I am surprised that I've gone 23 days without blogging, but I don't feel guilty.
Yes, I wanted to embrace the everyday blogging thing, but I have so much going on right now that I doing my best to prune and say "no" to as much as possible. Apparently, feeling like I need to blog regularly is one of the things that was pruned.
Life is interesting, which is some kind of Chinese curse, right? I kid. We're just busy packing a bit at a time, looking for houses, and generally trying to stay calm. Last week, we were both so blue & frustrated with the house search thing that we just had to take a couple days off from it.
The reason all of this is happening right now is because of kids. We want to get a place ASAP so that we can get licensed for foster care & adoption and get a kid within the first couple months of 2011. That's the goal.
We're working on trusting God completely with that one. Sometimes it feels like a faith tug-of-war. Go this way. No! Wait! This way. Do this. Now wait. Go do this now!
This very moment, I'm having a "what's the point?" kind of moment. I'm breathing and praying and asking God to keep talking to me and changing me in the amazing ways he's been doing this past month or two. I don't want to confuse stepping out in faith with freaking out and trying to make things happen. I don't want to confuse trusting God with the details with giving up and being lazy.
I know that amazing things are happening. I know that God is working things out in ways we cannot see. I just have to keep reminding myself.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 04, 2010
Smut.
What? Oh, nothing. I've just been lying around due to some pulled/inflamed rib muscles, and I've mostly been watching TV or movies. Today I watched Babies and The Back-Up Plan, which I didn't realize was also about babies, I swear. Babies was interesting, & JLo's movie was meh, as expected. I also watched Date Night last night, which was double meh.
I did end up staying up late last night, but I wasn't reading the book I should have been. I may have been reading trashy romance stuff. I'm sorry, but I was just in the mood for brain-rotting stuff with kissing. There is no kissing in the other books I have on deck. I had to choose.
I did end up staying up late last night, but I wasn't reading the book I should have been. I may have been reading trashy romance stuff. I'm sorry, but I was just in the mood for brain-rotting stuff with kissing. There is no kissing in the other books I have on deck. I had to choose.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Cross-Cultural Ethics
Sheesh! I read a LOT today because I had to do pretty much all of my reading for this week's class & write a small response for tonight. Everything has been fascinating, though.
The class I'm working on right now is cross-cultural ethics and it is just mind-blowing. Most of the case studies and examples have to do with being in a foreign culture, but we can run into those here, too. And it's good to have a broader focus and be aware of issues that could arise.
One of the main things the books were talking about was being aware of the entire context of any proposal or anything. For example, a people group who believes that spirits are responsible for good or bad crops won't buy into your agricultural technology just because you say it will give them a higher yield. You have to understand their values and the narrative they have written for themselves in order to create change.
Another example: we had to write about whether or not we would donate money to prostitutes at a hotel who weren't making any money that week because a Christian organization had bought all the rooms in the hotel (in the context of a country with a lot of sex trafficking). Our professor challenged us to think of the corrupt structures and sins, not just focus on these women. They are likely trapped. He also referred us to Luke 20, when the Pharisees tried to get Jesus to say that they shouldn't pay taxes, thereby, in the case of Israel's Roman occupation, amounting to supporting a corrupt, oppressive regime.
It's all very interesting to think about. No actions are performed or rise out of a vacuum and none are value-free. There isn't really such a thing as complete neutrality. Lots to chew on, and this is just week 1.
The class I'm working on right now is cross-cultural ethics and it is just mind-blowing. Most of the case studies and examples have to do with being in a foreign culture, but we can run into those here, too. And it's good to have a broader focus and be aware of issues that could arise.
One of the main things the books were talking about was being aware of the entire context of any proposal or anything. For example, a people group who believes that spirits are responsible for good or bad crops won't buy into your agricultural technology just because you say it will give them a higher yield. You have to understand their values and the narrative they have written for themselves in order to create change.
Another example: we had to write about whether or not we would donate money to prostitutes at a hotel who weren't making any money that week because a Christian organization had bought all the rooms in the hotel (in the context of a country with a lot of sex trafficking). Our professor challenged us to think of the corrupt structures and sins, not just focus on these women. They are likely trapped. He also referred us to Luke 20, when the Pharisees tried to get Jesus to say that they shouldn't pay taxes, thereby, in the case of Israel's Roman occupation, amounting to supporting a corrupt, oppressive regime.
It's all very interesting to think about. No actions are performed or rise out of a vacuum and none are value-free. There isn't really such a thing as complete neutrality. Lots to chew on, and this is just week 1.
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