Peruvian Pedestrian Wipers?

Well it's that time of year. I'm not talking about people celebrating the birth of Jesus, putting up Christmas tress or giving and receiving gifts. I'm talking about everybody trying to rip me off, over charge me, give me counterfeit money in my change, or sell me something I don't need just because I'm a gringo and they believe I have money.

I'm certain the motto of many Peruvian panhandlers is "You've got money, we've got pockets." It doesn't even matter what they're selling, sometimes it seems when I walk by and they notice, they thrust their attention on me with more aggression than all the other passers by. One time in my neighborhood, I was walking in a certain direction and beginning to outpace a man in front of me. When he noticed me, he suddenly asked me for 5 soles, which is their currency and five would be equivalent to about $1.60 US. I've had guys come up to me trying to persuade me to buy brooms, maps, necklaces they've made.

In fact the necklace thing always puzzles me b/c I'll be walking Park Kennedy, a real tourist/gringo hotspot where I'll run into people speaking English or just plain are evidently from North America or Europe. And these necklace sellers are there and think that just b/c I made eye contact for a nano second, that that gives them the invitation to follow me for a block not taking my ignoring them and repeating "NO" as an answer.

I understand this is how some of them make their living, and some are pretty desperate and make like 12 soles a day. Others aren't desperate and just simply know there's money to be made off of tourists, so they make necklaces and try convincing people who don't spend enough time in Peru to know that they are supposedly made in Cusco. Or that they are not worth the price being asked. Like I've said, I'm not trying to judge or mock b/c it's a different culture and none of us are better than another, but I really would like to teach people that getting in my face is not a good sales tactic.

Anyway, today as I went to the gas station I live nearest to in order to buy a sandwich, drink and coffee creamer, I was approached by a man with a stack of windshield wipers trying to sell them to people there. I think he failed to notice I walked there, but I thought it was a creative thing to sell. He'd probably make a killing in Canada if they were winter resistant, or the Netherlands, where it rains five days per week. But in a country where it doesn't really rain, I'm not sure.

That's all for today!

What makes drunk people believe they are quiet?

So yesterday I sent Gregg Montella 180 alpaca scarves through FedEx. It was supposed to be 200, but that's all I could fit in two boxes to keep it from going over 30 kilos. Gregg contacted me a week or two ago asking if I'd do this, and then when I agreed he wired me the money and covered his expenses nicely. This of course is what I was referring to in my previous post entitled "200 Alpaca Scarves."

We both underestimated the cost, size, and hassle it would be, but I was happy to help for the nice blessing he was giving me for my effort, and the fact he was paying for it himself, otherwise I would not usually do any kind of favor like this for someone.

I recorded a podcast with him and S.J. Hill this week. I've recorded at least one with each of them before, but this was the first time with them both together. Oh man, never has any of our podcast recordings been fraught with so much difficulty of both the technical nature or with keeping a connection on the internet! Maybe the one I did on alcohol with Dan Slavin "back in the day" comes close.

First, the lack of privacy or a good place free from noise poses a problem for me when I'm recording them in my room over Skype, since I've got a door with a huge crack at the top, effectively NOT stopping any noise from the kitchen or living room from traveling to my room. So, my bedroom is far from a recording studio. Living in a house with concrete walls doesn't help keep noise from traveling and echoing either. So to remedy this problem I asked each of the two flatmates who were home if they could keep noise down or not use the kettle that whistles, or the microwave, etc...for a two hour period, to which I was met with a stunning response from one guy who's and nationality and anything else to identify him will be left out so I avoid trashing or gossiping about anybody on my blog.

He told me he doesn't care about anything I'm doing in my room and will do as he pleases because he's mad at what I did to him on the weekend. What did I do? Well, at 1am when he was having some kind of drinking party with the guy across the hall from my room, I asked them to keep it down or go somewhere else, to which they went to his room and got louder. Since his room's window is adjacent to my room's window, it was impossible to sleep through the noise. So I texted the landlady, after 1am, 2am, and then my final text was at 3:30 am. I don't think he was doing it spitefully, but just his judgment was impaired and he genuinely didn't think he was being loud. At that time she and her mother came upstairs (they live below us) and decided it was necessary to have a shouting match from the staircase to his room. Part of me regretted texting her about the noise, but I really thought I'd get to sleep earlier than if I just waited for this mini-party to finish.

They had a huge blow up, and the family we all rent these rooms from don't really like him and he thinks they're crazy as well, so the Spanish competition they were having to see who could be the nastiest with their words, as much as I understood, was right down the hall from my door. It was around 5:30 am that this shouting match was taking place, and was way too much excitement for me to fall asleep right away after hearing. Lo and behold, sunlight was coming up before I finally did.

