What is Christmas without football?

One of the many things I miss about the holidays while living abroad is the after-meal football game on TV. I can live without it quite easily, but it was funny to find football mixed in with some Christmas sentimentality in a couple of articles. It'll have to do : -) I do like having some tangible examples of the love of Jesus impacting today's world at Christmas time.

ESPN had a column from Rick Reilly the other day that highlighted a really nice event at a high school football game. I won't waste my poor writing skills to retell the story - you can read it here. It just struck me as a really good example of some Christians choosing to do something with their actions to share the love of Jesus with some kids who really need to hear it. And sharing Jesus' love in the context of a football game speaks a language our culture gets. It really struck me as a great witness.

I'm not normally one to get too excited every time a Christian gets a good write-up in the press. I used to get too tied up in how Christians get presented in the media. However, I guess Christmas is the time that ESPN can write articles about Christians.

They also have a nice article on the front page today about Kurt Warner. It seems most people know already about Kurt's open faith, so on that front there is not much new in this article. It remains however a nice portrait of a man who does seem to live what he preaches. Merry Christmas everyone!

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. 

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."

Who am I becoming?

In the aftermath of my final oral exam today, I've been thinking a bit about what I'm doing, and how I'm doing. As you might guess at that statement, it didn't feel like I did all that well - I won't know how I did until I see the results. But I can say that I've felt a lot of pressure, mostly internal, to really 'succeed' at learning Spanish. Obviously, if we want to not only survive here, but thrive in running a business and ministry, it's of the utmost importance. To add to that, I certainly feel added pressure to perform well because in a very real sense, this is my job at the moment. It seems simple enough - one thing. And there are many fantastic people who are sacrificing their prayers and finances for us to be here. So the felt pressure can be very real to me.

It's not something I readily admit, because it doesn't fit with my adaptive and flexible personality, but I do give quite a bit of thought and emotion to the things I am doing, and the next things I will be or ought to be doing. It was in this context I was reminded this morning of some words a friend spoke at church long ago. He was talking about following God's lead - seeking for his will and his leading. He made the point that it's not about what you are going to do, but it's about who you are going to be. God has made this point to me very clearly before, and for me, it's a powerful message, one that I tend to forget if I don't revisit it. I'm quite certain that God is far more concerned about who I am becoming than what I am doing for him. But I forget that too often. So today I am considering if I am living my life according to that reality. Am I spending enough time seeking God on who I am, and who I am becoming? Or am I spending more time and emotion than I ought on what I should be doing?

I definitely have lots to do - both now, and in the future. But I want to make sure I don't forget the importance of becoming who he is calling me to become in the midst of seeking a path forward as we figure out each next step.

How is your sole?

Some pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago don't actually stop in Santiago, but continue their journey until they reach Cape Finisterre. Translated literally as 'the end of the earth.' Traditionally a pilgrim takes off their boots and leaves them there at the Atlantic coast. I havn't yet made it out to visit Cabo Finisterre, but when Faith and I were visiting a scenic spot here in Coruña on Valentines day, we discovered this old, worn pair of boots along the rocky coast. I can't say that currently my soul feels as worn down and beat up as those boots. But there are times when I wonder if that's where I'm heading. I hope that doesn't come across too dour. There is something warm and attractive about these boots despite their obviously hard life. I'm sure they were very comfortable and familiar to their owner. It looks like they were lovingly used, and lovingly left behind. I honestly have no idea if these shoes were left by a pilgrim at the end of their journey. But I like the thought. And I like to think that if my soul ever does feel like those shoes look, it won't be just a sad thought, but one to remind me of the miles I have covered over the course of my life.

Missions where you are.

Faith and I are following in the steps of our friend Matt, who blazed a trail to Galicia years before we arrived. He and his family have since returned to the states. We would not be where we are today if it were not for his family's faithful journey to live and minister in Santiago for six years. His wisdom and help have been a very significant part of our journey. I introduce him to explain why I'm posting this link. He has a blog that I enjoy reading, and is one source for some things I re-post here.

The link above is a thought that really struck me. When we were in the Chicago burbs for 8 years we had the joy of meeting folks of many different nationalities and backgrounds. It was a great blessing to live in such a large metropolitan area. It's not just the cities anymore - the burbs have plenty of immigrants. If you take the time to get to know some of them it is incredibly rewarding, and can really help expand your view of the world outside of the US. His post got me thinking about how much more I might have been able to do had I lived more purposefully in regards to reaching out to immigrants in my area.

Not that we don't have that same opportunity here. We rub shoulders with as many immigrants here as locals at the moment. Faith especially has been connecting with a few immigrant women here. One Brazilian woman has a child at the same school as Brennan - she lived in New Jersey for 8 years, and now lives here. Faith has also connected with a group for immigrant women through the local Red Cross. My daily Spanish class is also populated completely by foreigners (of course!). On the whole it is fun, and interesting. It can also be both funny and frustrating to communicate with classmates where our only shared language is our limited Spanish skills.