oops, an accident

This is one of those things that I think is a rite of passage of elementary school. Yes, peeing in your pants.

yesterday in Science class, we had a lesson on lungs. I had the boys run in place furiously to demonstrate that you breathe more times when you are running versus when you are sitting. After they finished running in place, the boys sat down. 30 seconds later, Samuel, sitting right in front of me, looks at me with a surprised, somewhat, what the heck is going on look and says "bathroom, bathroom, can I..."
"yes Samuel, you can go to the bathroom" myself somewhat dismayed by his own look of urgency.

He jumped out of his chair, grabbed the hall pass, got to the door, looks at me and says "uh-oh"...
"what uh-oh Samuel" as I look at him and then down at his feet and see a stream of yellow arriving on the floor. "Quick, quick Samuel, get to the bathroom..."

I guess he had a lot of water. And running in place for Science didn't help. After he changed, he was fine. I went and got him a change of pants, and told the other boys to be really nice to him when he came back, which they were, because well, that's not fun and it could happen to any of us I told them.

I was laughing a lot privately though, because, well, in the grand scheme of things, this is one of those things that's just part of life.

sometimes frustrated...

It's frustrating sometimes trying to share Christ with high schoolers who often times seem, at least on the surface, to have it all figured out pretty well. Nothing seems like it can go into that fortified wall of set being. It seems like time after time, our effort as teachers or as chapel speakers seems to be all for naught. No matter how cool or great or awesome our presentation or message or production might be, we might as well be talking to a wall of bricks. I guess in comparison, 3rd culture kid high schoolers most likely don't even compare to some others who are much more hardened of heart -- some of you may be able to relate.

I was reflecting on that and came to the realization that part of that line of thinking is my own lack of faith. It's not my place, nor any other teacher or speaker here to do the saving. This I already believe, we are called to plant and water, but it is the Lord who will grow. The Lord is going to move in the hearts of those that will be saved, and it is only He who will see and know the real results of any heart movements. Clearly, He is entitled to know and see someone's status with Christ before me.

This makes sense, but is still challenging. We live in a culture and world that involves experiencing some sort of tangible result. If we study hard in school, we see a result of that in good grades earned or colleges admitted to...even if we do something poorly, I don't know, like washing clothes, mixing whites and colors and putting it on the hot water setting -- we see a result. We end up with something. And so our work in trying to share the glory of Christ with others takes on a unique dimension.

We may never know if someone in their heart comes to know and lives for Christ. I don't even think we should expect to see those types of results -- it is something that is priviledged between the Father and that person. We can sure hope for tangible results and "real-time" changes. If they come, that is better of course, an added bonus. But we could work for 50 years in preaching the Word of Christ everyday, we could live overseas all our lives, we could give everything we own to advance the gospel. In doing all of that - we still aren't entitled to see a result.

This is something that is still hard to come to grips with. The problem is that my first understanding was a cultural/worldly one, and I am trying to understand something that is Heavenly and not of this world through those worldly glasses. I want to see results!! Show me the money!! That's not how God works though, and I need to trust more of that.

ya Meesh and Charlie!

Congratulations Meesh and Charlie!! (they were recently engaged) This clearly means that y'all earn the fuzzinargentina.blogspot.com's mvp of the week...shoot (as Meesh would say in a Meesh fashion) y'all get the mvp of the month for this!

Texas for Thanksgiving

I'm in Texas now for Thanksgiving week. My g-rents were very kind and gave me some of their airline miles to make it back for some turkey and hunting. I feel like the trip has already been a success, and it's not even halfway over. I've been able to hang out with friends -- playing tennis, throwing the bee, watching movies, going to church...it's all really good stuff.

So my thoughts of the importance of community have not changed, they've only been reinforced over these last couple of days. Time with friends serves to renew me in a lot of ways, I'm not sure exactly how. Although I don't have to know how to appreciate the end result. I will say that living in another hemisphere helps me to appreciate the time when I can be with friends.

Where would I be?

You do know... if "ifs" and "buts" were candies and nuts, then you'd have a lot of snack.

It is interesting to think for a second -- where would I be, who would I be, what would I be doing, for whom would I be doing it, if it were not for Jesus? Whatever it could be, it is irrelevant and does not take on any meaning for me. In fact, they would be thoughts leading to despair...so I'll go ahead and not. This song by Hillsong has some great lyrics about this:

video by the group who put on the marathon

please excuse the soundtrack on this video, I think it's a little awkward, but awkward funny...

and YES, runners ARE crazy!

renovation generation?

This may be random rambling, but I think it's worth mentioning.

I think that the Church today, as it exists around the world is not united. I think that's a deviation from what Scripture and the early apostles originally intended for the Church to be. Over time, satan has had his hand in splitting things up, over "big" stuff or "little" stuff, either way it doesn't matter. The Church was divided, many times over for different reasons, and I don't think that's the ideal. So now we find ourselves a Catholic or a Protestant or a Methodist or a Reformed Presbyterian...or ______________.... there are a lot out there.

