Snowflakes

Christmas decorations were a little lacking around our house this year, so I decided to make some snowflakes. When several girlfriends came over for a Christmas party, it turned into a snowflake-making class—who knew! But as I showed friends how to cut and where and we discussed “Snowflake Theory,” I realized that snowflakes carry a lot of spiritual truth.

• You can’t hurry a work of creation. If you cut too fast, or too far, or without thinking, the whole thing will fall apart in your hands.
• The more the Creator cuts away, the more delicate and beautiful the final result will be.
• It’s impossible to tell what the final product will look like until it’s completely finished.
• The completed work of art will never look exactly how you expected it to.
• In order for it to look right, a lot of stuff has to fall away.
• I made a lot of snowflakes in the past few weeks. Never once did two look the same—even when I tried!

I feel like God wants me to be more like a paper snowflake in His hands—willing to be cut apart, trusting my Designer, waiting for Him to unfold me and see what I look like!

Cooking Improv

In an effort to build the Christmas spirit in the land of 90-degree days with a hot wind blowing and no chance of rain, let alone snow, we decided to have a Christmas movie marathon. We watched a different Christmas movie every night, ending with a "Jingle All the Way" and "It's a Wonderful Life" double feature. And what better meal to make it feel like Christmas, even if it doesn't, but chili and beans? I knew we didn't have corn chips, so I had Jesca make cornbread instead-- no biggie. I went to the grocery store to make sure I had everything I needed. A friend who owns a supermarket had given me several cans of stewed tomatoes, so that was taken care of. No canned tomato soup, but I can use tomato paste instead. Ground beef, check. Chili seasoning, done. All I needed was the beans. And there was the problem. I've never cooked beans from scratch, and I definitely didn't want to start now. I've bought canned beans in Arua before, but the day I went, there were none to be found. Anywhere. The only canned beans I could lay my hands on were baked beans. Oh, well, I guess it's better than nothing. And what's chili and beans with no beans??? So baked beans it was. Fortunately for me, the chili turned out great! I'm just glad my mom taught me how to improvise!

Immanuel

Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

This Christmas season, the idea of “Immanuel” keeps coming back to me. I can’t leave it alone. I am struck by the mystery that surrounds this word. I just can’t let it go.

“God with us.” The very idea of it is pretty ridiculous. I mean, isn’t the whole point of being God the idea You’re bigger than al of these puny people, greater, set apart? God can do anything He wants. He created this entire universe just for His good pleasure. He definitely doesn’t need me.

And yet this all-present, all-knowing, all-powerful God chose to limit Himself to human form. He chose to become like me. And the part that I still can’t wrap my head around is the why—because He loves me and wants a relationship with me, and the only way to do that was to pay for my sin, because I can’t.

God with us, because He is for us. He wants good things for me. Around the world, in all the other religions, none of the other “gods” ever came to earth and took on human frailties, just to bring good to people. To test them, yes. To punish them, yes. To simply play mean tricks on them, absolutely. But to do good? Never. Only Jesus. Only this one “God with us” can be called “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6) He is the ONLY good God.

Only Jesus. “The Word” of God—the very essence of Who He is—“became flesh and lived among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

He still dwells among us. He is still Immanuel—God with us. We must simply invite Him into where we dwell. We can choose to follow Him where He calls us. I can’t understand it. I am awed and humbled that the Mighty God, my Everlasting Father so desires a relationship with me. I can’t wrap my feeble brain around it. But I love Him, and I trust Him, and I am so grateful for my most precious Christmas gift—Immanuel, God with us.

SIncerity

I just had an amazing vacation. Kelli and I went to Tanzania for a week, spending 3 days in Zanzibar and the rest of our time in Dar es Salaam. After a year and a half with no vacation, this one was badly needed.

Many of the locals in Dar and almost everyone in Zanzibar is Muslim. I’m not sure if I really processed all the ramifications of this before I got on the plane. But once you’re on the ground, it’s impossible not to notice. Mosques and masjids were everywhere. Children play on the streets in caps and veils. Women even go to the beach fully covered.

Today as we sat waiting for our flight back to Uganda, there was a large group of men in very traditional dress. White tunics, caps, beards, the whole bit. After a few minutes, they all picked up their prayer mats and went to a corner of the terminal to conduct their midday prayers. We could hear their praying all around us. When prayers were finished, they returned to their seats. One of the younger men took out his Koran to read, chanting again as he did.

