At Home

Have you even been away from home? Have you ever been away from home for so long that you begin to wonder, "Just, where is home again?" Well, this is where I find myself this year! The last 4 years at Christmas time, I have spent in a foreign country. Czech, Turkey, and Sweden have been the places where I have opened up gifts and remembered Jesus' birth! But this year, I will return to the States and spend Christmas with my family and the holidays with my friends! I return not as a prodigal child in way of having been gone spending money in foolish ways and wasting away all that has been given me... but rather I return as a sort of prodigal (which can also mean: having or giving something on a lavish scale) meaning that I return to my roots, I return to where I left, I return 'home', but I return having been lavished on; I return having been given so much; I return having so much! I may not have much in way of the physical (money, things...) but I have, in these last now 5 years been given something that one can never return to the store or give back to the person who gave it to them. I have been given experiences in which I have learned about other cultures, other peoples, other ways of life. I have been given insight, encouragement. I have been given more understanding of who I am, and who God is to me. I have been given numerous opportunities (some seized and some missed) to just be His hands and feet! And most of all I have been given 'HOME'. My new HOME can never replace my roots and can never shadow over what was built in me from birth! BUT my new HOME is filled with friends and those friends who have become family! And I realize that no matter where I am... America, Czech, Turkey, North Africa, Asia, or somewhere else in Europe, I am at HOME. It is there I have the opportunity to build relationships; it is there I have the privilege of gaining family; it is there that I find God. He is Immanuel, God with US! Not God with ME! But God with US! So where I find and build and maintain relationships- THAT is where God is! And that is where I am AT HOME!!!

So this Advent season as we focus on love, joy, peace, and hope... may we not forget to focus on those relationships with friends, family, and perfect strangers! And may We find Immanuel in His truest form- IN RELATIONSHIP!

What was that?

I was sitting in the "Factory" in Harpenden, England a couple weeks ago and at one point I looked up and really had to think about what I saw. As I looked across the table tops I saw that they were covered with PCs and PowerBooks, and I had to ask myself if I knew where I was? It wasn't because I have been doing so much traveling, but it was because the world is now a different place- not bad just different! I realized I was right where I needed to be. I was in the middle of a communications conference/workshop. Though the workshop may have been different then others I have taken part in, I knew I had to be there. At some point this all hit me, what we were doing there, when someone asked for a pen and paper and 3 of us sat on some couch, holding our PowerBooks and PC's but not able to lend a pen- it hit me then, that we as a group of people gathering together to try to improve communications in our organization were NOT staying out of the current flow of where the world is taking us... we were right in there, in fact we are on the front lines. We realize that everybody is communicating something- EVERYBODY! And we are a group that want to communicate the TRUTH to the world, effectively, creatively, and professionally! So though we couldn't find a pen anywhere, I found the values that lie just underneath all striving and hard work of communicating. Then I knew I was in the right place, though I don't consider myself a great communicator I realize there is no time like the present to improve and just try! The work shop was very educational for me... but at the same time that we were inside with our computers and really getting down to work, there were times when we could go out and enjoy nature around us. I stole one of those times to slip into the woods and stumbled upon a patch of "Bluebells" as I think they are called. Beautiful, little, protected flowers just scattered all across the floor of the dark woods. Some patches of sun were beaming through even the thick canopy of leaves above and gave me enough light to see that even these flowers were communicating. They don't need computers and the internet to communicate... they were simply there doing what they were supposed to do... growing, spreading, and showing God's glory. They have no mouth to lift up a voice with, and yet that afternoon I heard them screaming of God's glory from their dark place on the earth. I saw in these simple yet beautiful and magnificent flowers a form of communication that I must not forget... the form of communication that needs no electricity, that needs no cables that needs no paper... it's communication that comes from just being. So as I continue to learn from these little flowers, to just communicate with who I am, I will also go forth in communications with all that is at our disposal and I hope only join in with the "Bluebells" and sing together of God's glory and hope to communicate HIM to this world which is so in need of a little Light of a little Truth that will make all the difference!

