Broken Hoses and Broken Pots - a personal update

  Occasionally, God providentially arranges life's events to provide clarity in what He is teaching.  It's not that we ever get to know the full spectrum of His work, but sometimes He makes clear that 'this' is the lesson of the moment.  Two weeks ago, I began reading a short devotional book called God's Glory in Clay Pots by Les Ollila and Sam Horn (audio here).  I virtually never read devotionals, and I don't even know how I came across this one, but it immediately began feeding my soul with the truths of the great Potter's loving care which brings difficulty for the preparing and shaping and beautifying of the pot, while displaying the glory of the Potter.

 Then, last Sunday our pastor preached on Job and how every difficulty Job faced were designed to teach him more of God and how to worship Him for who He is in, not simply for what He gives.  Friday morning, I finished the book in thankfulness for a Potter who would dirty His hands with clay.  We live where most people cannot imagine a Lord who would stoop in humility to become clay like us.  Friday night, probably about 5AM a hose burst under the kitchen sink; and close to 6, we found that out, by stepping in water as we got out of bed.  So, yesterday was scrambled.  Many tokens of love were evident throughout the day, both divine and human - neighbors and friends who served us far beyond our expectation.

 And then, tonight, I was reading in John 11... Lazarus is sick, and it says that when Jesus knew that He stayed away because He loved them.  This is right after He has commented that this sickness is for God's glory.  And, these themes run through the chapter: God's glory and God's love call for the same (in)action here - Jesus stays away!  And immediately the burst hose and the extra pressures that that brings come to mind: it's not like we didn't talk about those shaping, pressuring Divine Hands yesterday, but a point is pressed home - our pipes only burst under loving pressure.  That wasn't simply rubber breaking - another lump in the clay is being worked out, or maybe lots of lumps in lots of pieces of clay, but certainly in this one.

 And the reason?  So, that the Treasure that's hidden inside will be able to be revealed.  The pottery is not that impressive; the Treasure inside... awesome! incredible! And amazingly, the pottery will become more beautiful at the same time it glorifies the Potter better!  God's love for us and His seeking His own glory are incredibly displayed together in the image of the Potter.  (I highly recommend the book because it weaves together the many Potter-vessel images in Scripture so beautifully.)

 The truths of the song rang sweetly again today as we sang them... "Blessed be your name in a land that is plentiful... when the world's all as it should be... when I walk in the desert place... when the darkness closes in... Blessed be your name!"

a variety of ways for looking at shame

  I have been actively learning about shame for a couple of years now, and I wanted to compile the resources I've gathered.  I've posted on the topic a couple times before, but I wanted to gather the resources in one place.

Video

- Brene Brown's 'Listening to shame' has been invaluable in my learning; first, you should listen to her first TED talk on vulnerability first.  This would be a wonderful way to spend your time; I've listened to them each multiple times.

Two Books 
- Roland Muller's Honor and Shame (summary) - This book is probably a great place to start on the basics of a shame-based culture.

- Ed Welch's Shame Interrupted - This book is a beautiful place to begin examining our own shame in light of God's Word or sharing God's hope to those who are in shame and despair

Blog posts 

- Scripture is about Our Shame - the basic Gospel story of shame

- Jesus the Shame-Bearer - thoughts on what Christ did for us

My Speculations

Law-based culture says something is wrong according to the group's rules.

Shame-based culture says something is wrong as it is negatively effects group members?

Fear-based culture says something may have bad consequences for the individual or group?

Empathy is the antidote to shame.  Brene Brown

Related post:
Honor, Shame, and Slanting Theology

The odd notion of 400 Silent Years

  A fair number of unsupported (or poorly supported) assertions wander about in popular Christian theology.  One that I read or hear relatively often is the idea that there were '400 silent years' between Old and New Testament times.  Now, we can certainly estimate that there were 400-430 years between the writing of the last book of the OT and the birth of Jesus Christ.  But why would we state without proof that those years were silent?

Simeon & Jesus

Anna & Jesus

   Some might say, "God didn't speak during that time."  But Scripture doesn't say that.  In fact, the opposite is hinted at, since Simeon had been told that he wouldn't die till he saw the Messiah, by the Holy Spirit. (Lk 2:25-32.) Beyond that, people didn't appear particularly surprised when Zechariah's sees a vision (Lk 1:22), quickly guessing that that's what happened.

