It's Christmas time again. Another warm December rolls around, and we're missing snow, and sweaters, and eggnog as usual. But, it's lovely to be with family nonetheless - spiritual family, that is.

Hope your season is jolly and filled with wanton presents and gluttonous parties.

J&M

Another Take

The other day I contemplated boredom. While praying for my neighborhood this morning, it struck me why I feel numb. The reality is that I'm bored with the empty pleasures of life. And what I long for is more of Jesus. Sounds simple, ya.

I've shared God's loving message of unmerited sacrifice with two of my neighbors - both times in broken Indonesian in order to answer their questions. Unlike in the states, few here have heard of grace before. Our cousins here can get defensive at the name of Jesus, but not when spoken of in their context: Isa Al Masih (Jesus the Messiah as from the Quran).

My desire remains to set the captives free. Teaching the children of freedom bringers gives me great joy, but I long to one day "give sight to the blind" as well.

That's the antedote to this numbness.

Boredom

This December marks our third Christmas in Indonesia. Three trees. Three Christmas Eves of opening presents. Three green Christmas Days. Could someone ship us a care package of snow?

Our third year also marks a change in our cultural understanding. We're past all the newness of Indonesia, and through most of the shocks of living here. The call to prayer at the mosque no longer seems to shatter our peaceful home; rather, now it seems to blend into the backdrop of evening bug symphonies, roosters crowing, and motor scooters with bad mufflers racing down our cragy street. The third year seems to be the year of boredom.

We have several new teachers this year. Interacting with them helps me to see how far we've come in our adjustment. Whereas the newbies work 16-hour days to keep up with their load, neither Mona nor I have to stress over class preparation or lesson planning. I'm teaching mostly the same classes that I have for the past two years, and reading The Scarlet Pimpernel for the third time just doesn't carry much umpf like it used to.

In reality, we're doing several new things this year. We wrote the eighth grade play, we're co-coaching JV girls' basketball, and we're more involved in our community - including a wedding that begins with a committee meeting tonight. Yet, I feel numb. Nothing feels exciting. Nothing exilerates me.

Please pray with us that we'll regain a sense of focus in our work. This school and city are ripe for the harvest. Perhaps we've just got the third-year blues.

Seventh Graders Are Mad

In seventh grade Language Arts we're learning parts of speech. I use free online Mad Libs to generate student interest. Here's one from today completed by Sun Joon and Breeana. You can copy it into a Word document and clear the italicized words for your own fun at home.

Mad Libs from Outer Space
"Copernicus"

Four hundred years ago people knew little about our stupid (adjective) universe. They thought that the earth was the center of the entire christmas tree (noun) and that the sun and all of the boogers (plural nouns) revolved around it. But then a/an Korean (nationality) named Copernicus discovered the truth. The earth revolves around the Dr. Pepper can (something round) thirty-seven (number) times a year.

Copernicus, whose last name was Humble (last name), was born in Warsaw, and he used one of the first colorful (adjective) telescopes, which was invented by Jemma (someone in the room). This primitive telescope was little more than two pieces of fried rice (food) stuck on each end of a soccer ball (noun). In 1600 an Italian swimsuit model (occupation) named Galileo expanded Copernicus's sweet(adjective) theories, but during the Inquisition in Italy he was wildly (adverb) arrested. After barfing (verb ending in -ing) for six months in jail, Galileo was forced to sneeze (verb).