The birth of a movement?

Our family spent 5 nights in Amsterdam more than a week ago so that Faith and I could attend a Backpacker Ministry Forum.  The Shelter City youth hostel hosted 30-35 adults who are involved in or interested in ministry among backpackers.  

This general term 'backpackers' includes young adults (think early to mid 20's) who travel Europe (at the rest of the globe) for months at a time on a budget, with their belongings collected in one backpack.  It also includes pilgrims, much like those who walk the Camino de Santiago, as well as a global 'hippie' population that still travels and gathers in places like India.  

It is not an easily defined group, but the common thread they all share is a unique window in life as they are traveling and looking for something beyond themselves and their own experience.  They are 'seekers' in a very true, but broad sense.  For all of the people gathered at this forum, we believe that God is calling us to reach out to these wanderers with his love at a time when they are very open talking and thinking deeply.  

It was both exciting and refreshing to be around a group of people with similar dreams, callings, and visions.  We were able to share experiences, thoughts, successes and difficulties with each other.  And perhaps most importantly, as we dialogued over the week, a broader collective vision of a global movement to reach out to backpackers emerged.  Each individual, and each individual organization represented, had one specific location or sub-culture they felt called to.  When we put our callings together you could begin to see how God is moving around the globe to reach this community.  

This was especially neat for a couple of reasons.  First of all, many of us often feel at best unique, and at worst, alone in our ministries.  Most of us have pursued our visions in small groups or individually.  It's really great to share this road with others.  Second of all, it is abundantly clear that God is leading this, as pretty much each individual or group has, up to now at least, not been connected.  It is not something that has grown out of a well-planned or well-run organization, nor even a clear motivating vision cast by a charismatic leader.  Rather, this is coming out of a collection of previously unrelated hearts following the Lord's leading individually. 

It's not accurate to consider this a birth of any movement for many reasons.  First of all, ministries like the Shelter youth hostels in Amsterdam and Youth Hostel Ministry out of Wheaton College have been doing ministry among backpackers for around 40 years already.  Second of all, there have already been a few forums like this one held in Australia in years past.  But regardless of the history, it is clear that more and more people and groups are becoming interested in reaching this global population.  I am excited to see how these different parts grow, connect, and work together over the coming years.  And more importantly, I'm excited to see how God works in these traveling sub-cultures. 

Picture of the Day

Castillo Santa Cruz at dusk.  Taken yesterday on a family walk not 10 minutes drive from home.

This may be true all over the globe and I'm just noticing it more here, but I love the way that light 'plays.'  It seems like the light here is always changing and reflecting in a thousand different ways.  I really like how this picture captured the light of that moment. 

Welcome to the Family

The sad truth is there are many things in our life that almost demand to be blogged about.  The even sadder truth is I have little time to capture many of them during some of the crazier times of life.  Within the last two weeks we visited Amsterdam, enjoyed a visit from some pilgrim friends, took yet another test in our Spanish class, and purchased a new car.  Today, I choose to blog about the car.  Stay tuned for details on the rest (or - if you can't wait, check out Faith's blog).  

I had hoped to get a goodbye picture and post a fitting obit for our first car here in Spain.  There was never a good time or place to get a picture of the poor old broken-down car.  It died for the last time almost a month ago on us.  In the end I think it's more fitting to post the picture above from happier times.  It was taken during our first week in Spain - we were learning how to drive stick, we had yet to put any of our numerous dings and scratches into it, its engine had not yet begun to decompose, and it was still under 300,000 kilometers.  I won't miss how it became unreliable, but I will miss how comfortable it had become to us.  It truly became 'ours' in the short time we had it, and I do miss it a little.  I will always have a soft spot in my memory for it.  

Having said that, we are definitely ready to move on to the next - and expectedly more reliable - chapter in our automobiling life.  We were excited to finally bring our new car home tonight, a mere two weeks after we signed the papers to buy it.  It is a 2008 Toyota Corolla Verso.  You can't tell by the picture below, but it actually has 7 seats inside.  It's not a sedan, but it's not quite a minivan.  Either way, we are glad to have a vehicle with the flexibility to add in a few extra passengers when needed. 

Faith and I are considering naming it Zwarte Piet - after the culturally awkward and uncomfortable Christmas helper of Sinterklaas in Holland.  Zwarte is the Dutch word for black, and you might guess how to translate Sinterklaas.  In Holland, Santa's helpers aren't little green elves, rather, he/they are black guys named Pete.  Only, in their holiday tradition, white folks put on black face paint and dress up in a manner that, at least where I come from, is so offensive that you might describe it as beyond offensive.  Yet somehow, being the Dutch, and being in Holland, it brings a smile to my face.  Does that make me a bad person?

