Gmail Motion

Praise the Lord this turned out to be an April fools joke! In my defense I first saw it after midnight in Greece so technically it was the 2nd of April. Anyway I'm still leaving this post up as it was kind of funny :D The whole concept made me laugh! Good job Google, this was a great joke! :D

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OK so this made me laugh!

I was browsing through gmail, just checking different things out and looking for what other services they're coming up with, when I came across Gmail Motion.

According to some people the keyboard and mouse are slowly becoming things of the past, which I'm not exactly sure how that's going to happen (as one needs an input device of some sort - unless it becomes totally controlled by voice or like the iPad your screen includes the keyboard) but Google has decided to be ready for that "inevitable" day. As a result they have come up with a "brilliant" idea - cough, cough... Gmail Motion!

Much like the Wii, it's your body that writes the email... excuse me?! I saw the video of all the various motions they've come up with and well... - at the risk of sounding like a TOTAL geek - it reminded me a lot of the Ginyu Force pose in the Dragon Ball Z series:

It's hilarious!

Following is the chart Google published regarding all the poses available to "write" your emails:

If you compare the two images you will see similarities.

So according to this new technology all our future emails will be danced in front of the computer, supposedly saving us time and keeping us active during office hours.... Well if that's the only option I'd rather leave a voice mail! If talking to the computer is considered too loud and disruptive for the other people in the office what do you think jumping and waving your arms in front of your computer will do to our coworkers' concentrations??? o.O

Can I please join a gym and keep the keyboard??? Please?

I miss you...

Lately I've been hearing a lot of talk about missing people. I guess it has to do with the season. Its made me think again about missing people. I don't know why and I don't understand it but I don't miss people. I don't miss people. I used to miss my family all the time as a child. I remember crying myself to sleep in Iceland missing my grandparents and then in converse I would cry myself to sleep when I was in France missing my parents. I've spent my entire life (save one Christmas when we were all together) away from someone I love. This is not something I'm bitter about, just a reality I've lived with for 26 years. I don't know anything different. And now that I live in Greece I'm away from my entire family and friends all the time. Also working with Hellenic Ministries I've seen a lot of people come and go. Some I have come to love and others whom I've merely enjoyed their company, but everybody eventually leaves... or I leave. As a result of this knowledge I don't invest myself fully in the people who are around me making the separation easier. I think this is a TCK trait. I've heard other TCKs say that. I'll be open and cheerful to everybody and I love people easily but I don't allow the roots to go too deep. Maybe it's not real love then? I don't know. Yet I would do anything for a friend in need.

All I know is that I live in the moment. I cherish my past and look forward to the future when I can be reunited with friends and family. To love, speak and cry together once again. Leaving was easy when I was younger as I knew I'd be back soon but now it has become a difficult thing for me as I never know when I'll be back to a specific place. Also a reality I face every time I leave is the question of whether or not this is the last time I see a person. Especially for my family as they are not believers. That reality scares me more than anything. When I leave believers I have no doubt that I'll see them again and take solace that we'll have all eternity together. But when I leave a place I'll experience excruciating pain and cry a while but then it's over and I go back to the phone. I take comfort and solace in a digital image and VoIP. And then it's all about the moment again. What I'm doing now. Yesterday was wonderful, today is amazing and I never know what tomorrow will hold.

I'll have nostalgic moments like everybody else but they are only fleeting moments. If I want to talk to somebody I know I can always pick up the phone and call. Facebook and Skype have made it easy. If I think of someone I go to their facebook page and drop them a quick line. Or I use skype to call. The internet has made the world even smaller than before... something I'm infinitely thankful for.

Please whoever you are friend, know that I love you. This does not mean that our friendship is any less real or deep. It just means I have a coping mechanism that is different from yours. If I allowed myself to miss anybody I would have to miss everybody and I don't know if I could cope with that.

The unexamined life is not worth living...

So many times we go through life without ever stopping to think abut it. We just go through the motions and don't stop. I am as guilty of this as the next person. So many times I wish I would take the time to breath. To take the time and look around me, to notice God's beauty all around me. To take the time to stop and frame that perfect shot and thus hold a memory in my hand for time to come. To take the time to write down my thoughts. To take the time to go for a coffee with a friend every once in a while. Why is it that we always need to be running to the next thing? Why do we always need to be productive? We have lost the art of being silent. We need the noise. We come home and the first thing we do is put on the TV or the radio just to have some background noise drowning out the silence for fear that the silence would take over. What is it that we don't like about being silent, of stopping to think a little, to breath, to fully appreciate life and the things we have been given to enjoy? Is it because we would then have to finally face ourselves? Face who we truly are? Face the pain? The regret? The sorrows? The brokenness? Or is it the need to keep going, to never stop for fear of being left behind. The world is moving so quickly we barely see it. It becomes a blur as we travel through it. I want to slow down, to enjoy, to savor life but I don't know how to. How, when I've been running for so long, do I stop running? How do I start pacing, strolling through life again? I want to breath. I want to stop and feel the sunshine on my face. I want to stop in the middle of the street when it's pouring rain and feel the raindrops on my face. I want to live, to love, to laugh, to savor life. I want to learn the art of being silent, of examining my life, of savoring it. One of my favorite verses is "Be still and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10 - Lord this is my desire, to worship You, to be still before you, to know You more and more each day. Teach me to be still before You and know that You are God.

