Harry Gwadabaluchi

Harry Gwadabaluchi (pronounced phonetically) was a bust; or more accurately, he was part of a bust.

Harry Gwadabaluchi was from a Caribbean nation; (those who would know cannot remember if it was Mexico, Haiti, or the Dominican Republic.)

Harry Gwadabaluchi was the legacy of a pastor in NC who made a difference to four MKs.

The story of Harry: Quite a few years ago, four MKs and their parents visited a congregation in NC. As often happened, the family visited in a member's home for a meal and some conversation; the pastor was there too. The adults ate in the kitchen, and the children in the living room. But the most unusual thing happened when the pastor came and joined the children. And this is how they learned of Harry Gwadabaluchi. On a trip south, the pastor was with some of the kids from his congregation and they saw a large statue. When asked who it was, the pastor identified it as Harry Gwadabaluchi. And thus, the legend started:

Harry was ... well, he started as a statue! But not an ordinary one, for indeed he was merely a head! Pastor Vos turned that statue into a time of fellowship and fun, first for the kids with him and later for the 4 MKs in my story. See, because he was simply a head, Harry often got made fun of and was the subject of many happy puns: he could only use half a bottle of Head and Shoulders. His favorite foods were cabbage and lettuce. And many other heady puns which we spent a long time thinking of.

So, why have I spent such a long time to tell you about a bit of statue and fiction. Pastor Vos went home to be with his Lord earlier this month. I don't think I ever talked to him after the day he told us four kids about Harry, but I will remember him as a man who truly cared. He is one of a very few pastors I ever remember to have taken personal time for the little MKs when he could just as easily been with the more important people. That is my testimony of how his life touched mine for a brief hour and left a mark of genuine love.

Extraction

So, for those of you who didn't know, I had a wisdom tooth pulled today. And for all of you who read this blog, I survived. It took a while, it had a couple nastily curved roots, and I had to have two shots. (I hate shots! But they weren't as bad as expected.) In any case, I may go back to get another one pulled in a few weeks as the price here is good and the care is not bad, especially when compared to my other dental work which was mostly done in Suriname.
Not much news other than that, continuing to learn Turkish and spend time sharing and learning with friends.

Confidently Lost

As a lamb that's lost, I wander
As topics deep I ponder,
How not this life to squander
With joy to journey yonder.

As a lamb that's led, I'm resting,
With questioning and testing
My Father's way requesting
For living life, investing.

- me, last night

-- bad poetry, good rhyming and expressing

Istanbul: That great city

A comment on the last post made me decide to post some facts here instead of as a follow-up comment there.
Facts, Figures, and Fantasies* about Istanbul:
- The city of Istanbul is officially estimated at about 12.5 million people.
- With those numbers, the city would be approximately the 5th largest US state!
- That also makes the city larger than the two largest cities in the US combined (remember that the definition of city is ambiguous... metropolitan area and so forth).
- Unofficial statistics put the city's population between 15-25 million, which would mean that the only US state with a larger population is California!

There's more that could be added, but those figures give a reasonably good idea, especially if the linked articles are checked for more details.

*Fantasies means "unofficial facts or figures" and it starts with an f.

Edirne, Bulgaria, and Turkish tests

So, it's time for a news update, probably well past time. And this time I have pictures, since my routine varied slightly. :)
This past weekend I headed to the city of Edirne. (I now have a difficult time calling a place with 120,000 people a "city"... that's significantly less than 1/100 the size of Istanbul.) Anyways, I went up there and had a look around the city a bit. It's a nice little city that seems quite easy to get around and definitely quite friendly. I visited the Selimiye Mosque which was the crowning accomplishment of Mimar Sinan, the greatest of the classical Ottoman architects. It's well worth the visit if you are ever in Edirne randomly. :) I took lots of pictures but am posting these two because they are a bit different than the ones I've normally put up. The one below is the dome of the mosque. But honestly if you didn't know that ahead of time I don't think you could be sure from the picture. It looks very similar to the glazed pottery bowls made here. Perspective is a fascinating thing.*