So, this flatmate was referring to these events, that he somehow deems it my fault he had the altercation with the landlady. He told me I was a snitch (or at least the word for it in French) and that if I had a problem I should have spoken to him directly. Apparently he was too drunk to remember that I did and it only made things worse. And that's what I've done the other times he parties it up--but nothing happens, so I "snitched" to the landlord because I'd like to sleep! I have a bigger room and pay more than this guy, so I'd like to be able to sleep. Fair enough I think. But of course, he insists, as many drunks with their judgment impaired, that he was not making that much noise and I should have tolerated it.

So to spite me he made all the noise he felt like while I was recording, and the casual listener won't notice these problems. But the other unavoidable problem, our internet connection. We had problems with Gregg and SJ hearing me consistently; we had Gregg get disconnected because apparently the power went out at his place in North Carolina. So we finished the latter part today, and couldn't get Gregg in our conference call for some reason. *Sigh*

At any rate, I don't blame the devil for technological problems, but we were talking about a subject matter that I think is real important: holiness and happiness--and we all knew many people need to hear it, so it wouldn't surprise me if some of the problems were spiritual resistance to what we were doing. At any rate, that's the latest.

And boy am I glad to be rid of the alpaca scarves.

200 Alpaca Scarves

Well, I've decided to get back into the habit of blogging. No I'm not talking about writing the type of meditative Scripture-based articles that I've been continuing to maintain here and on www.fireonyourhead.org alike. But some stuff happens down here in Peru, where I live and serve as a missionary for those of you reading who may never have known, or you did and forgot.

I realize that the difference in culture from Canada to Peru is far greater than the cultural divide between my home country and The Netherlands ever was. So I'm going to get back in the habit of blogging, to at least write short snippets. Not daily, but hopefully I can keep caught up with it weekly with short entries of two or three paragraphs, nothing too heavy.

So much stuff happens, it's ridiculous. Like living in a huge house in Peru with a landlady who sets her alarm to come upstairs between 1:30 am and 2am to turn the WiFi router off because she believes that it needs to be turned off for at least four hours per day in order not to overheat. Yes, I realize how ridiculous that sounds, especially since Google searching didn't turn up any results of the number of casualties per year of Peruvians who've died from router explosions. The idea that some Peruvian lady could get a good whole night's sleep uninterrupted but refuses to be persuaded that it's not necessary to do so, is quite humorous (but really annoying too). I emailed home to tell my dad, since the house is bound to burn down now since the WiFi router has been on for almost two years now.

Everyday I see and hear such silly nonsense from living in a third world culture that would make for good blogging. Did you know cold Coke is bad for your throat? Did you know that if you're cold, eat chocolate? I grew up in Canada, and somehow failed to ever learn that one.

Again, to be clear, I'm not mocking people or the culture, because I'm not better than them and they are not better than me. But, I'm sure I can blog some of my cultural shockings and frustrations as a harmless and creative way to cope.

I think I fell out of 'journal' type of blogging after quite a while because of several factors--social networking like Facebook and having almost everybody and anybody who cares to follow my life on there. Plus, it's easier to upload my pictures of missionary life there instead of on wordpress or blogspot. For those of you who won't be clicking on either hyperlink, I post Just Your Average Revolutionary on both sites since I can't make up my mind which site I'd rather use since they've both got features the other doesn't (Wordpress' more professional 'site' look, and Blogger's ease of use and the fact that's the one I started and more people know that link).

The other factor is podcasting. If you've never checked out Fire On Your Head, then allow me to say in one thought, that that thing has taken on a world of its own. A lot of people listen and check it out. In each episode as of late, I usually take 5-10 minutes to make an intro before each interview with different guests now, in order to share awesome or silly things going in my life and ministry. So since I've developed these other avenues to shine my personality through, I've kinda left blogging behind, and the stats for my readership declined steadily in the advent of those things anyway, so I felt maybe blogging was no longer in vogue.

Then I realized I was missing out on the main thing journal-blogging provided me--an outlet; a way to cope with some frustrations and channel them into humor or just plain pensive writings that make ME feel better by writing them. So whether few or many people will read this blog, I'm going to pick up the habit again. Besides, it's pretty hard to write enough in Facebook status updates or FieryCanadian tweats.

As for the 200 alpaca scarves: that's another story, so you'll have to keep posted if you want to know more!

Love: The More Excellent Way, part 2

“How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!” Song of Solomon 4:10b

"And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Ephesians 5:2

We began in our previous article with this verse from the Song of Solomon to establish our premise for these series of articles on the love of God flowing through the believer. The context surrounding that verse establishes that the Bridegroom, Christ, is speaking to His Bride, the Church stating we have 'captivated His heart' (verse 9). Our worship and adoration--and just simply our obedience to come follow Him and be in awe and reverent fear of Him--does something in his heart. He gets some type of satisfaction from our worshipful, fasted lifestyles that He doesn't get in another way.