A normal visit to the chiropractor.... or is it?

Ok so, I never realize how rich my life truly is until I start explaining it to a total stranger. Around HM'ers we all know each other, we come from various places and facilitate the Sports Camps, the Morning Star, Worship Events, etc.... we travel and basically work for the Kingdom.... and then they all know that I'm crazy and that I do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. BUT explaining all that to a person who's never met you before might be slightly overwhelming... slightly. So tonight I went to see a chiropractor. I dislocated my shoulder in August while wrestling with the guys on the barge... I know, I know but it was fun... and basically wanted him to set it right again. Plus I wanted him to have a look at my ankle from when I hurt in South Africa and my wrist - this is where things get complicated. So here I am explaining all my cases; I dislocated my shoulder for the first time while swimming as a child but again during a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class as an adult (at this point the guy snickers an okey - realizing, I think, for the first time what kind of a patient I am...) where another chiropractor set it back in its place. My ankle, I hurt badly during BJJ practice, I went to see another chiropractor, while in South Africa and he set it back in place. His specialty was ankles so I know he did a good job, I just want you to check it and see how it's doing. Now my wrist I've had chronic problems with. I used to get carpal tunnel syndrome really bad as a kid but my chiropractor in France - at this point I look up realizing what I've just said and sheepishly say "yeah I travel quite a bit" and then keep on going - told me that it was linked to my elbows. At this point the doctor (who by the way was raised in America so speaks perfect English) asks me where I'm from because he can't place my accent! Oh boy!!!! Well my mom is French, my dad is English and I was raised in Iceland.......... and I wait for it........... ICELAND! What is it like there? The classic question... if I had a cent for every time anybody asked me that question I could fly first class everywhere! So nicely I smile and give him the load down on Iceland... beautiful, no, no, there truly is no ice, quite barren landscape and definitely worth the visit....  we talk about Björk and then move on. As he's putting my body back together he asks me when I get pain in my shoulder - to which I reply.... well when I was hoisting the sail - stop - .... oh yeah I sail..... LOL oh boy! The poor guy can only say, why am I not surprised! LOL anyway so we move on to my elbow and he asks how I hurt my elbows to which he answers the question himself... wait was it while you were running away from the bulls in Spain??? LOL No, but probably from Tennis or working with the horses..... LOL by the end of the session he asking me if a fly quite a bit and asks if I might not be a pilot by any chance... LOL at least he had a good sense of humor about it all :D (If he only knew the rest...)

To us it's everyday life. It's how we've grown up. It's our pasts and our present. It's who we are. It's mundane. To everybody else... it's an amazing life. I guess it's moments like these where I realize that we truly do live amazing lives. That our lives aren't necessarily ordinary, even though to us they do feel like it because that's what we know.

For all of this I simply want to say; thank you Lord for having blessed me so richly! :o)

Neanderthals, Humans Interbred—First Solid DNA Evidence

Neanderthals, Humans Interbred—First Solid DNA Evidence

OK so I just found this article and I find it quite comical for several reasons, and I quote;

"The study uncovered the first solid genetic evidence that "modern" humans—or Homo sapiens—interbred with their Neanderthal neighbors, who mysteriously died out about 30,000 years ago. What's more, the Neanderthal-modern human mating apparently took place in the Middle East, shortly after modern humans had left Africa, not in Europe—as has long been suspected."

"... all modern ethnic groups, other than Africans, carry traces of Neanderthal DNA in their genomes, the study says..."

""But the fact is that Chinese and Melanesians are as closely related to Neanderthals" as Europeans, said Reich, a population geneticist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University."

So the basic premise of this article, as far as I understand it (please correct me if I'm wrong), is that the Neanderthal and modern humans are two different species. The Neanderthal is supposed to be part of the missing link between chimps and us. Basic biology people, different species can't interbreed... that's the reason they are considered a different species. If they do interbreed their offspring is infertile. E.g. a horse and a donkey, when they interbreed it produces a mule, which in turn is infertile. A horse and a donkey may look alike, their basic makeup may be similar BUT they are not the same species... what they look like doesn't change that. So, if the Neanderthal and the modern humans did interbreed, as DNA evidence suggests, what other conclusion can we draw but that we are the same species, we just look different. All we need to do is look at modern man and all the different races and colors we have today; black, white, yellow, red. I don't look Asian or African because I'm white. Does that mean that we're different species? No! Of course not. Not to compare man to animals but look at dogs. Who, looking at a fossil , would assume that the bones of a Great Dane and a Chihuahua were in fact the same species but just of a different breed?

LOL Nobody!

My conclusion? The Neanderthal was just as human as we modern men are today but just of a different race not species. What archeologists and scientists have found is not a missing link between us and whatever else but in fact other human beings, Homo, sapien, sapien just like you and me.