Shanghai in Black and White...continued...still

Shanghai in Black and White...continued

Shanghai in Black and White

I wanted to put up some more photos to show the faces of some more people but also some of the streets and just the city center of Shanghai. These are just some random shots! I don't take too many pictures of the "sights" because I can always buy postcards or a book about a place, but I find I enjoy taking pictures of the things that some times get over looked like trash cans, hanging birds, or a man with an unforgettable face! These are the moments that help make up an experience and are often soon forgotten.

Shanghai in 10 Days... continued

Shanghai in 10 Days

I have lots to say about my time in Shanghai but wanted to first let the pictures do some talking of their own before I spoil them with my thoughts, ideas, and dreams! These are just some digital shots I took while on the streets of Shanghai. I hope to write more about my experiences there and add some more pictures in the future. But for now here are some quick glances into life in Shanghai. You will notice that mainly I have people here! That is on purpose! I have come to realize that LIFE is a person. You can have relationship with LIFE. Some days one can relate so well to LIFE, enjoy it, love it, and not seem to be able to get enough of it. Other days it is the one thing one wishes would just go away, when all is wrong that the thought of LIFE can seem like a dream once dreamt. People are constantly trying to make LIFE something smaller... a bowl of cherries, a box of chocolates... I don't believe that is the LIFE we have been called to. Though I do have my days where even I say: "Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get." Those are the days I wish life would stop nagging me. But even in that I know LIFE is there because He dares to nag me! You see LIFE may not be a bowl of cherries or a box of chocolates but LIFE is a person, it is a relationship! And at this time of the year we celebrate LIFE. Spring time is near, Easter has just passed and it all screams of LIFE! My heart aches for more LIFE. And as that abundant LIFE my whole self burns for seems most days just out of reach- still I know He is there!
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."-Jesus
These pictures just capture moments of LIFE- they capture people who LIFE Himself desires to have relationship with!

Half A Year... YIKES!!!!

"One never goes so far as when one doesn't know where one is going." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It is amazing all the places that a person can go in a half a year, both in this physical world and in the inner world of one's heart! I have been traveling nearly non-stop since my last post. My travels have taken me around Czech and from Czech to Germany, Latvia, the States, Sweden, Holland... always returning to Czech for some time before packing my bags again and heading out on a new adventure. The reasons for the trips vary, but each leaves me changed and eager for more change! I have been reading about Abraham and how he left his country, his people, his family and went to an undisclosed place. In other words he had no idea where he would end up when he left! My travels always have some ticket connected to them. I always have a departure time and place, and with it an arrival time and place. He didn't have that comfort he just packed and left not knowing. Sometimes my trips don't turn out like I think they will, getting stuck in Germany for a night because of missed flights... taking bus half way across a country just to save a few bucks... but still there is a destination even if the times get messed up! But that didn't stop Abraham from going far. Maybe Goethe had Abraham in mind when he said the above quote, or maybe he had those of us who are starting new adventures every day, not knowing where we are going, in mind. I have been thinking so much, now at the beginning of 2006, that I have NO idea where I will end up this year! I have no clue all the places and people I will meet this year! I don't know how I will get there, or whose hand will be extended for me to shake when I get there. I don't know where there is, BUT like Abraham went, I want to GO! Maybe I will go to far away lands that I have not been to before- I want to GO! Maybe I will go deeper into my heart, deeper then ever before- I want to GO! Some days to go far can just mean to take that next step... and some days it can mean to cross new boarders, boarders of the heart, or boarders on the map! Maybe far can only be defined by the one traveling, but one thing is for sure: far is not staying in the same place, whether on the surface of the earth or in the heart! So, I will GO this year... where?- I do not know; when?- no clue; how?- I can only imagine! I don't want to stay in the same place... so, I will GO and GO FAR WITH GOD!