an ounce of mother worth a pound of clergy

This is a repost from 2010.

---

My mother has been the greatest picture of selflessness and sacrifice in my life.  Sometimes people think being a missionary in Africa involves a lot of sacrifice –but I’ve got nothing on my mom.  From the time I was 13, she raised three of us on her own, while working full-time and going back to school.  Mom graduated from college with degrees in business administration and accounting the same year I graduated high school.  And she did so with a 4.0.

But more than that, my mother raised us to have faith in Jesus Christ, and to be committed fully to him.  As the Spanish proverb says,

An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.

Mom, I hope you have a very special day today.  I’m sorry I can’t be there to celebrate it with you.  Thank you for all you’ve done to bring me into the faith in which I now rest — and for teaching me how to sacrifice myself for others.  I love you.

A lot of people have said a lot of nice things about mothers.  Below are some of my favorites:

brett’s morning blend (12apr11)

Very busy day; got lots of work done.  Amazing amounts, in fact.  Maybe a record for the most productive day ever in Geita (…by anyone).  Christie and I also are entertaining our first overnight Tanzanian guest.  I want to publish this post before he gets out of the shower, so today’s morning blend contains no commentary. I guess you’ll link to look, if linking liking move.*

A Recently Discovered Letter of Critique Written to the Apostle Paul

Our Journey Toward Women in Leadership

PETA Upset with the Bible for Calling Animals “It”

Why Do Women Find Funny Men Attractive?

I Had No Idea Mountain Goats Could Climb Walls Like These!

Bilinguals See the World in a Different Way

Infographic Ranking the Difficulty of Learning Different Languages (for English Speakers)

Top Ten Movie Misquotes — Darth Vader is Number One

A Flowchart to Help You Determine Where You Should Pee

* Anybody?

brett’s morning blend (06apr11)

Our mission team spent the last five days with Dale and Vicki Hawley, who are working in conjunction with Missions Resource Network out of Texas.  We talked a lot about team dynamics, core values, decision-making, and how our various ministries serve the whole of our strategy.  It was really good, and we’ve loved having the Hawleys with us.  They said our team’s greatest strength just might be our cooking.

Quotes on Missions

A list of a couple of dozen.  Example: “No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once.” – Oswald J. Smith.

And if you like those, you might enjoy a few I posted a while back, with commentary: a few good words on mission.

The Path to an Affair

I’m not sure if you’ve ever heard of the website, RefineUs.  Justin and Trisha Davis deal with all matters of marriage, faithfulness, forgiveness, and reconciliation.  In this post Justin shares the path to an affair and it’s worth considering — whether or not you think it could ever happen to you (hey, that’s number one on the list).  This site is a great tool for strengthening your marriage.

How to Have a Rational Discussion

I wouldn’t be quite so quick to terminate discussions, but other than that they’re pretty spot on with this infographic-type flow chart.

Which Countries Officially Do Not Use the Metric System?

You may not be prepared for how few of them there are.

The Three Little Piggy Sandwich

The guys over at “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me” try a new sandwich.  Among other ingredients, the Three Little Piggy contains double smoked ham, breaded pork tenderloin, and bacon.  Anthony Bourdain said it’s the greatest sandwich in America.  I agree with him.  I’ve not yet tasted it, but I agree with him.

Pee and Social Media

I suppose you could use any analogy to explain social media.  Urine included.  I have no idea what “Foursquare” and “Quora” are, and I don’t use any of these six forms of social media.  But now I at least understand them all.

 

making exercise

I was out for a run this morning and passed a group of guys building a fence.  One of them obviously wanted to practice his English and called out to me, “Hey, man.”

I responded with, “Good morning.”

Then, in a really strange cadence, he offered:

“You… are.  Making exercise.”

“Well, yes, I suppose I am making exercise,”  I mumbled, probably already out of earshot.

Although, if you ask me, making exercise sounds like a really poor colloquialism for the marital act.  Of course, it’s not any worse than that one.

brett’s morning blend (21dec10)

 

Is Leadership Biblical?

David Fitch offers five reasons to answer this question, “no.”  It’s an interesting conversation, at least.  Especially when you have a look at Bob Hyatt’s response.  [The comments on both are worth reading, as well.]

I find myself somewhere between the two views presented: Leadership is indeed biblical — but biblical leadership looks very little like the world’s leadership. I’m uncomfortable with churches functioning as organizations more than as organisms — pastors as CEOs and elderships as boards of directors, leaders chosen by degree and resume rather than by spiritual giftings.  Any conversation on leadership is a welcome conversation in my book.

[Related is this article on Bill Hybels and Willow Creek Church, who each year "run what amounts to a pop-up business school called the Global Leadership Summit, bringing a stellar faculty... to teach pastors and laypeople leadership and management."]