Why is it that in biology books they tell us that species can't interbreed yet when it comes to "proving" evolution they conveniently forget to remind us of that fact?

Avatar

I’ve just come back from watching Avatar and… what can I say?
I am ashamed of the human race… I don’t know if you realize it but this story is actually based on true events. Did anybody else wake up during the beginning of the movie and go “Oh my goodness, Pocahontas!” ? (and actually, by the end, the Matrix came to mind too… for obvious reasons.)

Think about it, instead of the white man going to America for gold, it was mankind that went to another planet for a rock of great value… $20 million per kg. In both stories we encounter the locals, in both stories we consider them to be savages, in both stories a battle happens between the two races and in both stories our guy befriends and falls in love with the local girl who happens to be the chief’s daughter. It would be a beautiful story if it weren’t for the underlying theme… greed. At what lengths do we, as humans, go for money? The love of money is the root of all evil! We will destroy entire racial groups, nations, cultures… ecosystems, when it benefits us; the ugly truth of our fallen nature. We are such egocentric creatures. Life today seems to be all about me and what I can get out of you. I don’t care what happens to you as long as I get my due. With an attitude like that we throw out all that is holy and pure. With an attitude like that we abort babies. With an attitude like that who needs morals? They’re all relative anyway. With an attitude like that who needs God? It’s such a sad reality that we live in.

Another underlying theme, that kind of bothered me more than the fallen state of the human race, was how the movie portrayed animism as something beautiful. Contrasted with the ugliness of greed and hate, animism became something pure and beautiful and something to be desired, when in fact it really isn’t. In case you don’t know, animism is “the attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena; the belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the material universe.” Every tree, plant, animal, rock has a life, has a spirit and must be respected as such. This creates idolatry as they start to worship these same objects. In the movie when they killed an animal, they gave it a rites of passage into the common pool of energy. Again when somebody died they “gave back” their “borrowed” energy to the common pool. This is nothing but a similar notion to the Buddhist and Hindu nirvana – a sort of energy pool where there is no suffering or sense of self. They believe you join in with a cloud of energy, the cosmos.

This whole worship of nature also came up through the notion of their goddess tree. Throughout history there have been two kinds of cosmic trees, both of which lie at the center of the earth. One acts as a vertical connection between heaven and earth, or the spiritual and physical worlds – a tree of knowledge of sorts. The other is the tree of life where the tree is the source of life that connects everything together. The tree in Avatar had both aspects in one, it contained all the memories of its people – the connection between the spirit world and physical world – the tree of knowledge, and it was also the tree of life as everything was connected to it. Tradition has it that the tree of life has its own supernatural guardians… well what happened in the movie? The tree, when it came under attack, brought forward all of its guardians in the forms of the animals from the forest. Also the tree was used in a rite of passage. Some cultures had a rite of passage where a symbolic death took place before the person would be “reborn” into a new status of life. It was often used for rulers. In Avatar, Jake underwent the symbolic death of his imperfect self… as he was crippled… passed through the tree of life and took possession of his new, perfect, self and became the leader of his new people.

The name Avatar, I believe, was the perfect name for the movie. Avatar has two main meanings. The first is “a manifestation of a deity or released soul in bodily form on earth; an incarnate divine teacher” and is chiefly associated with Hinduism. She was his teacher on practical things as well as on their divine “reality.” Also, this movie could be considered a teacher of sorts, as it is advocating for animism and New Age ideology. The second meaning of Avatar is a “moveable icon representing a person in cyberspace or virtual reality graphics” which is exactly what this movie was. A graphic virtual reality in space! Although, if you go back to the origins of the word Avatar, it comes from Sanskrit; “avatara ‘decent,’ from ava ‘down’ + tar- ‘to cross’” and we come back to our beloved Jesus and the cross :o)

So, all in all, as beautiful, graphically that is, as the movie was, and as true as it was in one sense, the ugliness of greed and the state of the human race, it had a lot of spiritual implications. Again, as believers we need to be aware of those things and the consequences they can have on us in the physical realm. There have been reports of people becoming depressed and even committing suicide as a result of watching this movie. The claim is that these people get so depressed over the fact that they have to leave this beautiful world of Avatar and come back to the reality of our ordinary world. God’s creation isn’t enough anymore. All I’m going to say about this is that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Please don’t think that I’m against the movie, I’m not. I thought it was brilliant! And I definitely want to go see it again. It’s a beautiful love story with a worthy cause of fighting for what is right. All I’m saying is that we need to be aware of the spiritual side of the movie and not take it at face value.

I’d love to hear your comments and thoughts on the movie!

