Look what came in the mail last week

Thanks so much Jenny.  I can't wait to use them.  As hoped, they are made on handmade paper which is always so nice to write on and the detail in the designs is wonderful.  Head on over to Jenny's blog for details if you would like to buy some as well and support a micro-enterprise venture in Kenya.

Books about hard places # 2

The other book I read regarding life in a hard place recently was Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick.   Now, if we don't know much about what life is really like in Pakistan and Afghanistan, then I think it is safe to say that we know even less about life for the ordinary person in North Korea.

This book has been sitting on my bedside table for about six months.  It came warmly recommended.  But I just couldn't pick it up.  Maybe it was the grey cover that stopped me from opening it.  It looks pretty bleak.  And yet, when I finally got started I couldn't put it down.

On opening to the first page, what piqued my interest immediately was a photo similar to this one right at the beginning of chapter one.  Click on the picture to get a better view.


Photo from here

It is an aerial view by night of North and South Korea and surrounding countries.  Notice all the light patches - cities and towns lit up with night life illuminated by the electric light bulb. 

Then, in the middle of it all, an expanse of blackness nearly as large as England.  It is baffling how a nation of 23 million people can appear as vacant as the oceans.  North Korea is simply blank. 

North Korea faded to black in the early 1990's.  With the collapse of the Soviet Union, which had propped up its old Communist ally with cheap fuel oil, North Korea's creakily inefficient economy collapsed.  Power stations rusted into ruin.  The lights went out.  Hungry people scaled utility poles to pilfer bits of copper wire to swap for food...

North Korea is not an underdeveloped country; it is a country that has fallen out of the developed world.

(From chapter one of Nothing to Envy.)

What happened that a developed country fell into darkness, famine (20% of its population died of starvation during the 1990's) and utter disarray in the space of a few decades? 

Nothing to Envy is an oral history.  It follows the life of six North Koreans.  Some of the six remember life before the current regime took power and know just to keep their mouths shut.  The rest have grown up under the regime with heads so full of propaganda (North Korea is not connected to the Internet and no-one, at least legally, owns a mobile phone) that they believe that they truly have nothing to envy about the outside world, that the North Korean government is looking after them and that all is in hand. 

The book covers fifteen years taking in the death of Kim Il-sung and the rule of his son Kim Jong-il.  Eventually, for these six people, doubt creeps in.  Doubt in time leads to courageous defection and that is how Barbara Demick, an award winning journalist from the Los Angeles Times, comes to meet with them, interview them over many months and corroborate their stories with others in order to weave together a picture of life in this closed country.

It is grim reading.  Not the least because what has happened in North Korea has happened, and is happening, in our lifetime.  But be not put off by that comment or by the bleak cover.  Once I opened this book I could not put it down.  Because for all its bleakness, I was also inspired.  This is courage and tenacity at its absolute best.  Written down beautifully, insightfully and cleanly.  The word that springs to mind is "compelling."

Also, it is good to know about this.  And good to pray.

Books about hard places # 1

I've just finished reading a couple of great books about life in hard places - Pakistan, Afghanistan and North Korea. 

The first one was Shoot Me First by Grant Lock.  Grant and his wife Janna spent 24 years working with a mission organisation close to my heart in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  They came to the task as successful cattle breeders in South Australia but spent their years overseas supporting micro-hydroelectric schemes, teaching English as a second language, overseeing a massive eye-care programme and caring for all who crossed their paths. 

Shoot Me First is masterfully written.  In spots it's laugh out loud funny.  Right in the opening pages Lock describes trying to register his family with the Pakistani government on their arrival.  The man he is dealing with doesn't seem to think Lock is a sufficiently suitable surname.  Too short.  Too pedestrian.

