25 May 2007

Rise Above

Rise above.

Two simple words, a whole new world.

Rise above.

I have taken to telling myself, "rise above," every time that I become overwhelmed by work or my suspicion that Mercy Ships' has a PR obsession and I cannot explain in words how effective and LIFE CHANGING the action has become. I'm a huge advocate of saying "rise above," at any and every opportunity currently, solely for it's uplifting qualities.

I never really bought into the whole changing your perspective on your circumstances thing, but I've got to say, that's exactly what I've done and it's made a world of difference. Dang it, I totally just lost my train of though because I looked to my right and saw the most amazingly beautiful girl I've ever met. Where was I?

Rise above.

That's right. Seriously, I'm trying to get it to be the official, un-official motto of the Africa Mercy. I hope it catches on. I've been drilling it into my people at work, they're actually catching onto it, if only in a sarcastic way, it's still on their minds. I think you should give it a try; rise above your circumstances and see the world around you for what it really is, see it through God's eyes.

24 May 2007

Liberia, Sunsets, and Extravagant Love

Tonight is the end of my second day in Liberia. Days one and two were spent in meetings, chasing drainage problems for air conditioning evaporators, more meetings, watching AC Milan win the European cup over Liverpool FC, and enjoying the final community meeting on the Anastasis. So far, I'm really happy with the way this new part of my life is unfolding, there are some changes that have occurred in my personal life that have been very challenging in the days between the sail from Santa Cruz, Tenerife to Monrovia, but even those changes have been an opportunity to develop as a person. Thanks, God for that opportunity.

I'd like to take a moment to just reflect on how faithful God is. Isn't it amazing how He will stick with us? God has taught me in the recent events that He wants me to be like that too. He wants all of us to be like that. When will I learn to stick by people regardless of the things that they do or say? Hopefully I'm learning that now. I hope you get that blessing through some event in your life soon as well.

I feel like I've learned a lot of perspective as well. I was sitting out on deck eight of the ship (the top weather deck) a few nights back when I wasn't all too happy with the current events around me, and looking out at the sea, that ever-constant reminder of my smallness and helplessness, I remembered just how much God cared for me. For you. For all of us. It's an amazing thing that He would be so faithful to care how I am making it, even though I'm simply one man, on one ship, on one ocean. How ridiculous, when you think about it, is the extravagance of His love for us! Why, of all things, would the Maker and Creator of all things be interested in my daily survival, much less how content I am with my circumstances? Incredible. Extraordinary. Scandalous! Honestly, the way that God loves us is so utterly, extravagantly vain... Think of a sunset. First, just think of it as you see it. Completely beautiful, yet only lasting for a few moments. Now, think of the incredible amount of energy and power that is in a sunset. It's amazing! The sun, a huge burning ball of gas, tons of miles away, shining at just the right angle through just the right amount of ozone, particulate matter, water vapor... and the result, sheer beauty. Now, think of this, the whole thing lasts only a few moments, but it continues on, around the world continuously, gracing all of creation with an ever-changing display of extravagantly beautiful visual love letter written across the biggest thing we could ever hope to see in this life-time. WOW. What extravagance!

16 May 2007

Ships and Ferries

Tenerife, 16 May, 2007: 1433. Less than two hours until I stand my next watch... and I'm spending it blogging. It is noteworthy that now is siesta time, so I'm not sacrificing time in paradise for blogging.

The sail from Rotterdam to the Canary Islands is over and the Africa Mercy is in one piece, barely. Things proved by this trip (I was already aware of these things, but I'm only a little indian, and I came around a little to late to influence any decissions...):

1. This ship is a ferry.
2. Ferries are made for coastal operation.
3. Ships sail the high seas.
4. Ferries do NOT sail the high seas.

We had to cross the Bay of Biscay, a notoriously rough section of sea just south-east of the English Channel on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. When we did, we were very fortunate to encounter only moderate weather, and the ship actually handled a bit better than I had expected. However, most of the offices were totally wrecked, two tables bolted to the deck in the mess room broke free, and about 2/3 of the crew weren't seen for a few days. I can only assume that it was because they were white-knuckling the porcelin rim. But we're here, and I seriously doubt that this ferry will ever go above 40 degrees north again (well I doubt that it should. It probably will, due to the absolute vitality of public relations...)

Tenerife has been great, eating outside, climbing small mountains that over look oceans and small villages and the ship... I could probably live here. My Spanish would definately get a lot better. To my supprise, it is pretty good already. I haven't had much trouble at all finding things, getting what I want for a meal, getting directions. We're leaving here tomorrow and that's okay with me because I am ready to get to Africa. I'm looking forward to it a lot. There is a lot of work for me on the ship, but when (or should I say if...) things quite down onboard, I hope to get to spend a fair amount of time ashore working with locals. I think it would be great to get to work with community development services and with the outreach department. Dig some wells, talk to people about Jesus... that just sounds right up my alley. I've got about six months left before I come back to the states, I think that I've settled on a job, but I'm not going to let everyone know what it is yet, because I'm not totally sure. I've been discussing it with a few people onboard, and I think that I'm making the right move.

Well, its 1457, I'm going to do something else for a half hour before watch.

See ya.

07 May 2007

Crazy Dutchies...

The Africa Mercy is currently in Rotterdam, Holland (or Netherlands). A couple of nights ago, Lorah and a few friends got me to go out to watch Spiderman 3. It was a good, I was worried that it wouldn't be up to my expectations, but I wasn't disappointed. I noticed that most of the people in the theatre really enjoyed watching the characters getting hurt emotionally. It was a little weird, and these people were ruthless! I'm talking these people were cheering and yelling at the points in the movie where you are supposed to be sobered by the weight of the circumstance. I don't know if a lot of Dutchies are like that, but wow! It was a whole theatre full of them! I thought that was strange, but when the movie finished, I wasn't expecting the cherry on top of this crazy Dutchy sundae! While we were waiting to get out of the theatre, a group of like six guys started beating the CRAP out of this one smallish looking guy. It was so bizare to see something like that in the middle of a theatre... and virtually no one in the theatre did anything at all to help the situation, the movie security came in after like ten minutes, but it was all over anyway.

FYI, I'm not anti-Dutchy now or anything, I just wonder how that many violent people got in one place...