Trying to Sum it up

I'm back home finally. I saw a lot and think I learned a few things, or at least I have more things to think about. My bed was great, it will take a few days to get back in this time zone though. It is 2:45 am here now and I can't sleep, a common theme for me on my trip, so I'll try to put a ribbon on our travels. This could be a long post, I was laying in bed thinking and there are a lot of things I want to address.
First it is so good to be home! I agree with Dorthy, "There is no place like home". Home is where you are you, that isn't always good, but it is comfortable. My dog is at my side, he missed me. He was usually not far from me anyway, but now that I have been gone he is even closer, I don't think he will let me out of his sight. Austin is a 1 1/2 year old Yellow Lab, who is nothing like Marley. He is right at my feet as I type, I think we can learn from dogs. When we got here Susie was waiting, she said she had to wait for us to give us a hug. Susie, Alec and Casey house sat for us and took care of Austin. They are our neighbors and good Friends from Lummi Island and they wanted to see what it was like living on the mainland. There was a basket of goodies and a card from Mary, Mattie and Nathan. Both of the kids asked if they could stay home from school for one day so they could catch up, actually, Mattie asked for two days, one for grandma and one for grandpa
Our trip was long and draining, it will take a while to sort out all my thoughts, at least I hope it will, in fact I hope I never get over some of it. I switch pronouns a lot, I use "I" and "We" almost interchangeably. The trip wouldn't have been the same without D'Linda. We are best friends, We have different vantage points on life, and We can disagree, but We have each others back. On the plane back We kissed and she said people wouldn't think we had been married for 39 years. I wrote about her before, so you know how I feel. I give her a lot of the credit for keeping me sane. We do work well together. I usually bounce things off Her first, she is always trying to protect me, and calm me down. She may be short physically, but she has a giant's heart.
I met Teddy on my first full day in Liberia, if you haven't read my first post you probably should, to understand the impact He had. At first I wasn't as focused on Teddy, but the conditions of all the orphans there. The more overwhelmed I became with the culture there the more hopeless it seemed. Then I came across that old Jewish proverb "If you save one person, you save the world", Teddy became my "one person". There seemed so little I could actually do, so I had to do the most important thing, pray to The Ruler of the Universe. I have vowed to not say a prayer without mentioning Teddy until he is out of there. I have also enlisted the help of you and almost everyone I meet by telling about Teddy. I don't know what will happen to Teddy, but he will not be forgotten as long as I can help.
Culture is a funny thing, I have maintained for a long time it is much more powerful then we give credit. I am even more convinced now. I have been exposed to quite a few on this trip. It is easy to see the differences, but it is harder to weigh whether they are better or worse or just different. It is even harder to realize the impact our own culture has on us. Our culture places great importance on the rights of the individual, even to the point that it hurts the whole. The Jewish culture is almost the opposite. The survival of Israel is the most important thing. In Liberia your reputation is most important. In Spain it seemed to be the "good life" or living well. It is impossible to reduce cultures to so simple of terms, cultures are very complex and powerful. Jesus knew that, that is why He called us to live differently. To take on the culture of The Kingdom of God. He said the greatest command was to love God and He always included that we were to love our neighbor as our selves. He said that people would know us by our Love. That we should be about clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, getting justice for the oppressed, visiting the lonely. He told us that we should treat others how we wanted to be treated. He told us that we would be known for our love. I saw some of that, but after 2000 years I'm sure Jesus expected his people to have more of an impact. The "Holy Lands" really drove that point home. Millions of Christians have visited there and what I saw most of were souvenir shops, pushy tourists, and old church buildings. I met and heard about some remarkable people, but they were the exception, not the average. Jesus called us to serve, but most of us like to be served. Jesus called us to be last, but... I don't have an answer, but I want you to think, along with me, about how much our culture effects us that we don't think about, that we just accept. We really do need to renounce our culture and become citizens of the Kingdom of God. That sounds simple, maybe it is, but why can't we do a better job of it?
I think the tour we went on was very good. It was good, partly because there were some problems. I have told you about Daphne, we talked with other group members and most of us had expected to have a Christian tour guide. Daphne gave us a Jewish perspective and some insight into Her culture. If we had had a Christian guide feeding us the "party line" we wouldn't have learned as much, or been challenged to think about some long held beliefs. There were traffic and schedule problems, and there were crowds that have different rules on personal space. I got caught in one crowd of oriental women that were more intimate with me than some girls I have dated.
The people in our tour group were a good mix, mostly Catholic. We were on the go most of the time and didn't have as much time to just talk as I would have liked. One person was in a wheelchair and he was traveling with his wife, son, daughter and Mother and father-in-law. They had to stay in different hotels than us a few times because of accessibility problems, so we didn't get as much interaction with them. There was a Pastor from Bakersfield, Garvin, and his assistant, Danielle. Garvin was a very sincere person who was very touched by Teddy's story. Danielle had some pipes, she sang for us a few times. In one Church from Crusader times with reverberating acoustics she sang and it could have been the most inspiring time of the whole time in Israel. I would pay money to listen to her sing there anytime. Another time she sang for us she was so overcome with emotion she couldn't speak for quite awhile. The only other time we had music was in the boat on the Sea of Galilee and that was inspiring. I think music is a better way to connect with people and God than old church buildings, and you can do that anywhere.
Mary Willis, 16, and her sister Lea Hannah, 18, were in the group with their parents Roy and Tracie. They were beautiful girls inside and out. It was wonderful to be around such polite, intelligent, fun teenagers. I think one of the best times was floating in the Dead Sea with them. They just enjoyed it like little kids. It was really neat to float so high in the water, it was more like you were on the water than in it. When we went to old Jerusalem a man offered 400 camels for the girls, I'm pretty sure it was in jest, but from then on Roy didn't take his eyes off of them. Roy is retired from the Navy and gives most of the credit to Tracie for his daughters. What ever they did they should bottle it and sell it, maybe they could make more than 400 camels?
There were 23 in the group and we got along very well, Daphne said we were a very good group and that she enjoyed us. She gets paid, and I'm pretty sure she never tells a group they were the worst, but I think our group was good. We exchanged email addresses and I'm going to send pictures of Teddy. They all said they would pray for him, Garvin said he would get his whole church to pray.
As I reflect on the whole trip I was struck by the remarkable people I have encountered. There is evil out there, lots of it, but there is also hope. I think two of those remarkable people are Rusty and Jamie. They had the "American Dream". They were in their early thirties, had a new big house, new cars and all the toys. Rusty was part owner of a very profitable construction company. They had very little debt and were on their way to the top. Then they turned their back on it all and left for the third world. They have seen a very different life there. They have given away much of what they had left. They have seen need and despair up close. They have saved lives and given hope. I am so proud to know them. I hope when I grow up I can be like them.
Finally, when I left I had no intention to write a blog, it just kind of happened. I didn't even know how, I read my kid's blogs, and look at a few things online, but I'm not that into computers. I don't have any plans past this last blog about the trip. I appreciate the comments that I have received, I have tried to respond to most of the comments, but haven.t always done that. The future of this is in your hands, if I have written anything that has helped you please let me know, if I can answer any questions, or at least give you my thoughts let me know. This has been a good exercise for me, it makes me collect my thoughts and articulate them in a rational way, anyway I tried. What ever happens I hope I have been able to communicate a little of what God has shown me on this trip. I know some have had a hard time trying to post a comment, so just email me direct if you want jack@lairdmail.com.