His intense gaze is making me uncomfortable.  I thought I'd articulated it clearly, but I'll try again.  "Lock," I repeat slowly.
He still looks disdainfully puzzled.  Suddenly a light of descriptive genius flashes in my brain.  I rotate my hand as though I'm turning a key.  "Lock!  You know!  Lock, as in door."
His face changes.  He gives a satisfied sigh, as though his lips have just sampled the rich blend of spices in a superior mutton karahi.  "Ah yes, that is a good name, Sahib.  That is to be a very good name."  Under Matthew's watchful gaze he completes the entry with meticulous care.  Then he looks up and addresses me warmly. "Welcome to Pakistan, Mr Lokazindore."

(From chapter two of Shoot Me First.)

But if some parts had me laughing, other parts were read through tears.  These are truly hard places in which to live.  The Locks lived and worked amongst the ordinary people of Pakistan and Afghanistan and it was tough.  Grant and Janna Lock showed amazing, AMAZING compassion, care and love for those in their contact.

Shoot Me First reads like extracts from the journals of their years away.  But it is so much more than a collection of stories from their time overseas.  Through their tales Lock seeks to educate.  What is it really like in these countries that are so torn, stretched and oppressed by political, social and religious tensions, especially for the poor and the outcast?  Grant Lock explains, illustrates, teaches and cuts through all sorts of myths - and as it turns out, we in the west don't always come out as right. It is hard to garner an accurate picture of "normal" life in these countries.  But I am confident to accept Lock's testimony given they spent a of quarter of a century living in amongst and serving the ordinary people of Pakistan and Afghanistan - and I am glad to have a clearer and even handed view of these nations which now enables me to pray better for those I know who currently work there.

A Christian biography?  Well, yes.  But in a very understated way.  There is no doubt that Grant and Janna are people of deep and abiding faith and trust in God.  But throughout the book their faith is mostly implied rather than stated.  I assume they have taken a low key approach for security reasons, given that some of their programmes are still up and running.  But it works for us too, making this a great book to share with friends and neighbours, showing faith in action without going overboard.

This is a wonderful book.  Really wonderful.  So worth a read to learn about life in these hard places and to be inspired and moved by this compassionate and faithful couple.

And here is the Shoot Me First website.

Rules to live by

When I taught year sevens I had three classroom rules.  All three were introduced on the first day of the school year.  

Rule # 1 was issued right at the beginning of the day.  Day one, minute one, every year (apart from my first year of teaching) would go something like this...

"Good morning everyone.  My name is Mrs (insert my surname here) and in this classroom, if you ever think you are going to vomit, there is no need to raise your hand and ask if you can leave the classroom.  You can just run right out the door.  Try to get to the toilet.  Or at least get to somewhere where I won't need to clean the vomit up.  Because if you vomit near me there is every chance I will vomit near you."

It was always a light way to start the school year.  These were the big kids I was talking to and the boys especially seemed to like it.  But I wasn't trying to be all that funny.  It was a classroom rule that was borne out of a Very. Bad. Experience in my first year of teaching involving a sick child and his desk drawer.  Ghastly.

I would introduce rule # 2 a bit later on in the day.  It was more for the boys than the girls and it went like this.

"You will find during this year that you probably need to start wearing deodorant.  And starting from tomorrow you must wear new socks and new undies EVERY day."

Some would look at me aghast.  Why was the need to wear clean underwear such a shock to them?  That's just wrong.  But good for public health purposes to make it right.

Rule # 3 would be introduced at the end of the first day. 

"Be nice to your teacher and be nice to your mummy and all will go well for you."

They would snort and roll their eyes at me for calling their mums "mummy" but eventually they would get used to it.  And they liked it.  It gave them one more year to be small children in a safe place.  And I restated that rule at the end of nearly every school day - hopefully it meant for a good re-entry into family life after a day in the classroom.

 

Turns out these classroom rules transfer into real life.

If you think you are going to vomit, try to be thoughtful of those around you and do it in a courteous manner.
Wear deodorant and clean underwear every day.
Be nice to your teacher (or your boss/those in authority over you/even those with whom you just spend most of the day) and your mummy (or those with whom you share your house) and all will go well for you.

