Bookends 2020

What a year it has been. Sometimes my Bookends posts don't vary much from year to year. This year though, is quite another story. This year began and ended in different continents, but that was not how I was thinking it would be. So I think it is appropriate to put first a photo my wife took while doing laundry before we headed out on a New Year's Day outing.

Common Tree Frog Showing Us His Washing Machine

A tree frog—but not on a tree, rather in our washing machine. A tree frog out of place. Perhaps this was a harbinger of what the year would be like with us being "out of place" most of the year.

Tree frogs have a significant role in our lives. My first story comes from Haut Saint Marc, Haiti back in 1981. Ingrid and I were not in a relationship at the time, but we were on the same team. The six of us—a married couple, two single ladies (nurses), and two single guys—were living in tents. We had a communal structure for cooking and dining made of woven coconut leaves wrapped around living posts with a tin roof over the top. We took turns cooking and cleaning. I would get up early in the morning, while it was still dark, so I could head out to the little piece of farmland we had. I made coffee each morning by putting some of our Cafe Rebo roast in the cloth filter and pouring hot water through it. This was long before pour over coffee was a specialty thing in coffee shops. Later that morning, while I was out in the fields, Ingrid was cleaning up after breakfast. When she poured the spent grounds out of the filter, there was a poached frog amongst the grounds. That's why the coffee was especially good that morning. Forget about civet coffee when you can have tree frog coffee. I was admonished by my teammates to check the coffee filter for frogs before preparing the coffee in the morning.

Our Frog Coffee Dining Area

Fast forward a few years. Ingrid and I are married now and we are living in a different part of Haiti. This time we are in a nice house. The lower floor is made of concrete and is well screened to keep the mosquitoes out. But tree frogs have a way of getting in our bathroom. They like our toilet flush tank. Whenever we flush there would be a chorus of frog voices echoing in the tank. We would then remove the cover, grab the frogs and throw them outside. But they would find a way back in. Sometimes they would play voyeur and perch on the shower-head to watch the humans as they bathed. We hunted high and low, but it took a long time for us to figure out how they kept getting back in. When we finally found their secret entrance, we plugged the hole and from then on we no longer had the orchestra play to accompany our toilet flushes.

Back to New Year's Day 2020. Later on in the day, after the laundry was done with the frog surviving the ordeal, we made a drive to a coffee shop we like in Rattanawapi, the next county to the north. As we are prone to do, we find new roads to drive. This time we found ourselves in an area near the Mekong River where it was rice planting season for those with access to dry-season irrigation water. They have a new method they have of planting rice, which is less labor intensive. They raise the rice seedlings in plugs in plastic trays which are placed either on tarps or in ponds. Later the plugs are tossed into flooded paddies. Then the water is let down and the seedlings get established in the mud. The road we drove down had several ponds being used for rice seedling nurseries.

It is a fitting way to start the year. Raising plant seedlings is a very hopeful enterprise. One does not go through the effort without hope for an abundant harvest. And so we are hopeful, too. Hopeful for what a new year will bring. Hopeful for what a new season in our lives will bring as we anticipate leaving Thailand for a couple months and then coming back to perhaps start something new.

Rice Seedlings in Rattanawapi County

So, how did those hopes work out? Not as we planned, for sure. It's December 31st and there are no tree frogs around because we aren't in Thailand as we had hoped to be. Even if there were tree frogs around, they would be hibernating by now. We felt like hibernating last night. The heater went out in the house we are staying in, so the previous night was a bit chilly, but not too bad. I got up early so I could do a grocery run to Winco before the crowds show up.

Maybe we could jump to December 31st and just skip everything in between.

New Year's Eve Day finds me sitting in our Fresno office, even though it's technically closed, in case some UPS or Fedex deliveries come that we are expecting. I spend the morning working on getting things ready for our return to Thailand—making copies, printing out forms, etc. In the afternoon, I decide to scan some old black and white negatives that I have. Most of the photos I took from Haiti were color prints or slides, but I did shoot a few rolls of black and white on my old Canon AE-1 camera. There were a few photos I couldn't quite figure out what they were just by looking at the negative without a magnifier, so I scanned them anyway, to see what they were. And I'm glad I did. It was a series of a couple of girls sitting on a concrete and stone irrigation canal doing laundry.

Laundry Day

They actually were nice to photograph because they would sometimes look at the camera and sometimes just do their thing—chatting and laughing while they rubbed the dirt out of the clothing. The lives of these children are not easy and I don't think that doing a load of laundry is high on their list of things they want to do to pass time. But it helps to bring a friend. With a friend, even the less enjoyable things in life can be a lot easier to get through.

This past year has been full of challenges. Being displaced for nine months. Leaving our house to the whims of rats and lizards. Missing out on major events in the life of our church in Thailand. Extra hoops to jump through and expenses to shell out to try to get back to Thailand. But through it all I've had a friend. Two friends, actually.

My wife has been my faithful companion by my side through it all. When one of us is feeling down, the other can help lift us up. And God has not abandoned us either. God has been there to encourage us and help us through the hard times.

Scripture reminds us: Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (NLT)

Even if our year wasn't as we planned. Even if there were a few hiccups along the way. We made it through, with God's help.

And with no frogs in our coffee.

Dust Storm

On a chilly December morning several years ago, I joined several co-workers in Twenty-nine Palms, California to help with some soil sampling.  We gathered in the office while it was still dark and then headed out to the sites we would be working at.  Each soil scientist had their own vehicle as we were traveling to different places.