I think the youth around the world who are passionate about Christ are really onto something. It's not just something for kicks. Maybe it's because I'm part of the same generation and so I am with bias, but I really feel like there is a wellspring rising up in the "young" generation. I see it and hear about not only in the US and Argentina, but in places all around the world.

And so before the middle years of life where a more or less set routine gets settled down, I think it's extremely important for the "young" generation to really rise up and to sow unity among each other and for the Church as a whole. Doing this is a matter of acting out our convictions, not merely talking, dreaming or wishing for them. It is seeking Christ with all abandon for His glory and His alone.

And so spread the Word. Let's unite. For Jesus. For His glory.

marathon report

I finished! That was my goal for this race, even overcoming a grand theft to do so. It was somewhat funny, I ran the marathon in borrowed green soccer shorts and 3 year old shoes that already had another marathon and lots of miles on them. Geordon finished as well, meeting his goal of finishing sub 5 hours.

This was the hardest, prettiest, and most enjoyable marathon I´ve done thus far. This was the first off-road mountain marathon I've done, and I really need to do more of these, they're much better. We ran on pristine mountain trails, even through snow a few times, and had some amazing snow capped mountains and deep blue mountain lakes to look at while running. The race was well-organized and the other runners were all very encouraging throughout the race with many shouts of "vamos!!". The two monstrous hills that we had to run straight up killed me, but I knew that was going to be a problem, having trained in flat Buenos Aires.

The winner was an insane jackrabbit who finished in 2:59. He must've sprinted up the hills, which I'm still trying to comprehend how that was done. I finished 26th out of 412 people total, and was a little disappointed at that, mainly because I started cramping a lot at km 25 (once again, the hills) and had 12 or 13 people pass me. My time and place would have been better if not for the cramps, but if ifs and buts were candies and nuts, then I'd have a lot of snacks. It's something that'll keep me coming back for more marathons. But overall, this was a really enjoyable race, and a unique trip. And yes, I would do it again even if it meant being robbed again, although next time, hopefully that won't happen.

Here are the results:

http://www.patagoniaeventos.com/K42-Adventure-Marathon/resultados-2007-completos.html

the backdrop of where we started the race:

video coming soon...

we got robbed

Having spent a year and a half in Argentina, mostly in high crime Buenos Aires of all places, I have not been robbed. Well, not until yesterday. The thieves made off extremely well.

Myself, along with Geordon (whom I´m running the marathon with) and Mark arrived in Bariloche yesterday, rented our car and were going to get a few things in Bariloche, look at a nice hotel, hike up a little trail, and then head on to Villa La Angostura, where the marathon is. We´re out in the middle of beautiful scenery, hardly anyone around, far away from Bariloche town, and we park the car on the side of the road. This is like out in a forest next to a lake with a tall mountain in the background, there´s really nobody around. We hike up the trail, can´t find what we´re looking for, and come back to the car. We get in, and go up a little further on the road, stop again, still not seeing anyone, then hike up another trail and find what we were looking for. Both times we left the car, locking the car with our 6 bags total out of sight under the rear canopy.

We continue on after going up the trail, jump in the car, and leave the area, not checking the bags, because we are in a really peaceful area and had seen, by this time, 4 other day hikers. Our next stop was a supermarket to get some food for dinner before heading on to Villa La Angostura. Geordon goes to get something out of his bag, opens the bag, gets a look on his face of surprise, and exclaims nos robaron todo! I thought he was messing with me. Then I looked seriously at his face, and he was not kidding. Everything robbed, all our bags gone.

And so, for the two 15 minute periods where we left the car and had hiked off the road a bit, someone or someones had come by, broken in, and made off with all our stuff. They took all our running stuff, my passport, and all our personal effects. That made today and last night a challenge getting gear to run our marathon with tomorrow. But I think we´re back to manageable status. We´ve got shoes and clothes. It could have been much worse. We´re going to finish this marathon.

I´m at Peace with it now, but I mean, come on, stealing a prayer journal and a Bible??? I guess I should be disappointed that it wasn´t a Bible in Spanish. Then I could have maybe considered it a much better event to have happened. As it was, it was mostly horrible. Sad more than anything. It´s interesting when everything you ¨have¨ in a moment gets taken from you, you really answer the question, well, what is of most value to you?

After the robbery happened last night, Geordon knew some people at the Argentine military school in Bariloche. All I can say is wow. The hospitality they showed us was incredible. These Argentine military men gave us lodging, invited us into their homes to have dinner, gave us more clothes to use than we would need in a week, and really just loved on us. That was a really cool experience.

It was weird, yesterday, within the span of two hours, I experienced some of the best and some of the worse things people can do to each other. But yes, the marathon still remains to be run and this has only made us more stubborn to finish.

Happy Birthday David!

David Germer - you clearly are the fuzzinargentina.blogspot.com's mvp of the week. Why might you ask? Well, it's your birthday.

Feliz Cumpleaños David!!