We also began in the last post to elaborate on the fact the wine speaks of the best this life has to offer and not sinful or guilty pleasures. Since most oftentimes wine is associated with the Holy Spirit, we're then assuming that the Spirit being poured out is a good thing, BUT a foundational starting point for this love walk we're going on. So allow me to show you another part of this journey, of just what happens when the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

^"Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ." (Ephesians 5:17-21, emphasis mine)

As we established in our previous article by looking at 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14 to show that the gifts of the Spirit are foundational--but love is the more excellent, and the greater way--then it makes sense also that one of the evidences of a born again believer truly being filled with the Holy Spirit, is going to be love. If we are operating in all manner of gifts of the Spirit, but have not love, then it is pointless and we are nothing (see 1 Cor 13:1-2). If we are constantly, and regularly being filled with the Holy Spirit on an ongoing basis, then it won't just be evidenced by speaking in tongues, prophecies, psalms, hymns and so on, but we will also be submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Dare I say it: the REAL evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit, is love for one another--not at the expense of the gifts such as tongues, but on top of it, including the gifts. How do I know this? Well, I could post too large a list of Scriptures dealing with commandments to love, but let me focus on a few things that tie into our Bridal paradigm specifically, and the direction I'm going in with this series of articles:

"We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." (1 John 4:19-20, emphasis mine)

We must remember a few things about the Apostle John: he had a revelation of the love of God which obviously would affect his perspective. He referred to himself in his gospel account as the one Jesus loved. In the end of that Gospel, he said that if all the works Jesus did were recorded, the world would not be able to contain the books (John 21:25). Therefore, what we have written in our Scripture canon does not contain any wasted pages. All of it is divinely arranged to be there for a reason. John lived to be a ripe old age and it's commonly held by many that he wrote this and his other two epistles towards the very end of his life, even after he wrote The Revelation he received while exiled on the island of Patmos. It is for this reason then, we can reasonably interpret the book of Revelation through the lens of the LOVE of God he had, and when one does, we see the matter of the coming of the Lord in a whole different light than just stuff that belongs in Left Behind fiction books--but one of a marriage finally coming to realization. The book is a revelation of the Bridegroom--lovesick for His Bride--coming back to finally marry her. John had that revelation, but I digress a little from where I'm going with this.

If John took the time to write these 5 chapters, then this stuff MUST be some of the most important things he felt worth sharing with the recipient of this letter, and the Church. Therefore, if at the ripe old age of 90 or maybe even 100 this was what he had to say after decades of intimate relationship with The Bridegroom--after decades of public ministry-- then it's wise of us to take seriously, and meditate and ponder things from his perspective. We need the perspective of the one who knew his identity in the Bride of Christ, and knew himself as the one Jesus loved.

How do I know this whole "wine of the Spirit and being filled, speaking to one another, and submitting to one another" thing ties into this whole Bridal paradigm? Because the rest of the chapter goes on to say so:

"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands." (Eph 5:22-24)

Sometimes I really hate the chapter breaks and title headers the publishers of our Bible translations put in there, because the original manuscripts were not broken down into chapters and verses, and certainly didn't have subject headings like most of our Bibles say. I'm only mentioning that because even though they're helpful for finding specific passages and parables, when reading they sometimes inadvertently give the reader the impression new topics are starting. However, this is a part of the same flow of thought the author had. Jesus taught in complete subjects, even if the English Standard Version I'm reading this from breaks things down into seemingly different topics, when the apostles and epistle writers wrote in entire concepts. Let's keep reading:

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." (Eph. 5:25-33, emphasis mine)

Remember, we love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), and Christ has sought out His Bride since before the foundation of the world. He is talking here of presenting His Bride to Himself at the marriage of the Lamb. Christ cherishes the Church. She's His own Body. He nourishes her. Christ 'left' His Father, in the eternal heavenly realm, to come down to our earth that He may gather His Bride to bring her where He Himself is. He cried out on the cross "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" (Matt 27:46) as he bore the sin of His Bride so as to make her pure and spotless before God. As Jesus was feeling that weight of sin, He was experiencing separation from God for the only time in all of eternity. It was at this time that 2 Corinthians 5:21 occurred, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Now, if we have truly been born from above, and filled with the Holy Spirit, we're going to respect Christ the way the wife is to respect her husband. So if we respect Christ, out of the response we have towards Him as he loves us, then we will not do anything to hurt His Bride that we're apart of. We will lay our life down for one another. We will speak encouragement, not gossip. We will submit to one another, preferring the other as better than ourselves.

Let's submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, for He finds that to be better than wine.

"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13