Dubai

Now, how do I describe Dubai? It is a modern city where every other building is a 5 star hotel and a tribute to what man can do. Their motto is; second to none. The man who is responsible for most of the development there said that everybody remembers the first man who climbed Mount Everest but no one remembers the second (actually I don't know the name of the first man who climbed Everest, but hey that's just me). As such they need to be at the forefront of everything so as not to be forgotten. Hence they have the tallest hotel in the world, the only 7 star hotel in the world, they have the tallest building in the world with the fastest elevators: a dashing 18m a second! Since they couldn’t have the first robot operated metro in the world they have the longest one. They also have some of the largest shopping malls in the world. One of them is actually the size of, no less than, 50 football fields! You get the idea. They need to have the biggest, the fastest and the best of everything. Dubai is a great place for people who want a luxurious 5-7 star vacation. It is the place to go if you want to do things, not the place to go if you want to see things. Dubai has no character. It is one of the most impersonal places I have ever been to. Don’t get me wrong, the people there are some of the friendliest that I have ever met, which is a stark contrast to the city itself, who is as cold as it is modern. I went on a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the city and their entire commentary was about the different hotels, how many stars they have, what kind of attraction they offer, how tall they are and who designed them. There is no real soul to the city; it is all about business and luxury. It’s sad really because it truly is a beautiful place and I really enjoyed the contrast displayed in the city. On one side you have the turquoise blue sea with the most amazing palm trees and greenery while on the other you have the sandy planes of the desert; life vs. death; lush vs. barren. I know it’s a little morbid but the contrast really is fascinating. Anyway, I had the opportunity to go dune bashing while I was there. This consists of getting into a 4WD jeep and driving up and sliding down desert dunes. Let me tell you, I thought the car was going to tip over a couple of times. It was a LOT of fun! :o) After all the bashing was done we ended up in a Bedouin campsite… which is more artificial than the hotels… for a BBQ – which consisted of… shaved meat! LOL I left Greece to go to the U.A.E. and have gyro! Oh the irony, LOL.

The best part of what I did in Dubai was the old town. I wish I had gone there from the very beginning. If you ever go, do that first! There you finally feel like you’re in the Middle East. I heard the call to prayer, which previously I hadn’t heard, I saw their local gold and spice market, which is the real deal and finally saw the soul of Dubai. The contrast is interesting; on one side of Dubai you could be anywhere in the world, with it’s hotels and shopping malls, whereas on the other side you can really tell that this is the U.A.E.

Anyway, I had a great time in Dubai and really enjoyed seeing it. You have to go there at least once in your life.

Life

Life, we live it at a hundred miles an hour and as a result we probably miss about half of it. Those rare moments in life where you just have to go “Thank You Lord!” are few and far in between. I believe that if we were more intentional we’d be able to have those moments more often. Like right now, I’m sitting on a chair overlooking Skorponeria Bay, the only light is from the moon (except for the computer screen, obviously :op ) and I’m listening to the crickets in the background and the water washing up on shore. Occasionally there is a fish that jumps in and out of the water. It is absolutely beautiful. These are the types of moments we need to live for (ps there is a frog out on its evening walk right besides me!) How beautiful is God’s creation? How absolutely perfect and He made it not only for His glory but also for our enjoyment. I want to encourage you next time you’re on your way home from work or school or whatever, and you find yourself by a forest or the sea or even a large park, take a walk through it. Go, experience what God has made for us. Take ten minutes and concentrate on the sights, smells and noises around you. It’s God’s picture you’ll be looking at, it is His aroma you’ll be smelling and it is His music you’ll be listening to. We all need to stop being too busy to experience life as God intended it to be and start living, really live. God gave us the five senses and we don’t use them anymore. We take medication to numb our feelings, our eyes are bent on the TV screen all evening, we force pre-made stuff onto our taste buds - we are numbing our bodies to God’s world!

I love being out at Porto Astro because every time I come out here it feels like I reconnect with God on a more personal level as I see Him and His glory and beauty everywhere in the raw nature that surrounds us and at night in the stars. I love the stars! To me space puts God into perspective. If these stars that we look up to are the same size and bigger than our sun and they’re placed thousands of light-years away from us, how big is space? It is HUGE yet God is BIGGER! He holds space in the span of His hand and looks down, lovingly upon us. To me there is such a comfort in that.

Anyway I’m getting carried away and I need to go to bed so I’m going to stop now.

Thank you Lord for these moments! May we pay more attention to them and may we pay more attention to You!

Stem Cell Research

I keep hearing, by the media and others, that stem cell research is a good thing and that it will help us advance in medicine. While I tend to agree with the research itself and agree with the amazing potential and goodness that can come out of it, I find myself disagreeing ethically with the procedures. By doing research on embryonic stem cells scientists are killing embryos, and every time I hear about it one word coming to mind:

