Crumpled Notebook

It’s December 31st. I’m still at Urbana. It is our final day
here. A lot of what I have to say won’t be said in this post
because some of the things will be more effective with pictures or
videos, which I have lots to share with you all later. This morning
I’m skipping our Bible Study group (and by group, I mean a few
hundred people). The thing about these conferences is that unless
you purposely make time to reflect upon things and take some time
to yourself, you won’t get it. That is what I’m doing this morning.
After our big general session bible study with "http://www.google.com/search?q=%22ajith%20fernando%22&hl=en">Ajith
Fernando (who is an excellent speaker), we will be filling out
and turning in “Decision Cards”. So, in lieu of all of my great
revelations and reflections, I’m going to just tell you about a few
of the interesting things that has happened the past couple days.
Thursday night we had the opportunity to have a “broken bread”
meal. This meal consisted of a porridge-like bowl of soupy stuff.
It is what many people in Africa have to eat for every meal, if
they are lucky enough to have a meal that day. This is something I
really need pictures for, but I’ll go ahead and mention it anyway.
I am pleased to say that I did finish my bowl. It tasted a little
like oatmeal, which I don’t really like anyway. But I finished.
Being the picky eater I am, I was proud of myself to get that far.
Yes, maybe I only did it because I felt like it was Fear Factor or
something and listening to my table change chug chug chug
chug as I picked up my bowl and drank it down rather than
spooning it in bite by bite. Maybe I almost barfed after I
finished. That isn’t the point. The point is that I finished and
that I realized how fortunate I am that it isn’t a meal that I have
to look forward to eating day after day. A meal that I would be
lucky to get. Okay, more about that later, with the pictures.
However, on another note, before our table ate, we had to play a
nice friendly game of Paper, Rock, Scissors to decide who was to
bless our food. How awesome is that? Scissors won. Okay, I have a
lot to say and not a lot of time, so here goes. Also this week, I
was charged $70.25 for my salad and soda. Yep, I said $70. It was
supposed to be $10.25 (which was bad enough). Fortunately I looked
at the price as I was signing my debit card receipt. I’m not sure
that I always do that. I learned from "http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Ray%20bakke%22&hl=en">Ray
Bakke (actually his grandson) that “our poop is the same.” You
gotta love 4 years olds. His grandson was talking about his cousin,
who is of a difference race. This grandson in particular is black,
the other is white. The boy said that he like his cousin, even
though he was “pink”, but then followed that up with “but our poop
is the same color.” I feel compelled to elaborate on that one, but
for your sake, I won’t. So, around dinner time last night I
wandered up to the City Grocery, a small grocer and deli. While I
was there eating my sandwich, I met a man named Jim. Jim, back in
the day, played Saxophone for Ike and Tina Turner, however, based
on the dates he gave, "http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=raymond+hill+tina+turner&btnG=Search">
he’s not that saxophone player. Anyway, Jim left the
business in 1971 after he found God. He said he “didn’t know I was
looking for God (or anything else), but found Him anyway.” After
that he moved back to St. Louis. Currently he has his own business
where he delivers food for different restaurants downtown. Talking
to Jim was great for me because I actually stopped to listen.
Generally when I meet random people, I’ll talk for a few minutes,
but then I start looking for excuses to go about my business. I
started to do that last night, but I didn’t. Jim needed to talk and
I needed to hear him. He was actually an encouragement for me as I
found myself opening up to him as much as he was me. I told him
about my family and how my mom is sick and things that I just don’t
talk about. Not deep personal stuff, but just stuff that I don’t
talk about. He told me about how that he wants to get back into
church and how his health problems were becoming an obstacle to
that. I told him I would pray for him. This is big for me. I don’t
generally tell strangers I’ll pray for them unless they just ask.
It was just a great thing for me to experience. I sat there and
talked and looked him straight in the eye and shared my experiences
with him and hopefully, if even just a little bit, encouraged him
in his own walk. Okay, yesterday morning, The Salvation Army all
went over the the St. Louis Corps (one of them) and had a Kindred
Session. 250 Salvationist from all over the U.S. and Canada (and a
couple of other countries) were there. Now I have to admit, I
wasn’t looking forward to this part. I wanted to be here, at
Urbana. I wanted to be with everyone else studying Ephesians and
listening to Ajith (yes, I said I would rather be studying
Ephesians). It wasn’t that I didn’t want to spend time with them,
it was just that I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I was enjoying
meeting new people. All of my roommates were Army people. Most of
our hotel were Army people. I had plenty of chances to see Army
people. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It was actually really
good. The Singing
Company, a Salvationist worship band from the Central
Territory, was there to lead worship time. You should "http://www.saytunes.com/saytunes/saytunes.nsf/fm_band_read?openform&PARENTUNID=00AFAD4FF719488D882571E300805AEF">
check them out on SayTunes. We played games, we ate food (while
everyone else at Urbana was fasting over lunch), we prayed for our
missionaries, and we got this really super cool scarf. A scarf you
say? Trust me, when I show you pictures of this scarf and tell you
the story about it, you’ll want one too, but you have to come back
and read for that once I get pictures. Okay, this is too long. I’ll
have to write more later, because I have a lot more to share.