Google Zeitgeist

The defining mood of 2010, told by search engine Google.

Santa Claus is Real

Physics has proved it.  There is probably even more than one Santa.

Ten Interesting Calendars for 2011

The strangest in my mind:  Men on a Mission.  A (sexually suggestive) calendar of former Mormon missionaries.  Really?!  The founder was excommunicated from the Latter Day Saints and denied his diploma by BYU.  But at least he looks good in… well, basically nothing.

Ten More 2011 Calendars

My favorite of this bunch:  a toss-up between Nuns Having Fun and Nice Jewish Guys.  Neither of them are risque.  Oh, and I’ve discovered that I’m apparently a religious calendar kind of guy.

Some Popular Quotes Attributed to the Wrong People?

This blog post is titled, “Trollquotes: Or, 32 Ways to Make Geeks Rage.”  I don’t understand what a trollquote is, so I’m guessing neither will some of you?  [We, at aliens and strangers, welcome explanations by the way.]  So I’ll just tell you that this page has a whole bunch of poster-like photos with (relatively) well-known quotes attributed to the wrong movie characters (and with incorrect pictures shown as well).  Example:

 

fashion, football, and chuck norris

image courtesy of trackemtigers.com

Auburn will be playing in the national championship in January (this writer types while still grumbling about 2004).

Here are a few quotes (take a guess at how many are true):

“Auburn was too good for us.”  – South Carolina coach, Steve Spurrier

“I ain’t never got beat like this before.” — South Carolina receiver, Alshon Jeffery

“On the day Cam Newton transferred out of Blinn College, I became the toughest man in Texas.  I hope he doesn’t get drafted by the Cowboys or the Texans.” — Chuck Norris

“We had some great players, but never a better team than this one.” — Former Auburn coach, Pat Dye

“Our short arms and sharp teeth are no match for Cameron Newton or the Auburn Tigers.” — Tyrannosaurus Rex everywhere (the plural is indeed “Rex”)

“I want to be the greatest player in Auburn history.” — Cameron Newton (to Bo Jackson)

“You are the greatest player in Auburn history.” — Brett Harrison

“Cam Newton is the second-best college player I’ve ever seen. Herschel Walker, and only Herschel Walker, was better. And not by much.”  – Mark Bradley

“I believe Cameron Newton is the best college football player to ever put on a uniform.  And Auburn University is the best school in all the SEC.  We Georgia Bulldogs never could touch them; we used to pee our pants before Auburn games — some guys would go through four or five uniforms in one game day.  That’s where we came up with the black uniform idea; at first it was yellow, but we thought that would just look too stupid.  We were right — have you guys seen Oregon?” — Former best college football player ever, Herschel Walker

“On the day Cam Newton transferred
out of Blinn College, I became the toughest man in Texas.” – Chuck Norris

And below is a picture of our competition for the national championship — and how amazingly ridiculous they will look when we beat them (and before).  [Auburn is ranked #1 in the BCS and will be wearing home uniforms in Glendale, Arizona -- nice-looking, respectable home uniforms like the one pictured above... worn by Cameron Newton, quite possibly the greatest college quarterback in history.]

The players above were told to stand in numerical order. And Oregon will be wearing yellow when they meet the Auburn Tigers.

Please feel free to discuss in the comments how stupid the Oregon uniforms look or how many of the above quotes are true.

 

God’s word in chains

image courtesy of sam witney

 

Hypocrisy. Inconsistency.  Convenient faith. Culture over God’s word.  A deductive approach to Bible study.

I’ve got nothing against Patrick Henry himself.  I simply believe Mr. Henry is representative of one of Christianity’s greatest problems today — and for all time.  In my book he’s guilty of no more than we are; but an objective look at history often makes obvious the errors of today.

Patrick Henry is known for his famous quote, “Give me liberty or give me death.”  That quote, with fuller context, is here:

“It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. … Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things, which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it. Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. … Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!“

Mr. Henry’s devotion to God will not allow him to stand passively by, as this new birth of a nation is oppressed by a former government.  He has a responsibility to God and to his country to do otherwise.  Note that his words of “chains and slavery” are describing a young America under British rule.  It would be better to die than to allow this injustice.

Concerning that liberty and freedom, we should be suspicious of anyone who seeks to take away these rights:

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.”

And of his love of the word of God:

“The Bible is worth all the other books which have ever been printed.”

Let me remind us of just one verse from that great book — “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”  Mr. Henry, your thoughts:

“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.”

That’s odd — but what about the importance of Christianity, Patrick?

“I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian religion.”

