Long-time Friends

You remember that guy in your 11th grade American Lit. class? You know, the one who used to write silly limericks about the teacher with the large glasses and bad breath. The one who made you laugh until you got detention for "disruptive behavior." Where is he now? Why aren't you still in touch?

This past weekend I was in Greenville with friends from college. We all graduated in 2000, eight years ago. While hanging out with the Greenville gang, it struck me that I've kept in touch with these guys but lost contact with so many others. What really stuck with me was the thought that, back then, I spent less time quantity-wise with these guys than with many others. What was it that kept us connected while so many others have been lost?

After my second year at Mountainview, my good friends Mike and Heather left Indonesia for good. The last night I saw Mike, he said, "I love you, but I'm terrible with email. I may not write often, but that doesn't mean that you're not in my heart or on my mind." And, judging by my own life experiences, that's true for many of us. I love and pray for many of my old friends -- Joe, Candida, Corinne, Tom, Mandy, Dwight -- but I certainly have done a miserable job at keeping close ties with them. In fact, on this trip to the States I learned from a friend of a friend that some of these people who reside in my heart are now married, have kids, are divorced, have dealt with personal loss, or are no longer in the States. Joy and sorrow ensues. Guard against the guilt.

What keeps us in contact with some and not with others? I'm not really sure. There are many factors to it. But I do know that when I see someone from the past, my heart swells and my palms sweat. And, often, we pick up, not from where we left off (because we're not the same idiots we were back then), but, rather, we pick up with a sense of connectedness that time cannot wipe out. If anything, time and experience adds to the beauty of the reunion.

By the by, if any of you can explain the sweaty palms, I'd sure appreciate it. Makes shaking hands a real issue.

My Love Affair with "Story"

I'm taking a class on writing from Fresno Pacific. It's actually a class on how to teach a writing workshop; how to help my students get more out of my writing classes. Today I was reading about drafting: the step in the writing process where you just put the story down; where story becomes its own entity; where an idea leaves your mind in favor of the page, yet somehow returning to us fuller and more developed than when we first thought of it.

I love reading the Bible, imagining God as the Author rather than as the Inspirer. If God were going to write a novel, what aspects would he put in it? Would he write with a Christian theme in mind? Would it be fiction with an agenda? I ask this not as a critic, but as a reader, a lover of story.

I think that these questions are unanswerable in some aspect, but what they accomplish highlights something more valid than motive. When I read the Bible, take Genesis, I read it as though God's telling me a story worth hearing, worth knowing. I read it with an understanding that God, knowing and seeing and hearing all, chose to give just these specific details. Just these facts and perspectives. Just these characters and times and places. Thinking of it that way, doesn't it make the Creation myth all the more beautiful? God chose to say "And it was good" in just such a way that that's really all we know about it. He didn't leave us diagrams or formulae or massive Naturalist catalogues (although that would've been impressive). No, he writes, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." He leaves out many of the whys allowing us to work through them ourselves.

When I think of teaching writing (or writing myself), I think I'll challenge my students to delve more into the mystery of writing--of letting some things be left unsaid--in favor of focusing on the essence of story. Details can be fun and enlightening, but they are just details, after all, and not the story itself.

Greenville Visit

After finishing our first road trip, and before launching into our Eastern road trip, I have a short visit to Greenville, Texas. I'll be visiting the Blasingames and McClendons this coming weekend and speaking at First Baptist Church of Greenville.

Please continue to pray for our support raising efforts. God has encouraged us as we've reconnected with friends and family. Our hearts are filled with joy by the love we have received and have been able to share. Whereas our prayer support base has been growing significantly, our financial needs remain unmet at this point. That said, we still have several church contacts with whom we are communicating. Thank you for continuing to pray with us.