GENOCIDE

The majority of people in this world today claim that the embryo is not "alive" and so is not a human being. My question is, what is a human being? Scientifically a human is a being that is capable of thought and complex speech, a being that stands erect and is able to use tools. Well, according to science, babies aren't humans! Babies, to our knowledge, don't have complex thought processes, aren't capable of speech, do not stand erect and are unable to use tools. Yet nobody would argue that a baby is not a human. The baby is merely a human in its early stage, on its way to becoming a thinking, talking, walking person. The baby or human, even in its early stages, is an individual, a unique person waiting to grow. But what makes a person truly unique? What makes me who I am and not somebody else? My DNA. DNA will determine if we will be tall or short, have brown eyes or blue eyes, left handed or right handed, if we are smart or stupid, if we are predisposed to be happy or manic depressive - in short DNA makes us who we are, it gives us our individuality (on a scientific level). Fully functional DNA is produced when two gametes combine, in the womb, to create a zygote. When this zygote starts multiplying it becomes an embryo. The DNA in this embryo has already predisposed who this baby is going to become and what he or she will look like. How can we not view this embryo as a human being? And, if we agree that this embryo is a human being, merely in its beginning stages, then how can we accept the killing of it in the name of science? Hitler's scientists performed experiments on Jews in the name of science. They tortured Jews in the name of medical advancement. We cry "OUTRAGE", which it is, but why can't we accept the same for these unborn babies? These future adults (there might even be an Einstein or two amongst those embryos) should have a right to live, a right to use those legs and lungs that those very same stem cells are preparing to knit together.

Stem cell research in itself is not bad. The potential to what can be achieved is virtually limitless:

“Stem cells are the building blocks of blood and the immune system, as well as all tissues in the body. Amazingly, these cells can replenish themselves and transform into other cell types including red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. This enables them to replace other cells in the body that are abnormal, weakened, or destroyed by disease. Stem cell transplants have been used to treat patients with more than 80 diseases to date, including aplastic anemia, leukemia, lymphoma, and sickle cell disease.” *

What scientists are not readily telling us is that stem cells are found in other places than embryos, for example in bone marrow and even in umbilical cords and placentas:

“Cord blood, the blood that's left in the umbilical cord after a baby is born, is rich in stem cells. Umbilical cord blood stem cells have the ability to multiply and form different kinds of cells. The cord blood stem cells may be used for blood formation, much like the stem cells taken from bone marrow. These cord blood stem cells are typically discarded with the umbilical cord and placenta after birth, yet they can be used in lifesaving therapies. Cord blood stem cells have been used for transplants in patients with life-threatening diseases such as leukemia or immune system disorders.” *

“Cord blood and placental stem cell use will likely increase in the future as new developments occur in medical research. Current research in the field of transplant and stem cell therapy includes a focus on Parkinson's disease, stroke, diabetes, Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS), spinal cord injuries, and cardiac repair. Thanks to the use of placenta stem cells and those found in cord blood, lifesaving treatments for these
conditions may be within reach." *

Let us say “yes” to cord blood and placental stem cell research but “no” to embryonic stem cell research. Since there are other places where stem cells can be found let us tap into those resources and spare the babies. Let us stop this genocide.

(* to view the articles where these quotes were taken from please click here.)

The Lord Tests His Own

“Blessed is the man who preservers under trial,
because when he has stood the test,
he will receive the crown of life that God has promised
to those who love him.” James 1:12

Well I feel like these past two weeks were a test.
I came home two weekends ago after three days of hard work at the property wanting only to relax, crawl under my blankets and watch a movie. When I walked in through the door and went to switch on the lights they didn’t come on. My first thought was “Oh great, another power cut” (we get one of those every once in a while) well at least the power would be on in a few minutes, right? Wrong. I walked into my kitchen and found a huge puddle of water in front of my fridge... the power had been off for quite a while meaning that this was not a short term power cut but a long term one. SHOOT! Since I hadn’t been home at all this summer, due to summer activities outside of Athens, I was unable to pay my summer’s electricity bill. When the bill came in September it was too high for me to afford. I can afford small chunks here and there but not the amount they were asking for. It looked scary and daunting but, like with everything else, I prayed about it and placed the bill in the Lord’s hands. Well, He didn’t provide on time, that is my time, and my power got cut. I must admit that I went through a small crisis of faith. Why did the Lord allow for that to happen? In His Word He promises to provide for all of our needs, and this was a definite need, why hadn’t He provided? Was I out of His will? Had I been disobedient and so was I being disciplined? I had no idea what was going on and I was totally confused - something I don’t really enjoy. Well anyway, what does one do when one has no power? One lights candles and gets on with life, and that’s exactly what I did. I lit candles and instead of watching a movie I read.
That night I was invited to a goodbye party as a friend of mine was leaving Greece. We have a lot of friends in common and so I met up with some guys I hadn’t seen in a while. Out of the blue one of them started complaining to me about HM, that we were a proud bunch of people that don’t allow anybody into our group. That caught me off guard (I don’t particularly think that HM staff is proud, by the way). I was already feeling vulnerable and confused with everything happening at home, so to be attacked like that, unexpectedly was definitely not a good thing. I started defending HM and tried to get to the bottom of things, trying to find out where he was seeing problems so that we, as staff, could remedy them. Anyway, as we were talking, he started asking me personal questions like if I was satisfied with everything, if I had any complaints etc. Again really odd questions. As I was answering him, thinking about my situation at home, I came to the realization that no, in the grand scheme of things, my slight discomfort was not severe enough to be grounds for a complaint. Can I complain about my life? No, I love it, every aspect of it. How many times do I encounter people in a 9-5 job thinking to myself “I would not want to be in that position, how board would I be, how meaningless my life would be” As a missionary, more specifically as a Christian, everything I do, we do, has eternal value. I might not be able to pay my bills on time, but who says that if I had a regular job I would be able to pay them? By the way, at the end of our conversation the guy told me that he was just messing around with me, testing, wanting to find out if I did the work with all my heart. I could think of better ways to find out, but anyway.
Before going to bed that night, still confused as ever, I read Day 5 in Purpose Driven Life. That chapter is about how everything we go through has a purpose and that the trials that we encounter might not be anything other than the Lord testing us.

