Aug 27 2010
Big Howdy in Full Swing
Garage Sales, Rides to Walmart, Airport Pickups, all signs that the school year is about to begin. When I look at my calendar this last week, it is full of Big Howdy events where we welcomed students to local universities for the first time. Many are still looking for apartments. Many still have many needs that can be met by our volunteer teams of local believers. Keep on praying for this important time.
- The Big Howdy (www.utabighowdy.com) garage sale went very smoothly though we were short on volunteers. Still contacts were made. Over 100 students were picked up from the airport. Over 100 students were taken to Walmart. (Arlington is the biggest city in America with no mass transit) More items donated by people form area churches were sold to students for incredible prices ($10 for a couch?) than ever. Two things left… 600+ people Big Howdy Party & the Tour around Arlington. (with 92 people already signed up with space for only 50) Praise the Lord.
- Pray for one of our good friends and former team members Maurice & Linda Ahern. Maurice’s father if fighting cancer. Linda is expecting and is due in November. The Aherns had to return to Florida from overseas assignment because their young son (15 months I believer) was diagnosed with cancer in the spinal chord. Things are looking a little better as far as Micah (their son) is concerned but still very serious. So much to pray for for them. including their other kids adjusting to suddenly being back.
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Still, this week was very hard… Several dear friends are going home long term this weekend. In addition, several of our staff have had some huge family crises and we are transitioning one of our kids through teenhood and another through being a Webelo… I can’t remember when we have had more “stuff” to do in my life. No I take that back, back in High School, the weeks before I left for New Jersey for the first time, I had just about every hour scheduled with packing, having dinner with someone, etc. It was just as non-stop but the idea that that sort of life style not ending any more can be daunting… Still the exciting thing is that God is showing me through daily time in His word and in prayer that it can be done. We are being forced to depend on Him for every second of every day and it actually works!
One of the things we end each Bible study with every week is “if this passage is true, (which I believe it is) how does it change the way that you live…” I’ve been really challenged this year to make this question a part of every Bible truth that I know and imagine this… THE BIBLE ACTUALLY IS TRUE AND LIVING AS IF IT IS ACTUALLY WORKS! Imagine that…
Many of you may remember this but perhaps not. There was a time when there was nothing I loved more than strapping on some roller blades, putting on some pads and going to the local tennis court to play some hockey. I used to love the game… actually I still do. I was reminded of that when I was caught up in the hockey at the Olympics this winter in Vancouver. It is a really fun sport to watch and definitely to play. I honestly still have a thing for the Anaheim Ducks but the Dallas Stars are a close second.
Well, imagine my surprise to find that one of our students, one from Colombia of all places also loves hockey and plays a lot in his home country. Julian must be very good. He has traveled to the U.S. in the past for international tournaments with players who play pro roller hockey in the states. One Friday night, this game me the opportunity to take out the old blades, my skates and pads. (They really smell after being in storage for so long) It was really fun. I even let him use my old practice skates while he is here.
Well in talking with him, I found out that he had never been to a real life ice hockey game. God placed it in my heart to take him and I prayed that the opportunity might come up. When it rains it pours when we take things to the Lord. First, my colleague, Jason and I jumped online and were able to get $99 tickets right next to the ice for a fraction of the price. Then, a member of our church said she had some free tickets that she wanted to share with us. You should have seen Julian’s face when we shared the opportunity with him: the chance to go to two games in one week. The smile was bigger than the smile of the Cheshire cat. He wanted to go to both.
Tonight was the first of these games. It was truly amazing! We sat right up on the action, so close we could see everything – from faces pressed up against the glass during a fight to pucks scooting around the boards right in front of us. It was an exciting game AND the Stars played well for once. Julian and our other friend Alex, also from Columbia seemed like they were in heaven. We saw big hits, goals galore and interestingly, right before the end of the game there was a fight right in front of us. Yikes!
I know both of our friends from Colombia were blessed greatly, both in different ways. On the way up and back we had some great conversations about life, about Columbia, the USA, about things even deeper too. Most of all, we truly enjoyed each other’s company. I know we will never forget this experience and it will forever knit us as friends and hopefully allow us to share even more deeply all in the context of a couple of guys enjoying time together watching a common sport that they love. Praise the Lord for His goodness.
“All I can do is cry and pray” the facebook update of a dear Iranian student friend said right after the announcement of the results of the presidential elections in that country. Ever since then, I’ve been gripped and touch by the picture that has been unfolding, through twitter, through facebook and through the news the last few months. By now, many of us have seen some incredible, some horrific pictures of what is going on in Iran. It has been a very traumatic time for a very historically important and proud nation and people. You can imagine the feeling flying around the students “stuck” here in the face of all this.
One of the notable and special things for me about this last school year has been the much more frequent contact and good friendships God has given us with Iranian students of late. I didn’t really understand it but we have been excited. I have been impressed by the sense of openness to talking and sharing. It was almost like our friends really wanted to showcase the specialness of this nation so often demonized in our country. I was amazed to by how much our friends really wanted us to see how much freedom they had in this country that seems so restrictive to us. It has been a real blessing to us and I really feel like I’ve fallen in love with these people that God has put in our lives in a special way.
So when the elections and the subsequent events occurred it really touched my heart in a different way than usual. This distant news became about individual people… not just city names on newsprint. I’ve got a decent number of Iranian friends on facebook and right after the elections, there were so many posts, both in English and Farsi. There were pictures of what was going on at home. There was sharing of stories as they were given. Live video and photos from the streets of Tehran. It was overwhelming and at the same time refreshing. I have never seen such a groundswell of solidarity, shared grief, etc as everything these friends had back home was being put in turmoil. My heart ached. I also knew this wasn’t our fight… I knew we as Americans could do little… except “cry and pray” with our new friends, supporting them in their time of need. That has been hard. When we heard that there was going to be a candlelight vigil at UTA for the student in Iran who were killed in the violence and it happened to be on Friday night (our meeting night), we made sure Lisa could break away to be a part of it. We’ve been trying to send “neutral” but telling statements through “retweeting/forwarding” stuff we get. Still the impulse is to do more. It really breaks my heart.When I talk to many Americans, it is hard not to make a bigger deal about what is going on. Many have no touch points with this culture. For them it is a place that has had so many problems; a sad place with nameless people that have no real desire to go to. I wish they could meet our friends.
One thing for sure, we are also proud of our student friends. Proud for standing for what they believe in. And I believe it is not a coincidence that God put them in our lives right now. I believe, just as Esther in the Bible felt when she was in the ancient Persian(current Iranian) Court that she was made for “such a time as this,” so I believe that God has brought these very special friends into our lives for “such a time as this.” But it is hard watching this from where we are, having to stay neutral while loving our friends.
Yesterday we had the special honor of having some friends over for easter dinner. Our dear friends Sara and Aydin from Persian joined us for our special celebration. Before dinner we were able to share a bit about the history of Easter and what it was represented to us Christians and they shared their impression of it from the perspective of their culture. It was really cool.
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