Speaking of property, it was Mr. Patrick Henry who stood before delegates planning to ratify the Constitution and advised against it.  His argument:

“They’ll free your niggers.”*

* It seems Mr. Henry should have thought a little harder about his own words here: “The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.”

– A special thanks to Andreas Kluth for calling to my attention this last Henry quote — in his “ode to Alexander Hamilton.”

growing righteousness and praise

I’ll be digging in the garden this week.  So my mind has turned of late to agriculture.  Here are a few of my favorite quotes on the subject:

“The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.”  – John F. Kennedy

“Italians come to ruin most generally in three ways, women, gambling, and farming. My family chose the slowest one.” — Pope John XXIII

“Life on a farm is a school of patience; you can’t hurry the crops or make an ox in two days.” — Henri Alain

“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” — Dwight Eisenhower

“There are three easy ways of losing money – racing is the quickest, women the most pleasant, and farming the most certain.” — Lord Amherst

“Farmers only worry during the growing season, but towns people worry all the time.”  – Edgar Watson Howe

“There are only three things that can kill a farmer: lightning, rolling over in a tractor, and old age.”  – Bill Bryson

**********

And one more:

“For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise
spring up before all nations.” — Isaiah 61:11

A few thoughts:

• The nation of Israel was to be on display to all the nations of the world as a people of righteousness and praise.  The church today serves the same function: to be an expression of right relationship with God to all other cultures and communities.
• We tend to think of Christianity first and foremost as an individual and private endeavor.  Biblical writers seem to look first (and most often) at the larger, more communal picture.  Our view seems to stem from plain old human selfishness tainted by American individualism.
• Another product of our American individualism is the idea that we possess within ourselves the power to accomplish all things.  In this text, though, we learn it is God’s responsibility to bring righteousness and praise in his church.  He grows them in us much as vegetables grow in a garden.

 

the skill of writing

image courtesy of photobucket.com

A couple of months ago I confessed that I secretly want to become a professional writer.  [I also confessed in that post to biting my fingernails, not being able to write in cursive, and purposely lighting a neighbor's yard on fire -- but that's beside the point.]  It’s true that I enjoy writing more now than I ever have before.  And it’s true that I desire to one day have at least a book or two published (I have lots of ideas).  Also true is that I’ve been paying more attention lately to what makes good writing.  I found this quote thought-provoking — not sure where I found it, but it somehow ended up in my “just thinking” file:

The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think.

– Edwin Schlossberg

tanzanian kids say the darndest things

These are the three most common greetings I get from children in Tanzania.

3. “Give me my money!” Before moving to Tanzania, I expected to be asked for money often.  I am.  And I know pronouns are one of the easiest things to get confused in any language — it seems Tanzanian children have an especially hard time with possessive pronouns.  But my question is why are they even wanting to say, “give me YOUR money?”  Are they holding up a bank?!  Shouldn’t it just be, “give me money,” with no pronoun at all?  Anyway, this phrase can be pretty annoying, because it’s often said with such force that it sounds angry and demanding.

How I want to respond: While waving a 1000 shilling bill in the air, “I was going to give you this, kid, but you asked so very rudely.  I guess I’ll give it to that child over there who politely addressed me in proper Swahili.  Maybe I’ll buy him some ice cream, too.”

2. “Mzungu!” This is what westerners are called in Tanzania.  Its origins in Swahili seem to refer to foreigners always being busy, doing this and that, running back and forth, refusing to just sit still.  I think “mzungu” would originally have been best translated as “one who runs around in circles.”  But it’s come to mean “foreigner from the west” and in some places is the equivalent of “whitey.”  Kids are especially good about yelling and screaming “mzungu” hundreds of times when I pass their homes during my morning run.  You would think they had been given the task of standing watch while their families cooked stews made from white people parts.  What is truly ironic about these deafening mzungu alarms is that the kids do this while physically and literally running in circles.  Yeah, who’s the mzungu now?

How I want to respond: By screaming “Mtanzania (Tanzanian), Mtanzania, Mtanzania,” while I jump up and down and point.

1. “What is my name?” And I’m not trying to say they ask me MY name; no, they ask me their name.  Again, it’s this confusion with possessive pronouns.  But there is just something hilarious to me about a teenage guy yelling “mzungu” to get my attention, and immediately following up by asking me to use my light-skin powers of extrasensory perception to tell him what his name is.  And all of this is done inside of the three seconds it takes me to jog past where this guy’s sitting on the side of the road.  No hello, conversation, small talk, or excuse me — just “Mzungu!  What is my name?!”  Like I’m on some sort of high speed quiz show.  But I guarantee if I get the answer right, he doesn’t pay me with HIS money.

How I want to respond (and exactly the way I do): “I do not know your name,” as I smile and continue running past.

What funny things do kids say where you live?