“God continually tests people’s character, faith, obedience, love, integrity, and loyalty. Words like trials, temptations, refining, and testing occur more than 200 times in the Bible. God tested Abraham by asking him to offer his son Isaac. God tested Jacob when he had to work extra years to earn Rachel as his wife.”

All of a sudden it clicked. The power cut, my friend asking the all the weird questions, could it be that the Lord was testing me? I probably wont find out until I get to heaven but that’s what it felt like.
The Lord, as always, was faithful and provided, albeit, a week after the incident. I found out about the power cut on Saturday, Friday the following week the Lord provided. He did so through a lovely couple that were working on the Morning Star during that time. Thus Monday morning I was able to pay my bill. After letting out a huge sigh, I thought to myself “well at least the power to be back on tonight”. Well, when I came home that night, still no electricity. WHAT!? Tuesday I went on a Morning Star trip, Thursday I came home, still no power! You’ve got to be kidding me?! You have got to love Greek efficiency. Alex called the electricity company for me on Friday morning, as we got home too late on Thursday, and got really upset at them. By this time I had been out of electricity for two weeks. Friday night comes along and... still no electricity! OK at this point you have to just stop and laugh. Was this some kind of a sick joke? Saturday afternoon Alex came over to fix my hot water heater (which by the way had been broken since May, LOL - darn you Murphy!) when he found out that the power was still not on he called the company and got upset at them again. Within the hour somebody from the electricity company came over to see us, made a quick phone call, 5 seconds later I had power. WHAT the switching on took all of 5 seconds!? I kid you not, the guy put his phone away walked to the panel and the wires were hot!

I don’t know what the Lord was teaching me during this time, but I sincerely hope that I learned my lesson, LOL! I do not want to go through that again.
Anyway, now my phone, internet and TV, since they’re all on the same bill, have been cut. That, on the other hand, is not as serious as I can definitely live without it for a while. I just praise the Lord for having sustained me for this long and this far. Working for Him is a privilege I hope I will never loose.

The Beginning and the End

We plan things, they happen and then they end, that is the natural process of life, but it’s always sad when it’s over. One of the last short term teams, the guys from Quebec, have just left Porto Astro and as a result my heart is heavy. The Lord blessed me so much through them. I have been given such a hard time for being French throughout my entire life and often these jokes hit harder than people think, so being at ‘home’, surrounded by French believers was such a tremendous thing for me. Since my first TEMA Missions Conference in Holland 2001-2, I’ve had a desire to be part of French worship and for the first time the Lord has granted me that desire. I didn’t have to go anywhere, He brought them to me! :o) I’ve rarely been moved to tears during worship but singing to the Lord in French made me cry. I know that a lot of people wont understand this but singing to the Lord in your language of love, your mother-tongue, is moving. Something happens in your heart, somehow it clicks. Your heart understands it, your soul feels it. It’s like when we say “I love you” in a language not our own, we’re saying the words but the true meaning of it is lost in translation. On the other hand when we say it in our own language, the language closest to our heart, we’re saying the same thing, the person is receiving it the same way but it feels different to you, it feels right. That is exactly what happened to me during French worship, my heart connected to the Lord in a way it hasn’t before, it was beautiful beyond description. I don’t think the team realized how much the Lord worked through them to encourage me and how He ministered to my heart. It was a beautiful time for me and I am really sad it is over - until the next time - and there will be a next time!!! Thank You Lord for everything you have done for me this summer, it’s only August and I am so blessed!!!!
I praise You Lord!