  Or, someone might say, "There were no prophets during those 400 years."  Scripture doesn't say that; and it does say that there was a prophetess, Anna (Lk 2:36-38).  It seems quite unlikely that she had only begun being a prophetess a year or two before Christ's birth.

  As a final defense of this concept, it might be suggested that for 400 years, there was no authoritative Scripture recorded. Certainly that would seem to be true, but this is a very different claim from 'silent years.' If this is the case, we should probably use a number greater than 400, since even an early dating for 1 Thessalonians, Matthew, James, or Galatians would make the count close to 450-500 years.  Yet, wouldn't it be ludicrous to describe many of those years as silent?

  I realize that is a very narrow point to make, but do we really believe that God was silent for 400 years?  Prophets or prophetesses and Scripture were not speaking? to say nothing of the Spirit of God who even in the darkest times never leaves Himself without a witness! Sometimes the voice of God is 'rare' or 'precious' in its scarcity, but I see no evidence of silence, particularly in a ~400-year epoch where Scriptures simply do not tell us authoritatively what happened.

Numerical beauty (palindromic)

Yesterday while counting something, I realized that adding 9 to 5 five times, resulted in a numeric palindrome 05 14 23 32 41 50.  A palindrome is a word that can be read the same way forwards or backwards.  Today, when I glanced at the numbers I'd written down again, I wondered if it would work with another number.  Sure enough, it does. Just add 9...

00

01 10

02 11 20

03 12 21 30

04 13 22 31 40

05 14 23 32 41 50

06 15 24 33 42 51 60

07 16 25 34 43 52 51 70

08 17 26 35 44 53 62 71 80

09 18 27 36 45 54 63 72 81 90

Beyond that, there's multiple additional pattern layers within the set, and the pattern renews after the first series; thus, after 01 10, you have a second numeric palindrome:

19 28 37 46 55 64 73 82 91 

Again, this continues after the other sets.  Aren't numbers beautiful?  I am especially curious about what is special about the number 9 in these sorts of sequences.  

  I've played mental games with numbers since at least fifth grade when I learned to 'cast out nines' as a method of checking multiplication, division or addition problems.  (Another pattern that I realized years ago is that the square of any number is +1 of the product of the number before and after it.  Thus, 8x8=64, which is one more than 7x9.) Anyways, I have no idea whether there is any significance in this sort of thing or whether whoever else has found it has given it a name, but I haven't found it if there is a significance or if it does have a name! 

learning of an Afro-Surinamese-Dutch-American inventor

  While researching a presentation on Suriname for my Turkish class, I came across "Jan Ernst Matzeliger" as a significant person of Suriname descent. But I'd never heard of him, even though he was important in the history of both the places I grew up.  

 He was the sort of person who apparently thrived on overcoming obstacles. As the son of a Dutch engineer and a Suriname slave, he eventually left Suriname to travel the world and then settle in America where he invented an 'uninventable' machine, the shoe-lasting machine.  His idea was so unbelievable and complex that a person actually came from the Patent Office to make sure it really worked.  

 By most measures, he would be considered one of the most important African-American inventors in history; by birth, he was Afro-Surinamer and Dutch; but he became a naturalized US citizen.  He was featured on a US stamp in 1991.  Read more about him here.

Muğla, university city and Mediterranean province

  During the recent national holiday, our family got the chance to travel to the city and province of Muğla.  We got to explore as tourists, but we were also looking at it as a place we might be able to work and live in sometime in the future.  So, the pictures below will be a sampling of tourism, road trip, and our explorations of both city and province.

  The people were hospitable and gracious, and it was nice to get to meet a good variety of Muğlalılar.  This is a gorgeous area; unfortunately, I couldn't take a picture of the most beautiful view because I saw it a couple hundred yards out from shore in Akyaka, looking back over the clear blue water against the green cliffs with a pleasing little Turkish town nestled on the shore.

breakfast at a little inn

nearing a new city, Milas

Olive orchards were a frequent sight.

the area has lots of mountains, as well as lots of greenery

the University in Muğla, pretty campus and the staff that we met were very nice

Ice cream and parks were important parts of all of our lives,
but they especially helped the littlest members of our group enjoy the time.

The Bosphorus Tour, by Moonlight

Something we did to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary was to go on a Moonlight Cruise of the Bosphorus Straits, from Kadikoy to Anadolu Kavagi.  Typically it has only run during July and August, but apparently it has gotten so popular that they started early this year and are running it through September.

5 years of wandering and enjoying together

Looking back down the Bosphorus, towards the west

Looking out towards the Black Sea
*Notice the main pillars for Istanbul's third bridge in the background.