It was still dark when we crossed over the mountain and dropped down into the valley.  The wind was blowing fiercely and as we approached the playa (dry lake bed) visibility began to drop from the blowing dust.  At one point, I could barely see 10 feet ahead of me.  I remember thinking how once in my youth I was driving in fog so thick, I ended up turning off my headlights and sticking my head out the window. But since this was dust, not fog, it didn't seem like a very good idea.

What is interesting though, when I looked up, I could see the stars.  They were a bit fuzzy from the dust, but there they were.  I'm thinking, even though the dust is blowing so thick, one would still be able to find one's way using the stars.

Dust Storm in California
(Photo by Kerry Arroues)

This past year I have experienced the worst dust storm I have ever encountered since becoming a Christian.  While I can't go into details, it has been a very dark time for me.  Many were the days I wanted to quit Thailand.  Many were the days I wanted to quit my organization.

But I didn't want to quit God--because when I looked up, I could see the stars.

I remember even darker periods before I became a Christian.  Then I could not see the stars when I looked up. There was only hopelessness and despair.

But this time, even though the path was murky and going forward was difficult, there was hope because God was there.

The good news is that the wind and the dust are beginning to settle.  A retreat last week provided opportunity to work through some things and for the first time in a long while I finally feel "normal".  (Normal for me, that is, I'm not sure anyone else has ever thought of me as normal.)

I'm grateful for the many great people in my organization that were patient with me in this process and helped me focus on the stars instead of the dust.

I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there?
My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth!
He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.
Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.
The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade.
The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.
The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.
The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.
Psalm 121:1-8 (NLT)

Jars of Clay

(Thoughts shared at the time of spreading the ashes of my mother.)

Sing: How Great Thou Art


In the Bible, Paul compares our bodies to jars of clay. He writes:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 2 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV)


Our bodies are just temporary containers. They contain our spirit, and if we are believers, the Spirit of God.

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16 (ESV))

(For this next part I have a clay pot with some cremains in it. As I talk, I chip away at the pot until the ashes start to spill. At the end, I throw the remaining portion in the water yelling, "you're free").

Throughout our lives, our clay jars get scratched and nicked and weak. Yet our spirit can get stronger and larger. After a while our jar may not be strong enough or good enough to contain the spirit inside, and it bursts. And as it bursts it sets free, the spirit inside.


And our Spirit still lives-waiting the day when a new body will be given it--one that is good enough and strong enough to last forever.


Paul write about this in 1 Corinthians 15:42-57 (ESV) ⁴² So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
⁴³ It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
⁴⁴ It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
⁴⁵ Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
⁴⁶ But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.
⁴⁷ The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
⁴⁸ As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
⁴⁹ Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
⁵⁰ I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
⁵¹ Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
⁵³ For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
⁵⁴ When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
⁵⁵ "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.


Sing: Amazing Grace


66 years ago this month, Dad bought this property. He wanted this land so that people could enjoy the beauty of God's creation. Yet the beauty of this place is nothing compared to the beauty of heaven. Even creation itself awaits the day when it, too, shall be set free.


Romans 8:18-23 (ESV) ¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
²² For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
²³ And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.



Though this box contains the remains of Mom's jar of clay, it does not contain Mom. She has been set free, no longer bound to this body of flesh.


So let us celebrate Mom's newfound freedom, even as we look forward to the day when creation itself will celebrate freedom.


Let us take these remains and as we scatter them upon the earth that God made, let us cry out: "freedom" or "Mom, you're free." And when you are done, break the earthy pot in anticiapton of that day when we, too, well be free.

Insanity

The dirty skies of Bangkok (normally it is not THIS bad)

Yesterday I had to go see a  doctor to see if I am healthy enough to renew my work permit here in Thailand.  Among the conditions that are not acceptable for a work permit:

• TB in the infectious state
• Alcohol additction
• Drug addiction
• Stage 3 Syphilis
• Severe manifestations of elephantiasis
• Insanity

I’m glad he didn’t question me too hard on the last item.  I could see it now, “So you quit a nice job in order to take on a new one with much less pay and harder work.  You then moved out of a nice house in the suburbs and into a city where the air is toxic to breathe and it is so warm and humid all the time that you work up a sweat going upstairs in an elevator.  You must be insane.”

In my darker moments I sometimes wonder the same thing.  I remember when we started this adventure that I laid it all on the line—willing to even give up my life so that others may hear the good news of the gospel.  But somehow, subjecting my body to extreme physical conditions doesn’t seem to have the same glory attached to it as being a martyr for the gospel. 

I’ve been reading a book by a Thai author who paints a very dark picture of Bangkok and what people endure in this city because, as bad as it is, it offers more than they had in NE Thailand.  As I read it I find myself wondering if I want to agree with him or not, because if it is really that bad, then why did I purposely come here?

But it is all a matter of perspective.  We quit our jobs and moved out of our nice house in order to follow our Lord to a place where we can bring hope to a people who live in a culture devoid of such hope, which makes their spiritual environment far worse than  their physical one.  The joy we see we the eyes of people who come out of darkness and into light far outweighs any environmental conditions we may have to endure.  And if we do endure these conditions to better reach those who also must endure them, then it becomes not only an acceptable cost of doing business but a pathway to joy.

Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. 1 Corinthians 3:18-19a (NLT)