A Good Reminder to Christians

I know this article is speaking more to pastors and church leaders in general but I believe that all Christians should be aware of how the public perceives us. Are we the ones putting people off Christianity with our actions? Or are we encouraging people to come to the Lord? People watch us like hawks! Our lifestyle is being scrutinized every minute of the day. Something that might seem small to us, or even not harmful, can be viewed by someone else as un-Christian-like-behavior, and thus make people believe that we are hypocrites. I will always remember this one experience that happened to me when I was 16 years old. I was at a friend’s party, I had been going to youth group for about a year, but I was still what you’d call a carnal Christian. One foot in the church and one in the world. Like all “good” parties there was alcohol involved. Because of my upbringing I have always viewed drunkenness as a bad thing, a sign of weakness, but alcohol as a substance to be enjoyed and drunk in moderation. So thanks to my parents I went through the peer pressures of adolescence without being drunk once. At this particular party though, my friends had decided to get me drunk, it was the goal of the evening for them. So to have them back off I accepted a drink, it was drink I would have normally accepted even without that “goal” of theirs, but what I did is I acted drunk. I became louder (if that’s possible ;op) than usual and more flamboyant. Apparently I was convincing as my friends backed off satisfied. An unexpected thing happened though, a friend that I had met through youth group arrived. He was a young man that was searching, attracted to Christianity but unwilling to commit. Well he saw me “drunk”. Later I found out that he’d gone up to a friend of ours stating that he was so happy to see me drunk because if I was drunk it was alright for him to be drunk too! My appearing to be drunk gave him the permission to do the same with a good conscious. This whole situation was kind of a life changing experience for me. I decided that my “friends” who were on a mission to get me drunk were no friends at all, as they were not respecting my principles. And the fact that my actions had given a weak brother in Christ permission to sin, was such a wake up call to me. I hope that few of us out there need to have those types of wake up calls. Anyway I was going to paste an article on here but it seems like I’ve written one myself, LOL. The article is on how young Americans aged 19-29 view Christians. Let’s face it, American or not, most young people in the Western world view us this way. This is the link to the research paper. Let me know what you think about it. If you have any stories yourself, please don’t hesitate to comment.

Our Part

The coolest thing just happened to me yesterday but before I can tell you the story I need to give you some background information:

Last summer the Lord placed it on my heart to give money, monthly, to a young girl as she went on a one year missions trip out of Greece. I gave faithfully every month up until January. Since I've been back from Iceland I've had financial difficulties, having to use my tithe money for various expenses, although I gave back what I took, I haven't deposited the money into that girls account for the past 5 months. Lately though, as I’ve been wondering why I’m struggling so much financially, the Lord has been convicting me, bringing Malachi 3:6-12 to mind, reminding me that I am robbing Him as long as I have that money in my purse and not giving it her. Verse 10 says:

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse,
that there might be food in my house.
'Test me in this,' says the Lord Almighty
'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven
and pour out so much blessing that
you will not have room enough for it.'"

This is the only place in the Bible where the Lord says "Test me".
Through this verse the Lord is saying: “When you give, I’ll give right back to you! Hoard your tithe and I’ll keep my blessing away from you” This is our part of the bargain. We need to step out in faith and sometimes give of what we don’t have and the Lord will meet us where we are at - and it’s a challenge too! The Lord says “Test me in this!” It is a promise that He is giving us, give and you shall receive!

Anyway, so yesterday I went to the bank and deposited that money into her bank account. As I was walking away from the bank it felt like a burden had been lifted off of my back and I prayed "Lord I have done my part, I really need you to do yours." And what happened?! Two hours later I received a letter from from a friend telling me that her and her group of friends, after having been on a missions trip, had some money left over that they didn’t know what to do with. So they prayed about it and the Lord brought me to their minds! They wanted to give me the overflow and were wondering about my bank details! Isn’t the Lord amazing!!! True to His promise, He met me where I was at.

One of my favorite sayings says:

If you are trusting you are not worrying
If you are worrying you are not trusting

So many times we, and I’m including myself into that we, we worry. Wondering what is going to happen if this or that comes about.
Worrying means that we are not taking into account that we serve a God, THE God, the Creator of the Universe, and He has promised, as our Father, to provide for us.
Worrying means that, as we look at the equation of life, and all we see are the human digits, the outcome becomes finite and limited. So many times we forget to add God to those digits, but when we do, the outcome becomes infinite and limitless and we see hope at the end of the tunnel.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more
than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Ephesians 3:20-21

Easter

Last weekend was the Greek Easter. Now you’re probably going - what the?! We celebrated Easter a month ago! Well the reason why the Orthodox (Eastern) and Catholic (Western) Easter dates differ is because they use different calendars. The Catholics base their dates off of the Gregorian Calendar while the Orthodox base their dates off of the Julian Calendar. I’m not going to go into the details of how they work as they use different algorithms with either the solar or lunar cycles and it’s actually kind of complicated. What I did want to share with this blog entry is what I did.

Every year HM staff celebrates Easter together at the property, and this year was no different. We were all together about 80 people, with HM families and kids along with some good friends. It was a lot of fun and really quite relaxing. For me it was nice to get away from the city and just relax. Lately I’ve been feeling like I can’t breath, like I’m drowning in a vast see with no land on the horizon. So, as I was walking up the path towards the central building, I had to stop myself and just breath for the first time in days. It felt amazing! I was also able to get away from everybody for the first time in a long time, find my usual spot in the shade by the water and just get into the Word. That was as refreshing as the weekend was. I started reading in Mark, about Jesus’ miracles, and as I was reading there was just this theme that popped out, one that had never noticed before. It was one where Jesus, right before He did the miracles, made sure the people believed and had faith that He could accomplish what He said He would.
One example that really stood out was in Mark 9:17-27

A man in the crowd answered,
"Teacher, I brought you my son, who is
possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech.
Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground.
He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid.
I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not."
"O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"
"From childhood," he answered. "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." "'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
Immediately the boy's father exclaimed,
"I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene,
he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said,
"I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."
The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out.
The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said,
"He's dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