After visiting the mosque, I took a bus to the Turkish border and actually walked into Bulgaria. The border crossing people don't seem particularly used to people walking through, but they didn't object. I bought lunch in Bulgaria (which added to my collection of Bulgarian coins) and then headed back across the border. I got picked up by a nice man from Edirne who saved me about a mile worth of walking and the expense of paying for a ride back to Edirne. Apparently he felt sorry for the random American who seemed to be hitchhiking into his country. :) I made it back to Istanbul that night after a profitable and interesting day.

Today and Friday were my Turkish level 3 exams. I passed them with my best scores to date. So, that is a blessing. Tomorrow I am planning to try to arrange the last major details for studying at the university. Then on Wednesday, Turkish classes start back up. (University shouldn't start for about 2 more weeks.)

*The dome is over 100 feet in diameter, wider than the dome of the Hagia Sofia. Also of interest, the mosque has the four tallest minarets in the Muslim world.

Fear, Terror, and the Believer

  As I sat in a service last week, a reference was made to “terrorist attacks” against a church or believers. It set me to pondering another aspect of fear. A while back I had began thinking about I Jn. 4:18 which speaks of perfect love casting out fear. And so as I began pondering terrorism against believers, it was within a framework of related thoughts. Consider the purpose of a terrorist attack; the purpose is to create terror/fear. Thus, a terrorist attack against a church is meant to create fear within the church. At this point, the passage in Phil. 1:27-28 came to mind which speaks of believers not being at all frightened by their opponents; and this lack of fear is a sign of salvation. There should never be such a thing as a “successful” (terror-producing) terrorist attack on believers.
   So, I set out to look at the topic more in depth. What should a believer fear Biblically, and what shouldn’t they fear? Here are the results of that further study. We are to fear the Lord God of heaven. This is a long, intricate discussion, so I will not delve into it completely. Consider two passages though: Ps. 25:14 which says that the friendship of the Lord is for the ones who fear Him. Also, Ps. 33:18 which speaks of the Lord watching those who fear Him, who hope in His steadfast love. The fear of the Lord is worth deep study to seek out the Biblical meaning; here are some additional relevant Scriptures (Deut. 6:13; Prov. 1:7; Job 1:8; Isa. 8:12-13). The fear of the Lord is the only fear that I find highlighted throughout Scripture. A proper fear of sinning is also mentioned (I Tim. 5:20). And Paul speaks of fearing that his time ministering among certain groups was pointless (throughout 2 Corinthians; I Thess. 3:5).
And what of the things that we need not fear? Ps. 23:4, we should not fear evil, because the Lord is with us. That is a highly significant statement; those who have the Lord as their protector never need to fear evil! We should not fear those who may attack us, if we have the Lord with us. There is nothing that they can possibly do without His permission (Ps. 27:1-3; 3:6; 118:6). And more specifically along these lines, we should not fear those who can kill the body (in context the persecution is for religious reasons)(Mt. 10:16-31; cf. Lk. 12:4). We should not fear death (Heb. 2:14-15). This is a major one, so take some time to look through Heb. 2 carefully. Christ destroyed the power of death with the purpose of delivering us from the fear of death!
   Two more highly relevant passages before a conclusion. Rom. 8:15 indicates that believers are set free from fear when they became children of God. They have a Father to cry out to for help, and thus, no need for fear. The second passage is 1 Peter 3:14-15 which says that when believers suffer for doing right, they should not be afraid of their persecutors, but rather to know that God will do what is right.
   As I was reading through these various passages I began to realize that the only basis that the believer is given in Scripture for a fear-free life is who God is. God’s character is the only anchor that can assure a purpose that nothing can hurt me. Psalm 91 and Isaiah 43:1-7ff are essentially discourses on how the character of God is the basis for a fear-free life. None of these passages promises an easy life; they simply say that God is in control and will certainly work all things out for the best and the ultimate security of His precious children.
   If you read this and are not certain of your relationship with God, God promises peace and freedom from fear only to those who put their trust in His Son, Jesus. He offers this gift to all freely, but for those who reject it there is much to fear. For God has said that everyone who rejects Him will face eternal judgment. Read and consider the various sections of the Bible that I mentioned and those that surround them for a fuller understanding of what God’s Word says to all of us.

