Evendays

It has been a busy fall for Son 1. He is doing his mandatory military service, the "boot camp" part, and that will last till next March. That’s what he gets for having two nationalities. He is making the best of it.

He spent a month working for a Christian from the Geneva church who has a painting business. Every morning, Son 1 was up before 6 AM to make a little extra money, probably for a trip somewhere.

Last Friday was his graduation ceremony where he received his BS in Forensic Science. It was a reunion time for him and the other 25 students who survived the three year program (220 started…)

We are proud of him. He did great. And he’s looking forward to the start of his Masters program in 2010. 

Yes, as you have heard, 20 years ago today the guards opened the passage ways and allowed free access to West Berlin to those who were under communist rule.

My cousin was in Berlin that day with a group of Pepperdine Heidelberg students. The timing was right. They danced on the wall and got their picture in the paper.

She brought us back a bit of stone, concrete knocked off the wall. A whisper of graffiti on it. Genuine, 100%, Berlin cement.

In 1989, Wife’s dad’s ministry to Ukraine, Slavic World for Christ, received over 4000 letters, 3000 asking for Bibles. 5 years before, he received about 150 letters a year. Almost none from Ukraine.

3 months later he’d find himself in Kiev. He’d meet with family and folks he hadn’t seen in 47 years. Brothers and sisters who were now grandparents.

Walls fall. Sometimes it leads to freedom. Other times not so much. But I thought all day Sunday about freedom, and the words of Paul:

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by
abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.
His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus
making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

Resolved…

I will write more.

At least more than once a month.

But, hey, it was a hectic month.

Sunday morning I lit up the G5 20 inch flatscreen iMac to get the welcoming chime, a turning circle of slashes, and then the turbo of the fans kicking in. Fortunately the Sermon was on the portable.

Should have known something was up. The curtain of death would appear every 3 or 4 days. No fun.

I knew I could fix the thing. Tried to repair the hard drive with a utility program that told me that I had a bigger problem than I expected, but I was still able to copy the drive onto a new drive, swap said drive, reinstall the 10.3 operating system of yesteryear, but all of my personal preferences and applications were left out, and I really don’t know what to do to back get to 10.4 (with all my info, which is backed up but not on the main hard drive) and start working like before, with all my preferences, dictionaries, emails and such just coming up like they should.

I guess I will break down and have to pay somebody to do this, I mean, to get me back to where I was before the system bugged, but I hate doing it. Not just because it costs money, but mainly because when they fix it, I don’t learn how to fix it, and there’s a little bit of expertise that I like having.

On Sunday afternoon, about 20 of us gathered at lakeside some 100 meters in front of a 12th century church. The Alps rose on the opposite side of the lake, boats sailed across our view, the sun sparkled off the water.

We had come to this spot for F.’s baptism. I spoke to the small group of our need of a pure conscience, of the need of washing, of our desire for forgiveness and the Father’s desire to forgive. F. descended into the water, his dad baptizing him in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (We took pictures, in a spiritual way, of course.)

With F. wet and joyful, individuals prayed blessing down on him, on his family, on his church. We headed to the meeting place to share bread and wine, song and Word. Several told of their own baptisms, what it had meant, what it means. 

It was one of those times that Jesus’ presence was not only acknowledged but also felt. We finished the day encouraged and, in a small way, sharing in the joy of angels. 

Lausanne counts about 35% foreigners (we are part of that number too!), Geneva counts even a bigger percentage, and our outreach touches a large number of folks who come from all around the globe. 

I was put into contact with a young man from Bolivia who is studying in Geneva. One of his housemates had invited him to church and he had enjoyed it. We studied together, shared stories and cultures, he continued to come on Sundays, all before going back to Bolivia for a 6 week break (from university studies, not from me). As soon as he got back, he asked to be baptized, so we celebrated that event a couple of weeks ago.

There’s a retired guy in the USA who has started sending out French Bible courses to folks who ask for them. I was reading his newsletter and saw that he had a contact in Switzerland. The retired guy sent out an email and I started writing to the student finding out he was from Burkina Faso and studying in a Bible institute in Bienne, about 60 minutes away. My colleague in Geneva invited over to his home for a 24 hour stay and, surprise!, when I arrived for Geneva’s Tuesday evening Bible Study, the baptistery was full and the student (he’s 40 with a family in Burkina) wanted to be baptized into Jesus. It was done, and he has gone on his way with joy.

Summer brings about a deadness to the city that I must admit, is easy to enjoy. Things
are quieter because so many are on vacation. The traffic is almost non-existent
because everyone is in the mountains, the south of France, or somewhere in
Asia. I do not like the low numbers of folks at church, but I love meeting new
people who are traveling through and want to commune with the local church.

The
afternoon worship times are more relaxed than what we had in the morning.
Certainly people are more tired, so open ended questions, reflection on Bible
verses, questions about what we’ve learned from our experiences with God all
seem to keep (most) people awake. I hope they are even more in tune to who God is through our time together.

Son 1 is on the West Coast as of 9 PM yesterday. He is in Portland, then will be in Fresno and later at Pepperdine,
nurturing relationships and celebrating his Bachelor in Forensic Science.

He may stop off in Stockton and break into one of Randy’s cars. Just to fit in, you know.

Our 4th of July… Our National holiday is August first. On Saturday Switzerland celebrated 718 years of existence, commemorating the pledge made by the leaders of three cantons (Uri, Schwyz and Unterwald that they would, with God’s help, defend each other and, well, just get along a whole lot better.

The local retirement home invited me to give a "meditation" for that day, so I did (even though I’m not Swiss). There was traditional music (think small accordions and a bass), Alpine horns and decorations taped everywhere. Some of the residents danced. Some slept. I spoke. We all ate. 

Daughter is back with us and she had some friends over later that day. We went to the lake for fireworks. Then Son 1 and 2 tried to blow up the neighborhood with all the fireworks they had bought. No luck. But we did fill up the house with another 4 students from Harding University who are traveling through.

This is a great place to live. I love it, though I love the USA too. Although I must admit, when Federer played Roddick, I was for Roger. And when Cancellara took the Yellow Jersey, I didn’t feel sorry for Lance. It’s not that I want to be a traitor. It’s just stronger than me.

Hi everyone. Glad to be back from two glorious weeks at camp. We had two camps running simultaneously. One for 7 to 12 year olds, and the other for teen ages 13-17. 120+ kids total. We were in Ardèche at 5000 feet. The weather was wonderful and there were no major troubles. Meaning: None of the campers were seriously wounded by their counselors.

I love camp. But I have to admit, I especially love it when it’s over. Those kids who hook up with local churches after camp finishes and make decisions to convert to God make it all worth while. Of course, there are problems for each year: kids that don’t know how to live in community; counselors that blow gaskets; fantastic amounts of food that has to be thrown away. But it’s all worth it if campers stay awake for my Bible class, learn to open their mouths and praise, and don’t hate you too much at the end of the two weeks.

For some of them, despite their counselors, do see Jesus.