Great rules to live by.  Who would have guessed? 


Status Report: May

Thinking: that April went by far too quickly. 

Reading: some books about missionaries in hard places - Pakistan, Afghanistan and North Korea.  And after that I am thinking it might be time to take a church history book off the shelf.  It has been a few years.  Time to brush up and be amazed at God's kindness and abiding faithfulness with His people all over again.

Drinking: tea.  Real tea.  Went back to it in mid-April.  The decaf version is bland and has become tiresome and boring.

Considering: for the fourth year in a row whether I should buy a slow cooker.

Thankful: for Deb's short but straight to the point post about all how easily we forget all those hours of children being reasonably good and productive members of the family and how readily we LEAP upon the ten minutes of children being "supremely annoying and painful."  Wise (as always, Deb) and perspective altering.

Doing: something pretty amazing as you read this...but I will have to tell you about it another time.  And therefore...

Confessing: that I wrote this slightly ahead of time.  So when I say drinking tea, I mean it in a general sense rather than a specific, as-I-write sense.

Deciding: that despite what I said here about having turned into an extrovert, I think I am still my good old ISFJ self.  I'm a much more confident, outgoing version of my old self but there have been moments in recent months when I have found myself longing to own one of these, even during the long, hot summer.

I first saw this photo on Ali's gorgeous blog last year.  Only the brain of an introvert would lock in that image.

Speaking of: such things, turns out this year is the 70th anniversary of the Myers-Briggs thingo and you can go here to join in the party.  This is me...

From here



Holding on to Hope

I have read all of the anthologies Nancy Guthrie has edited  - on Christmas, Easter, suffering and on dying - more than once and have given away oh so many copies of them all.  These are truly wonderful, wonderful books.  But until recently I hadn't ever read anything written by Nancy Guthrie herself.
 

But now I have. 

 

Nancy Guthrie and her husband lost a baby daughter at six months of age to Zellwegers's Syndrome.  Hope's condition was discovered at birth and the Guthries spent the next six months loving their precious daughter and painfully anticipating her death.  As carriers of this syndrome, the Guthries took surgical steps to prevent them from having further children.  The procedure reversed itself and a couple of years after Hope passed away, Gabriel was born, also with Zellwegers Syndrome.  He passed away one day short of turning six months old.

 

 

Holding on to Hope, based around the book of Job (from the Bible), was written by Nancy Guthrie during the months between Hope's death and Gabriel's birth.  It is a book about suffering and dying, leaning on God and trusting in Him.  Like Jerry Bridges' books, it sits firmly on the foundation of God's sovereignty. 

 

I feel as though I have read, thought, prayed about and written quite a lot about suffering and death in the last few years.  In the western world, where life is so easy, we don't (I generalise here) manage sufffering and grief well.  We are outraged by it.  And at one level this is entirely correct.  Death is appalling.  But we rage in ways that are selfish and godless.  We think these sorts of things just shouldn't happen in this day and age.  So for me, the last few years has been about working through what ought to be a Right response when crisis comes.

 

What makes Holding on to Hope so very good is that it takes the theory of what is biblical in responding to suffering and grief and applies it squarely to a real life situation of horrendous suffering and grief.  There was no fist shaking at God.  Nor, at the other extreme, was there a facade of stoicism.  The grief was real.  I don't doubt that every page of her manuscript was tear stained.  But it was godly grief.  A grief founded in trust and a deeply faithful acceptance that God  had their lives and circumstances sovereignly, lovingly and wisely in hand.

 

This is a book to share with someone in grief.  To help them grieve well.  It concerns a specific situation - the loss of a child - but it will speak to all situations of grief.  This is a book to share with someone for whom life is good - that they might use the peaceful times to prepare for times ahead when suffering will swiftly or eventually come.  This book is inspiring and challenging and tender and gentle.  It's short - I read it over a couple of evenings.  And at least in the copy I have, there is an eight week study that digs deeply into Job and traverses the Bible on the subject of suffering and grief.  I would love to put some time into this at some stage.  And this book is an excellent companion to Nancy Guthrie's anthologies on suffering and death. 