Last week our family took a walk through central Amsterdam on the day that happened to be the day that Santa comes to Amsterdam.  There is a parade and everything.  I only saw one Sinterklaas, but downtown was swarming with Zwarte Petes.  Faith caught this Zwarte Pete on film as he was handing out candy and cookies to all the kids. 

My Election Day (after) post

Months of agonizing over my vote, a historic election, global hysteria, and this is all I can come up with? 

Yup. 

Saw this online yesterday and it cracked me up.  Still does.  

Spain is hard, yet God is still at work here.

A new friend pointed brought this article about missions in Spain from Christianity Today to my attention. The only word I can think of to describe it is sobering. The article is a little dated in that it is from 2003, but the sentiment expressed is not new to missions in Spain, nor is there any hint of change at the moment. Almost all evangelical/protestant church growth in Spain right now is directly through immigrants. The reasons for this is complex and many-sided. But the reality remains that the vast majority of people here are living in a spiritual poverty.

On a more positive side - I'd like to leave you with an excerpt from a recent e-mail from this new friend. Faith blogged about Craig Wallace recently. He is a South African missionary living some hours south of us on a branch of the Camino, and he has a heart for pilgrims as well. He has plans to create a campsite/albergue for the peregrinos where he lives. When we met him a week ago, he had just completed one of his trips on the Camino where he seeks to share Christ with pilgrims.

After he returned home he sent out an e-mail that included these four short paragraphs telling of some of the pilgrims he met and the nature of their conversations. I thought it would be valuable to share these stories to highlight the interest, need, and hunger that some pilgrims on the Camino have for "something more."

"On the first day out I met a Belgiam called Jan and spent three to four hours sharing the gospel with him.After growing up in a communistic atheistic family, and dedicating many years to communism, he is now disillusioned and was most surprised to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.Many trips behind the iron curtain left him with a sad despair and he lost his faith in humanity.I put the Bible into his hands and showed him the gospel of John before I knew his name , and he wanted to know what the name John meant.Jehovah is gracious , I told him, so he wanted to know what grace is.Jan, or John the Belgian, was crying as I left him having heard about the grace of God for the first time in his life.

That night I met in the refugio a Chinese girl and a British woman, Lin and Christine.Lin is a research scientist in behavioral genetics at Oxford university and a lively discussion ensued. Her grandfather was one of the leaders of the Three Self Church in China , and this heritage caused her to ask me about Christ and his message.Chrsitine , a British Anglican , insisted that she was a Christian but does not believe in the resurrection….so I took out my Bible and showed them the scriptures.Seed was sown in their hearts.

Coming into Puebla Sanabria I met Keren, an American woman on a cycle who I continued to travel with for the next few days. Keren progressed from being suspicious to opening up her heart to my answers to deeply probing questions concerning the christian faith.We will continue to correspond through email.

Antonio from Seville, who grew up in Germany, a marathon runner who had been walking an average of 40 kms a day for a thousand kilometers, was challenged in our sharing and vowed to begin reading the Bible to strengthen the faith which he has come into through a series of life circumstances.I will be sending him literature."

The Oxford Project

"In the Storytelling tradition of Studs Terkel and the photographic spirit of Mike Disfarmer, The Oxford Project tells the extraordinary true tale of a seemingly ordinary Midwestern town through the pictures and words of its residents. Equal parts art, American history, cultural anthropology, and human narrative - The Oxford Project is at once personal and universal, surprising and predictable, simple and profound.

The Project began almost twenty-five years ago, when Peter Feldstein undertook the remarkable task of photographing nearly every resident of this town, Oxford, Iowa (pop. 676). The collection of photographs that resulted is a fascinating glimpse into the ethos and character of small-town life. In those stark, full-body images Feldstein managed to capture not only the visage of rural America, but a sense of its underlying spirit."

- from the opening pages of The Oxford Project

I discovered the website for this interesting book/project via another blog. The book is more than 250 pages long, but on the website you can view quite a few of the photographs and stories of the townspeople. What I was able to read and see online was fascinating and gripping in it's own way.

I never actually grew up in a small midwestern town, but have family in rural northwestern Illinois. It definitely reminded me how different the world can seem in different places. Even though I lived in Chicago for 10 years, and now live abroad, part of who I am can be traced to small town and rural Illinois. It also reminded me of how precious small town life can be, when often it's overlooked as so common and uninteresting. I'm convinced that much of America has lost it's connection with our rural roots. And to me there is some mist of sadness about this loss as we become a more urban and global society. Something like this helps shine the light on the unique and valuable way of life that continues unnoticed in many small towns like this.