Part of the old fortress, but we didn't have time to explore because we wanted supper.

This picture was taken immediately after the one above;
lighting is obviously an interesting phenomenon.

The view from the restaurant

As the guidebooks will tell you, the food here is very average and somewhat pricey, but the peaceful,  6-hour excursion for 20tl ($10) a piece is nice if you have the time and just want to hang out.  There is nothing particularly exciting along the way, but it is nice.  Definitely take the official Şehir Hatları version, or you will overpay!

Samsun, a city of history and beauty, ancient and modern

Several weeks ago, we got the chance to visit the city of Samsun for some friends' wedding.  Below are some pictures of the city, some of them may be of interest to those who are interested in ancient or biblical history.  

Ataturk statue near the city center

The place and ship from which Ataturk began the Turkish War of Independence

The Samsun City Museum has some very interesting pieces of antiquity that stretch back to kingdoms many of us have never heard of.

Golden crown with other artifacts from a tomb

Ancient bronze mirror (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Sling stones

Sarcophagus

(A very different type of sarcophagus than I've seen before.)

Seals (front left), arrow heads and cutting implements

Various tools and household items

  Our time there was mostly overcast, but seeing the Black Sea was nice even though we didn't get to explore outside the city into the rural areas.

If you've never had a desert waffle, there's nothing like it.  Incredible!
(They are available throughout Turkey, but this was the best one I've had!) 

the Hypostatic Union (an extra-detailed, obfuscated theology term)

  There are a few common theological terms that sound impossibly complex. In my mind, 'the hypostatic union' is among the most difficult though it refers simply to the union of the divine and human natures in the person of Jesus Christ. In spite of studying theology in college, I graduated without being sure what this theological term referred to (not my teachers' fault.)  Eventually, I got it; more helpful though was some clear teaching on this doctrine (summarized here and here, though I heard it as a lecture). As a Christian, it is very useful to deeply understand what it means that Jesus was (and is) both truly God and truly man! But that's not exactly what this post is about...

 In the last month or so, twice I have been asked to explain and defend the Christian belief in the two natures of Christ (hypostatic union).  As with doctrines like the trinity, it is easier to to start explanations with basic illustrations/correlations; for instance, in discussing the Trinity, common illustrations are a triangle, water, an egg, etc. While these correlations are always partial, they have a definite value. But, I was not familiar with any illustrative shortcuts to express the basics of the hypostatic union to suggest the dual natures of Christ that are found in His singular personhood.  Here are a few that I found by internet research, discussion, and thought.

1.  Heat and Iron - Each has completely separate properties which can be found at times in the same space, yet without confusion. (Shedd says this was used by the early church fathers.)

2.  A human's body and soul - Separate and unmixed even if not always easily distinguishable

3.  Marriage - two parts, each different, but integral to a single whole

4.  Light - Light functions as both matter and energy; the traits of both are distinguishable, yet neither fully explains the essence of light independently of the other.  (e=mc2)

  I'm basically posting this because I haven't found a list of illustrations elsewhere.  Please comment below with any other illustrations!

The Most Memorable Food

  Likely my first memory of the most memorable food is from when I was about 8: four of us cousins were visiting Opa and Oma (our grandparents), and after lunch we had watermelon for desert.  This led to an extended discussion of the possibilities of growing watermelons out your ears if you swallowed the seeds. With Opa leading the imagining and Oma carefully staying out of the discussion, we enjoyed our desert for quite a while.  Unfortunately, I can't provide you with a picture of those imaginings, but they were quite in depth. (That was in Suriname.)

  A couple years later, there was a general family food fight in North Carolina; it got so intense that both the baby and Oma got involved this time, not to mention Aunt Debbie and the rest of us children, as well as maybe some other adults.  If you know Oma, this may be difficult for you to imagine, so I am including (non-photoshopped) proof.

Oma and some of us grandkids

Serious wars, obviously.

  As we continued to grow up, our background was the site of much more watermelon eating and seed spitting, except by the member of the family who wasn't up to trying to spit most of the time.  

a backyard picnic, without watermelon unfortunately

  Today, I began to try to pass on the tradition to our littlest generation.  Watermelon fun in the backyard with baths following, another memory, another place, more family.  First, we had to make sure that watermelon was a good snack, and then we began the process of trying to spit seeds... I got chunked a time or two... There's still half of a watermelon left, so maybe next time I will be able to get some pictures of the fun.