Reading this book will be time well spent.  Reading it and then sharing a copy with someone else will be a gift.



Jerry Bridges

God in His love always wills what is best for us.

In His wisdom He always knows what is best,

and in His sovereignty He has the power to bring it about.

 

(A unsourced quote in chapter one of Trusting God by Jerry Bridges.)

 

I have just spent the last month immersed in these three books by Jerry Bridges. 

 

The titles point clearly to the content (as all good titles should.)

Respectable Sins - about the sins that we may not even be aware of, because they blend in with what is well tolerated in society...pride, discontentment, grumbling, selfishness (it's all about me) and anxiety to name a few. 

The Pursuit of Holiness - one of those books often to be found on many Christian bucket lists of must read books, and rightly so.  A great companion to Respectable Sins as it maps a pathway for pursuing holiness and godliness, that veers away from sins both gross and respectable.

Trusting God - how to maintain that holiness, godliness and belief that God is sovereign and that Christ's death on the cross is enough when things are not going smoothly. 

 

Jerry Bridges writes clearly and pastorally.  In reading them I felt nurtured and challenged, taught and counselled, affirmed and encouraged.  Encouraged in the best sense of the word.  Jerry Bridges is a humble man and in all three books he genuinely and sincerely gives God all glory and honour.  If you want to see humility in action through one who holds wholly to the view that God is completely sovereign (that is, in control of all things), loving and wise, pick one of these books and delight in his gentle but strong words.  He's not afraid to say the hard things.  But he is by no means harsh.   

 

Good reading. 

 

I'd like to read some more of his books, including The Joy of Fearing God and The Discipline of Grace, but three is enough for now.  I'll save the others for another time.

Who knew?

I have a bit of thing about grammar and stuff.  You'd never know reading this blog.  All those sentences starting with conjunctions.  It's appalling.  But you'll never find a misplaced apostrophe for all the sentences that start with "And" and "So" and "But."

But I have been learning things this year.  It started with IKEA.  It isn't "Ikea" because it turns out the supplier of my meatballs (I won't hear you say a bad thing about them) sports an acronym.

And today, courtesy of a year five spelling book followed up by a quick tour of Google, it turns out that the Internet is a proper noun.  When you talk about internets in a general sense it can have a lower case "i" but when you talk of the Internet it needs a capital letter.  Who knew?  Obviously the writer of the year five spelling book.  But not me.  Not until today. 

How not to worry

From the mouth of a seven year old very close to my heart after he overheard my husband and I talk about being worried about something.

I know how to stop worrying.
Think about us.  (Which for us means our two boys.  You will need to insert your own favourite small or big people into the formula.)
Then have a drink of water.
And then sing a song.

Spontaneously delivered, wise and wonderful advice.

Why, God?

So we should never ask why in the sense of demanding that God explain or justify His actions or what He permits in our lives...When I say we should never ask why, I am not talking about the reactive and spontaneous cry of anguish when calamity first befalls us or one we love.  Rather, I am speaking of the persistent and demanding why that has an accusatory tone toward God in it.  The former is natural human reaction; the latter is a sinful human reaction.  Three of the psalms begin with why:

"Why, O LORD do you stand far off?" 
"Why have you forsaken me?"
"Why have you rejected us forever?"
(Psalms 10, 22, 74)

But each of these psalms ends on a note of trust in God.  The Psalm writers did not allow their whys to drag on.  They did not allow them to take root and grow into accusations against God.  Their whys were really cries of anguish, a natural reaction to pain.

From chapter eight in Trusting God by Jerry Bridges.

Trusting God

In the arena of adversity, the Scriptures teach us three essential truths about God - truths we must believe if we are to trust Him in adversity.  They are:

God is completely sovereign.

God is infinite in wisdom.

God is perfect in love.