I’m about 1 1/2 days through Urbana. Three more days to go. So far things have been going well. I’m having a really good time. The thing that has been the most interesting though is just that people here are a little different than most conferences or retreats or whatever I’ve been to–even Salvation Army only events. This obviously isn’t just Salvation Army. In fact, there are over 22,250 people here in St. Louis this week for the event. I think the Army only makes up about 245 of those. The people are different in that they actually talk to you. Not just hi, how are you, but actually engage in conversations with you. I’ve talked to all kinds of random people this week. On the bus, on the metro, in the hotel lobby, waiting in lines.

I met a guy named Lance on the bus this morning who works at a summer camp for kids whose parents are incarcerated. I met a guy named Ben who works with homeless street kids in Toronto. Then there is Colin who is heading to Brazil for 7 months on a mission trip, and Mike, a relatively new Christian who just isn’t sure what his calling is, but wants to find out. One of my roommates is living in Mexico and is preparing to enter Training College next fall. Every single person I’ve talked to has some story to share about something they are doing, or planning to do, or just have an awesome story about how God is working on them.

Otherwise today, I went to two seminars that were both really good. The first was Overcoming Obstacles in doing Mission Trips. It was really eye opening. I mean, I had thought about things like financial stuff, but not much more. It really got me to thinking about the other things, about getting my own issues straight before doing something like that because they will only be about 40 times worse in a different culture and country where I don’t know anyone or have anything I’m familiar with. It talked about being single and a missionary and having kids (not that it applies to me, but is something to think about). The second seminar was my guilty pleasure seminar. I felt guilty going to it because I felt like I should be going to something deeper and more focused on missions, etc…. This seminar was about Media and Ministry and how to use videos to tell your ministry story, or someone else’s. It was very good as well. For me, it just showed me how for me, its not bad that I have these hobbies that I like, and that I like doing those kind of things, so long as I use it to glorify God.

Anyway, I’ll write more tomorrow. St. Louis is a cool town. I got some great video of the Arch and the Capital Building today.

So a quick update since I haven’t blogged in a while. I’m leaving tomorrow for Urbana. It is in St. Louis this year. I’m pretty excited about it, so look for some blogs while I’m there.

I renewed my subscription to eHarmony today. If at first you don’t suceed, try, try again… Yeah yeah.

I went home for Christmas to surprise my family and they were indeed surprised. It all went well. Every one was okay. I got to talk to my brother on the phone, which I hadn’t been able to for a while. Stop asking how my mom is. If I want to talk about it, I will.

New Year’s Eve will be spent in St. Louis, followed by a flight back to California on New Year’s Day. I’ll be glad to be home and not have to go anywhere for a while.

Um, otherwise, I’m fine. People annoy and confuse me, but hey, it’s Christmas, isn’t that what Christmas is for? :)