just by Grace
• Stay in Nsawam/Accra

Wednesday the 20th

• Travel to Elmina Slave Castle
• Visit Empowerment Foundation
• Stay in Elmina

Thursday the 21st

• Travel to Accra
• Visit Precious Kids Academy
• Stay in Gbetsile

Friday the 22nd

• Visit businesses in Ashaiman
• Dinner with Enoch
• Stay in Gbetsile

Saturday the 23rd

• Departure

WE ARE OLYMPIANS

Author Derek Sivers was on the Modern Wisdom podcast recently and gave an illustration that highlights how counterintuitive and illogical human reactions are.

He paints a picture of three Olympic athletes standing on the winner's platform after their competition and asks, "Which one is happiest?"

Well, the Gold Medalist is happiest, of course.

But then Sivers asks, "Who is the next happiest?"

Your first instinct would be to say the Silver Medalist would be next in line, but then you pause and consider the situation... Maybe not?

Sivers maintains that the second happiest is the Bronze Medalist and his reasoning has the ring of truth to it.

The Bronze Medalist is thinking, "Out of all those who competed, I am one of the few to stand here and represent my country before the entire world. If I had been a fraction of a second slower, I wouldn't be here, but I made it to the platform!"

On the other hand, the Silver Medalist is the least happy of all on the platform - by a long shot. He is standing there thinking, "I just barely missed it - if only I had pushed myself a little harder, I could have had the gold. I could have been first place."

I think Sivers is right. And I think it says something profound about how we allow our minds to frame our experiences. 

MASTERY

No time or energy for writing tonight beyond sharing a quote from author, musician, and entrepreneur Derek Sivers:

“Mastery is the best goal because the rich can’t buy it, the impatient can’t rush it, the privileged can’t inherit it, and nobody can steal it. You can only earn it through hard work. Mastery is the ultimate status.”

It has only been later in my life that I have come to understand the value of mastering a skill or discipline. Now I feel like I have one overarching drive - the desire to understand my faith at a far deeper level.

And with greater understanding comes more effective practice.

I wasn't familiar with Sivers before coming across this snippet of his thinking about "mastery" in an email newsletter, but now I am curious to hear more of what he has to say. 

After a little searching, I discovered that Sivers was a recent guest on one of the podcasts I find most useful: Modern Wisdom with Chris Williamson. 

Tomorrow morning, as I fix breakfast for Melissa and Sarah, I plan to find out what else this Derek Sivers fellow is thinking about.

DISSERTATION PROGRESS - COLOSSIANS

This morning I finally located the Bible book, the passage, and the verse where I want to focus for my dissertation work. 

The book is Paul's letter to the Colossians.

The passage is this one from Chapter 3:

5 Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. 7 When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways. 8 But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

9 Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices, 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all.

12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity. 

And the sentence within which really brings together the elements of my dissertation is found in verses 9-10:

Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 

The reference to the "practices" of the "old self" and "new self" is tied to habits, both bad and good.

The talk of "knowledge" highlights the centrality of a disciple being taught (and thus the need for the church to take education seriously). 

And the focus on restoring the "image of the Creator" ties the New Testament teaching about Christ back to the Old Testament - Genesis in particular - where humanity is created "in the image of God". 

I will undoubtedly write more about this in the future, but for now I am just glad to have some direction on this - a key component of my project and one which had not yet felt settled. 

AWE WALKING

This morning I wrote a little article for our Mission Resource newsletter about something called an "awe walk". 

An awe walk is simply an ordinary walk plus an intentional focus on finding things along the way which inspire wonder. 

This has actually been researched and found to be a great stress reducer as well as a way to feel more connected to all the deeper aspects of life.

Anyway, I decided that if I was going to write about it, I should try it. Fortunately, it was a beautiful morning for a walk, so I put Sugar on the leash and went out for a mile.

I found that in one sense, an awe walk is harder than it sounds. It's like trying to meditate - my mind was constantly wandering.

But in another sense, if you're looking for wonder, it isn't hard to find. 

It's all around you. Every day.

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge.

(Psalm 19:1-2)

A marigold in our backyard, enjoying the November morning sun. No filter needed.

THE DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

This year more than ever, my favorite part of an election is the defeated candidate's concession speech and the phone call to the winner. 

And not just because it signals a true end to the campaigning and that the outcome is not going to be contested for weeks.

Rather, it's my favorite because it is the closest any politician ever gets to admitting outright that their political rhetoric is 99% hyperbole and BS.

Day before the election: "We must win this fight. If my opponent wins, it will be the end of democracy itself and our nation will have no future whatsoever. Don't forget - the other guy is worse than Hitler and will begin creating concentration camps on Day 1 of his administration. Lives will be lost if he is elected."

Day after the election: "I called my opponent today and congratulated him on winning this hard-fought battle. I pledge to do all in my power to help him get started well and I will make every effort now to bring unity to this divided nation."