From chapter one in Trusting God by Jerry Bridges.  And then a few pages later in chapter two...

If we are to trust God, we must learn to see that He is continuously at work in every aspect and every moment of our lives.

Going offline

For a week.

This post comes to you courtesy of AUTO-SCHEDULE because as of sun-up this morning our household has commenced a SCREEN-FREE challenge.  Oldest son issued the challenge a week ago.  The start date was revised when he realised that a) he would be visiting his friend during the week suggested who has many options of screen to choose from at his house and b) the said week would also take in five days at home over the Easter weekend. 

So we start today.  For a week.  No screens.

He has made some exceptions for mum and dad.

Dad is allowed access to Word, email and the internet strictly for work related purposes only. 
Mum (that's me) is allowed email for business related purposes - so no chatting to friends, just serious stuff.  And mum is allowed one DVD on ironing night.  (I thought the offer of the DVD was very generous.)

And to honour the intent of the challenge there are no more scheduled posts from me for the week ahead.

So you won't be seeing me around the internet for the next week or so.  If you need me, it will have to be in person, on the phone or via email.  And if email, it has to be business related.  In that instance you really ought to put "CMS" in the subject box, which ordinarily would stand for "Church Missionary Society" - the organisation that accounts for most of my "buiness" emails.  Or, as some have suggested, "Catch Meredith...Shhhhhh!" or "Catch Meredith Sneakily."  Otherwise, I'm out of here.

Status Report: April

Running:  a day late on this.  I was fairly wiped out after Easter and could hardly string two verbal words together yesterday, let alone face a computer screen.

Grateful: to God for all that Easter is and for the time to reflect on His amazing grace and goodness to us. 

Eating: nothing.  But we had lasagna for tea.  Home made.  Lasagna is pretty labour intensive in my view.  But everyone likes it.  Last year (I know, I'm very slow when it comes to these sorts of culinary breakthroughs) I worked out as I was making a lasagna to give away, that I could make two - one to give away and one for us to eat.  That took out some of the intensity from the labour.  And last week I figured if you can make two at once then you can also make four at once.  So we are eating one (tonight and probably tomorrow night too) and there are three in the freezer ready to give away or eat at a later date.  Cooking in bulk for the freezer is not new to me...it is the type of cooking I do best.  But bulk lasagnas - that's new and it's wonderful.

Drinking: nothing.  But I am about to boil the kettle.  Cup of tea, anyone?

Reading: the Bible from this reading plan.  Currently a week behind.  Not too worried about that.  I'll catch it up with some double readings here and there.

Also reading: Trusting God by Jerry Bridges.  This is my third Jerry Bridges book in a month.  I love this man's take on the Christian life.  But this will be the last of his books I read for now.  I'm not taking in quite as much with this one as the other two.  It's probably time to put his books down for a while.  But what a wonderful time it has been.

Figuring: I was a tad hasty in announcing my running career on Facebook a couple of weeks ago.  That comment - that I had taken up the C25K challenge - was met with all sorts of lovely, encouraging and endearing comments.  But my running career ("running" seems a bit over the top...thinking Cliff Young shuffle really minus the long distances) has been curtailed by an erratic schedule, the need for better shoes which will have to wait and the degree of my unfitness pitched against my age and the length of time that has passed since I did regular exercise.  So the current plan is long brisk walks on the treadmill and a bit of rowing on the rowing machine.  Until further notice. 

Wondering: if Google's decision to shut down Google Reader will mark the beginning of the slow death of small blogs.  I don't ever complain when Facebook and Google make changes.  They offer us these amazing free services so we can hardly complain.  And this isn't a complaint.  Just a wonder.

Thinking: about not complaining and gratitude and hope after taking a tour down my own little blog memory lane a couple of weeks ago.  A few cringeworthy moments in that tour as well but I was glad to have these three reminders, especially in light of the Jerry Bridges books I've read this last month about holiness, tolerated sinfulness and trusting in God.

Off: to clean up the kitchen and make that cup of tea.