The father here, as he brought his son to Jesus, said “If you can do anything” at that point it is was like Jesus was offended as His reply was “IF you can?” and quickly added “Anything is possible for him who believes” It was like He was saying “who do you think I am? Of course I can heal him! The question is do you believe I can? If only you would believe, I could do anything for you” to this the father replies “help me overcome my unbelief” that is help me believe, I want to. To this desire of having faith in Him, Jesus healed the son. This story is in stark contrast to Mark 6:4-6

Jesus said to them,
"Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house
is a prophet without honor."
He could not do any miracles there,
except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.
And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

Because of their lack of faith Jesus didn’t do any miracles. Not that He couldn’t do any miracles, but rather He chose not to ‘reward’ their unbelief by doing any. If we believe God can do something in our lives He will reward us according to His good and perfect will. Like Peter we need to step out of the boat, make that first step of faith before He will take the next one with and for us. Another good example of this in Joshua 3:14-17

So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan,
the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them.
Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest.
Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan
and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream
stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away,
at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the
water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah
was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD
stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan,
while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had
completed the crossing on dry ground.

The Israelites needed to cross the Jordan at full flood, this was not a small stream, but a river flowing at full capacity, that they needed to cross! What did they have to do before the Lord did anything? The priests needed to take that first step into the river before the Lord stopped the flow. They needed to step out in faith, believing that the Lord would save them from assured drowning and get them to the other side safely. Talk about stepping out of the boat. As their feet touched the water the flow stopped. God immediately rewarded their faith by doing a miracle.
In my life, a good example is my original trip to Greece. The Lord didn’t start providing for my trip until I bought my plane ticket, by faith, on my visa card. My exact thought, as I was clicking the button to place the orders was: “Well Lord, either I’m getting myself into debt or You’re going to have to provide.” And of course He did!
Anyway all this to say that stepping out in faith is just something the Lord reinforced this Easter weekend, as I’m worrying about Operation Joshua, finances for China and finances for my YWAM training. Do I really believe that the Lord can provide? Of course I do! Am I willing to step out in faith and go for it...? Now, more than ever - YES!

This is for all of us, an encouragement that the Lord is by our side always looking out for us, providing for our next steps, if only we would step out in faith.

Happy Easter to all of you - HE IS RISEN!

The Grail

The Tradition: The Holy Grail was a vessel used by Christ at the Last Supper. Given to his grand-uncle, St. Joseph of Arimathea, it was used by him to collect Christ's blood and sweat while Joseph tended him on the Cross. After Christ's death, Joseph was apparently imprisoned in a rock tomb similar to the one he had given for the body of his grand-nephew. Left to starve, he was sustained for several years by the power of the Grail which provided him with fresh food and drink every morning. Later, St. Joseph travelled to Britain with his family and several followers. He settled at Ynys Witrin (Glastonbury), but the Grail was taken to Corbenic where it was housed in a spectacular castle, guarded always by the Grail Kings, descendants of Joseph's daughter, Anna (Enygeus) and her husband, Brons.

I asked dad this afternoon if he wanted to get a movie for tonight and if yes then which one. For some reason he mentioned the Da Vinci Code, which I promptly went to get. I love that story. The Da Vinci Code is one of the few books I have read more than once. I love history, art and mysteries which the Code has loads of.

Because of my background, I grew believing that Jesus had a wife and child, my mom taught me of that fairly early on, and why not? Jesus was human after all, why couldn’t He have loved a woman and fathered a child with her? Well one thing, the world’s most reliable historical source ever found to date, the Bible, never mentions it. Other authoritative historical sources, not alleged gospels written under the aliases of someone else 200-300 years older than the closest eyewitness, do not mention Christ’s alleged family either. Also another of the many problems that particular theory has is that it assumes that Christ is only fully man, it disregards His dual nature. Christ is also fully God. Being fully God, and so the father of humanity, He would have viewed all humans, men and women alike, as His children. To me it seems like a twisted kind of love where a father falls in-love with his daughter.
I personally believe that because people couldn’t grasp the reality of God, and therefore grasp the divinity of Christ, it was easier to undermine Him. It was easier, for all purposes along with their consciences, to make Him out to be fully man and not even remotely divine but made so by His human counterparts. Enter the quest for the grail. Why the quest, what is its purpose? To what does it lead? Does it lead to some enchanted chalice, the heir of Christ through His bloodline or to something completely different? Who started it?
I want to start a mini series where I want to attempt to answer these questions. I’ve always been fascinated by the grail stories. There is such an air of mystery surrounding them with the Nights Templar and the Priori de Sion, the secret societies allegedly charged with hiding a big secret. I first heard of the Priori de Sion and the Nights Templar in France with my grandparents. They live in the south and in the part of France that has the most Templar and Sion lore, apparently a lot of the story after Jerusalem and their fall happens there.

Anyway it’s an interesting story that has always fascinated me and I hope to dig in deeper.