Update: I discovered this short 3-minute video on youtube about the project. Enjoy!

As an added side note, I am also currently reading the book Gilead, which is also set in a small rural town in Iowa. It's funny how these two things found their way into my life from so seemingly far away. I guess there's nothing like a little nostalgia to offset the difficulty of learning Spanish!!

Don't go!

At least that is what it seems like Kathryn is saying to Po Po. Faith's mom has been with us for nearly two weeks, and we all are a little sad to see her go already. Her visit did not go as we thought it would, with four of us getting sick while she was here. But it was refreshing to have her help during the week sickness ravaged our house, and to enjoy some of her home-cooked Chinese food.

Gone Fishin'

Faith blogged yesterday about our walk along the coast. It's one of our favorite places, and she already posted most of the artsy/romantic pictures. I just noticed today the fishing theme that came out on a number of pictures - here are three of the best.

If you like to fish, this might look like heaven to you.

A broader shot to show just how little this fisherman looked against the backdrop.

A small fishing boat common in the waters of Galicia.

Voter's Agony

Hi. My name is Nate, and I have Voter's Agony.

This is my first election living abroad, which means I have less time to procrastinate making my decision because we have to get our absentee ballots returned soon. I payed more close attention to each party national convention than I ever have before. Just now I spent the last hour or so online trying to find anything to help me find clarity on this election. It seems to me that this is such a polarized election that I must be one of the few who genuinely am not sure what to do. More than anything, this is due to the fact that I am growing increasingly weary with, and wary of, both political parties, and I really don't expect much significant change from either candidate, regardless of what they say and promise now. In the end, each ends up being the tool of their party - which leads me to believe nothing will change. One party will be in control, and blamed for everything under the sun by the party out of control. The party that is out of control will promise the moon, and besides, anyone could do a better job of governing than the current party. It's as predictable as it seems useless.

I was struck by some various web pages designed to 'help' the undecided voter and how everything is defined in terms of 'positions'. Who you vote for should be based on what position you have on various issues, and you should vote for the guy who has the most similar stances. Or something like that. Anyhow - this is what irks me - why does it come down to positions? What ever happened to ideas? No matter how much either candidate tries to present himself as an agent of change, or a maverick, all I see is the same old tired republican vs. democrat battle. It sure seems to me that anymore, candidates decide what positions to take on an issue based on their party, or even worse, because it's opposite of what the other party is for. It seems to me there is far too little room for nuanced thinking, and truly new ideas. I think we as a nation face a host of very serious issues that threaten us. But I can't possibly believe that they all will be solved with either/or solutions.

Anyhow - I guess this is more rant than thoughtful post, but clearly I am concerned about the future of our country, and I am none too confident in either party right now to make much significant change. If anything, let this be a reminder for us all to take this freedom seriously, to pray hard over our decisions, and pray even harder for whoever happens to win, because regardless of who wins, we have a mountain of serious problems to address.

Takeaways

And I'm not talking about turnovers in football (Go Bears!). I'm resisting the temptation to write some lengthy and flowery post about the grand things I learned on my walk. I think it's easier to bring together a few random points I think I learned along the way. Some may tie together, others may not. So in no particular order, here are some lessons I hope stay with me from my camino.

1) If the camino is an allegory of life's journey, one thing I learned was that sometimes the most important thing is to keep on going in the face of difficulty and adversity, even when you feel like giving up. (as a side-note, I also learned that sometimes it's good to put your plans aside and rest for a bit before moving ahead with a difficult task).

2) I felt the Lord affirming to me that everything and everyone on Earth is his. That this camino, this spot on earth, these pilgrims, and the local inhabitants all belong to Him. He knows every person and every detail. It is his world and we are passing through it. It's a beautiful place, full of valuable things and people.

3) I finish my short camino with a renewed encouragement that the vision we have for a hostel/albergue in Santiago is both good and unique. I sense that there is a service we can provide these pilgrims that is not currently being provided in Santiago (that we are yet aware of). So much of the camino experience is about this special community, and I believe now more than ever that many pilgrims would really appreciate an albergue that creates a community space and environment that most hostels and albergues do not have.

4) My confidence in my fledgling Spanish skills grew over the week. Even thought feeling out of my depth at times, I definitely walk away knowing I can communate in Spanish better than ever before : - ) I really think one of God's gifts to me over my week of travel was continued community with Spaniards.

5) It's about the people and the relationships. Even though the setting is different, in the end, it's not that much different than real life. The walk is interesting, the landscape is beautiful, and the destination is cool. But all of that is secondary to the relationships and community you build along the way. The people are the real treasure of this journey.