It struck me that so many of these precious people, being so kind, generous, and welcoming, are truly sincere in their faith. They are genuinely trying to find God and pursue Him. They are trying to follow. They are sincere.

And they are sincerely wrong. I think that’s the most humbling part of the whole thing. I watch these people, who pray more, study more, try to do right more than I every thought about, and I know that they’re so lost they don’t even realize it. And I’m so grateful to know that my eternity doesn’t depend on the sacrifices I make, how many prayers I say each day, the clothes I wear, or whether or not I make my pilgrimage. My security isn’t based on anything I’ve done… which is good, because I am definitely not good enough. It’s ONLY because of Jesus, and His love for me, His death for me.

How I pray that these sweet ones who are so earnest in their pursuit of God, whether in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, or even America, would see, would understand that they don’t have to do anything but receive. And then be grateful for grace.

Things I learned in Dar es Salaam:

~ Tanzania is sandy as Uganda is green.
~ White Sands Beach Resort is paradise. Praise Jesus for day rates, taxis, and cheap guest houses.
~ Big cities are NOT all they’re cracked up to be.
~ When you live directly above hell, you don’t need a water heater—the water heats itself!
~ SPF 30, twice a day, is not enough.
~ It’s weird to eat ice cream sitting on a tropical beach while listening to Christmas music.
~ Sand creations are always fun.
~ It’s a great thing to be chin-deep in the ocean and still be able to see your toes.
~ It’s not a great thing to get stung by a jellyfish or sunburned or knock a huge gash in your knee… especially not all in the same day.
~ It’s an odd feeling to see a Masai warrior, an Asian Hindu, and an African Muslim on the street and know that you’re the one who doesn’t belong.
~ As bad as I thought the Entebbe airport was, the Dar airport is worse.
~ My mom wrote a book of African proverbs—who knew??? Pretty sure she had no idea!
~ Fish and chips are that much better when you’re sitting by the ocean the fish came from.
~ If you’ve never had Krest Bitter Lemon, you’ve missed out on the best soft drink ever!
~ It’s hard to function in Dar if you don’t know Swahili. Which I don’t.
~ Some people are so lost, they have no idea how lost they are.
~ I’m grateful that my salvation isn’t up to me.
~ Prepaid electrical service isn’t a good idea. Especially when the service runs out at 11:45 at night when it’s still 90 degrees outside.
~ The end of vacation is a sad, sad thing.

Things I learned in Zanzibar:

~ There are more shades of blue than anyone can count.
~ Every now and then, we all need to escape from reality.
~ Whoever invented open-air markets was a genius!
~ No matter where you are in the world, teenage boys are all the same. Give them a body of water and an audience, and they’ll wind up jumping in and turning flips.
~ I NEED to live near water.
~ God created Zanzibar to whet our appetites for heaven.
~ Africa is much more interesting than America. Not nearly as convenient or reliable, but much more interesting.
~ Hole in the wall places are tons of fun to explore.
~ Freddie Mercury was born on Zanzibar. Seriously.
~ The underwater world we rarely see is so much more beautiful than the world we spend most of our time in.
~ I can’t begin to imagine how creative God must be to dream up coral reefs, zebra fish, sea urchins, angel fish, tube coral, and starfish.
~ Recipe for a perfect day: Hire a private boat operated by Khalid and Khalid. Snorkel in the Indian Ocean. Play with 100-year-old giant tortoises. Explore Prison Island. Stop for a light lunch in the prison that was never a prison. Sail back to Zanzibar. Jump in the pool for a quick dip. Wander through Stone Town and find really cool doors. Watch the sunset over the Indian Ocean from a rooftop.
~ Mango just tastes better in Zanzibar.
~ It’s really difficult to communicate with a deaf woman who only speaks Swahili in the middle of a rainstorm.
~ I don’t understand why the only men willing to pursue me are the ones I’d never be interested in.
~ Everything tastes better when you’re sitting by the ocean.
~ Vacation was definitely God’s idea.
~ On top of all the ways He surprises us, God scheduled sunset every day just so He could show us His God-ness every single day.
~ Names like Eyebrows, Happiness, Rabaju, Felidah, and Michael the Masai just make me smile.
~ Vacation within vacation is a brilliant idea.
~ Zanzibar doors are amazingly creative pieces of craftsmanship.
~ Island life is just better.