*The Bible references that are italicized each have significantly more to say on this topic than I had space to present and they deserve careful study. Other major passages for study on this topic: Phil. 2:12; 2 Tim. 1:7; Prov. 3:21-26

temples

Here's a picture of the Temple of Hadrian in Ephesus. When the guide showed us this temple, she took us into the back section, in front of the stone wall you can see, and she pointed out the striking difference between the inner sanctuary and the outer temple: The inner sanctuary is plain... because the people don't see it. In other words, the important part of the temple is the outside which is visible to the worshiper.

It struck me then, as it strikes me now as I just read I Kings 6, how very differently those who serve the LORD God are to see worship and temples. In I Kings 6, the account is given of Solomon building the temple, and the skilled workmanship and valuable treasures that went into every part, and particularly the inner sanctuary, are highlighted. Expensive carved cedar which covered skillfully worked stone and was in turn overlaid completely with gold. An altar of cedar overlaid with gold, two golden cherubim made of olivewood approximately 15 feet high. Everything was as valuable as Solomon could make it, even the floors were overlaid with gold.

Was this really the inner sanctuary that would only be seen by one human, once a year? Yes, for the heart of real worship is related to Who God is, not what man sees. God does not value outer brilliance if there is inward desolation.

Well the news in my life is not very exciting, so I have not been sure what to post. I am continuing on in Turkish classes; currently I feel that I am doing ok and learning and improving... but that is subject to change without notice. :) Today I did a presentation in class on Ismet Inonu, Turkey's second president and the man who led the country into a multi-party democracy. The research for that was quite interesting, and the presentation.
I enjoy following political news, and so this primary season has interested me quite a bit. Unfortunately I still don't know if I like any of the major candidates for a long list of reasons. :) And when it comes down to practical things like foreign policy, I don't really see anyone who fits my definition of reasonable. I assume that means that I'm unreasonable. :D
Anyways, I figured I should put some new news up and this is the randomness that you got. Hope you like it.

from recent reading

Oh, for more men who will be simple enough to get in touch with God, and give him the mastery of the whole life, and learn his will, and then give themselves, as Jesus gave himself, to the sacred service of intercession.

It is what we are out of the [prayer] closet which gives victory or brings defeat to the closet. If the spirit of the world prevails in our non-closet hours, the spirit of the world will prevail in our closet hours, and that will be a vain and idle farce.


- E. M. Bounds (Purpose in Prayer)

The News

This is not a particularly good picture of me in my opinion, but it does show my tendency to do a bookshelf-examination, even when the books are in a language which I don't understand very well. This was actually a very high-quality library despite it's small size.

Now, what else should I mention. Today was the beginning of Turkish class again, and that fairly well. As it is a repeat of what I have already done, it should not be as difficult as last time, but there will definitely be a lot to learn. There are two new teachers, so that means that there will probably be a lot to learn in terms of new phrases and "preferred vocabulary." Again, our class is full of people from all over the world, and it will be fun getting to know them all. It is nice though that one of my friends from the former classes is in this one with me.

As you can see in the picture below, we have finally had some snow. We ended up getting several inches, but it all melted within about a day. This was late last week. Over the weekend, we had some friends over for an evening of food and fun, and we ended up playing Taboo, in English. Setting up fair teams was a challenge, but we ended up doing a pretty good job and the guys' team won by one point.

  Details for studying at Bosphorus University are continuing to come together, and I am hoping to start that when the spring semester starts in February. (Turkish schools are still in their final exam week for the fall semester right now.)

More when more happens...